Since putting up a call on the www.permaculture.org.au website asking for volunteers to translate the next Permaculture DVD into their native language - the response has been fantastic.
Thanks to all the people that volunteered and emailed Jane with their choice of preferred language. At this stage I’m sure I’ve missed mentioning someone but from the top of my head we’ve had people offering to translate the Permaculture for Beginners DVD into French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic.
The response has been terrific. Thank you very much.
We will contact you towards the end of February or early March 2009. This DVD is an important one for us and its vital that we get the translations right so your involvement in this project is very important. Jane mentioned that we should have a little honor roll of faces at the end of the DVD showing those people who made the translations - their names and their locations. Not a bad idea. We might just ask you for a tiny little photo of yourself for the end credits too. Should be fun.
Coming in 2009 is the DVD we’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Permaculture for Beginners is the fundamental introduction to the Permaculture Design Certificate Course. Its the 72 hour Course boiled down to just over 90 minutes with all the essential points covered. If you are interested in doing the full PDC and want to know more about it - then this DVD introduces the course in a nutshell.
More than just a classroom lecture - each point is covered in practical detail with on the field examples. If you’re new to Permaculture and don’t know where to begin - then this DVD reveals the PDC in all its glory by one of the best, most experienced teachers on the planet - Geoff Lawton. Geoff has taught the course in over 27 different countries.
He’s currently in Iran before travelling to Morocco and then back to Australia in January. Geoff is pretty excited about this title as its a way to introduce a whole new generation of people to Permaculture. The project was scheduled to begin in November but we had another DVD on the boil that needed completion. 2009 should be an interesting year for Permaculture people around the globe.
Harvesting Water has been translated for the Chinese market as other language translations are in the works. We got some big plans and some very exciting fresh films to reveal before the 2009 is done.
Murray Hallam’s Aquaponics DVD has been completed. We were going to release it in February but Jane has been editing it around the clock and we’ve decided along with Murray to bring it forward to a December and Christmas release. Good thinking Murray! Incidently you might like to check out Murray’s blog. I never thought you could grow a Paw-Paw Tree in an aquaponics system but it seems anything is possible in a nutrient rich grow bed system. Speaking of nutrients we posted this little clip of harvesting black soldier flies on YouTube. If you don’t know what they are - they’re a small fly that only lives around a week and breeds prodigious numbers of maggots that fish - and chickens just love to eat.
We’re currently editing and adding animation to Murray Hallam’s new “Aquaponics Made Easy DVD” which will take you into the wonderful world of building and maintaining your own 1000 litre tank system and understanding the basics of what sort of fish you need relative to your climate and location. We’ll take a peek at the sort of vegetables best suited to use in your environment and how to even make your own system from recycled materials. The DVD will run for 90 minutes and will explain the nuts and bolts method of selecting the right tank, water, grow beds, gravel media, pumps, flood and drain systems and what to do and how to avoid failure. Murray even shows you how to grow your own fish food. Every step is explained in simple to understand non-technical language. Murray’s approach is proven as he’s tested and built every method that he explains. He’s still growing a variety of exotic vegetables and experimenting with fish to find the easiest and best method for the average person to use. By following his example you can certainly grow common vegetables extremely fast. A lettuce can grow from seedling to your plate in less than a month. fresh and organically grown. We’ve had a lot of fun making this DVD as Murray is quite a “natural” in presenting information and de-mystifying some of the more mysterious aspects of Aquaponics. The DVD will soon be available at www.aquaponics.net.au for a recommended retail price of $29.95
We ran a little competiton a few weeks back where we asked “If you were George W Bush and discovered Permaculture - What would you do?” Well the judges have reached an agreement and congratulations to Douglas Barnes - the winner of the Harvesting Water DVD. You can read his entry Here
Congratulations to everyone who entered. Look for more competitions in the future,
We’ve been busy editing the “Food Forest” DVD down to a more manageable length as it was turning out to be a lot longer than we anticipated. Even now at 90 minutes we’ve had to cut out lots of good stuff that we hope to use as either “extras” or at least share on YOU TUBE as a teaser or some way of garnering interest in Geoff Lawton’s new DVD. We were about to head off to see Tagari Farm which was designed by Bill Mollison when we noticed Geoff’s Kitchen Garden and we grabbed Geoff and said “How about doing a quick segment on the Kitchen Garden?” Despite the fact that he was quite busy with visitors and was anticipating getting away to meet other people at Bill’s farm he never lost his cool but he was gracious enough to film a few segments that morning before we headed off and this was the result. You need to understand that what you see is unrehearsed and unscripted. When Geoff opened the door to the garden and walks towards us - we didn’t know what he was about to say,
He says its not the Alaskan sun thats doing it but John Evans has thing for growing huge, massive vegetables. They are so big in fact that he’s been in the Guinness Book of Records nine times for his giant celery, massive potatoes, heaviest carrot etc.
So how does he do it?
“Compost Tea!”
“I came up with the idea to grow large vegetables to promote organic gardening. I don’t use chemicals, fertilisers or any such things. And the plants, they simply love it.” says John. The secret is in the soil. Or more importantly according to John Evans - what he puts into the soil.
John sprays his vegetables with a compost tea spray mixed with nutrients. When he brews the mixture with an aquarium pump he turbo charges the water with oxygen. Its the oxygen that feeds the soil bacteria and they multiply rapidly in the oxygenated water.
Garbage Warrior is a great documentary about rebel US architect Michael Reynolds and his battle to get the State authorities to allow him to build radically sustainable housing.
Described as “an extraordinary tale of triumph over bureaucracy”, Reynolds is disbarred from practising as an architect because his homes were built out of - err - garbage. Or more correctly, recycled plastic drink bottles, car tyres, beer cans etc. Imagine inexpensive houses or “earthships” as he calls them - imagine living in a home that heats itself, that provides its own water, that grows its own food and needs no expensive technology, that it recycles all its own waste and has its own power source. And now imagine that it can be built anywhere, by anyone, out of the things society throws away. Sounds too good to be true? [click to continue...]
How do you get to have an endless supply of water on your land? By building a swale on your property. But what is a swale exactly?
A swale is a broad land drainage depression along which stormwater flows and is kept in level balance. In Permaculture terms its known as a water harvesting ditch on contour. It has to be built perfectly level following the contour of the landscape. Pretty much like those feint contour lines you see on a topographical map that reveal the contours of a mountain or valley.
Since putting up a call on the www.permaculture.org.au website asking for volunteers to translate the next Permaculture DVD into their native language - the response has been fantastic.
