save thomas st!!
It seems that Thomas st as we know it is under threat of destruction by our lawn loving landlords and their gardener who wishes to “relevel” and “spray” the place in an attempt to reconvert our bountiful garden to the weedy lawnscape which we arrived to.
We stand accused of “intensive permaculture with associated ponds and mulch supply” (their words!) which, amazingly, is considered to be a “loss or damage” to the property.
We have been issued an ultimatum: dig up all our healthy, food producing, and rare medicinal plants and replant lawn within 14 days, or pay our landlords the arbitrary sum of $2100 which will allow them to do so. If we refuse? They can evict us.
Since we couldn’t bear to destroy the happy little ecosystem which we have created here, and we can’t imagine what we’d eat if we were forced to do so, we may need to either find 2000 odd dollars in compensation, or potentially more in legal fees if we can’t reach a happy arrangement. It may not come to this. Currently we are attempting to negotiate a situation which would be beneficial to all involved. We have offered to volunteer our time, skills, labour and plants in creating a longterm, low maintenance, productive garden which the landlords and future tenants will be able to enjoy. Awaiting a response, we are prepared to defend the basic human rights of all tenants, and all people, to grow food where they live.
We are asking all who have experienced, eaten and enjoyed the suburban oasis that is
Thomas st (or indeed all who appreciate the idea) to lend your support. Come along next Sunday 7th to the Thomas st Open Day (which may need to be a fundraiser). Let us know if you can contribute an act, a work of art, your workshop facilitation skills, fresh garden produce, delicious baking, or other valuable stuff, as we’d like the event to be as big, fun and powerful as possible. Legal skills also would be appreciated!
12 Comments:
Hi Cat,
There are 3 comments & suggesetions on this issue under the bread on the entry for Saturday, April 22, 2006.
Additional to these comments if you're planning to "mount a campaign" against rather than ameliroate your ecological engineering, I suggest you contact the tv network garden shows. Probably the most sympathetic would be ABC's Gardening Australia. However Burke's backyard and Backyard Blitz have both done Permaculture programs. There are also radio stations like ABC's 3LO which has gardening talk Back on Sat morning, you might ring in.
Cheerio.
G'day Dan,
Sounds like a great garden, mate. I'm sorry to hear it's not appreciated by the powers that be.
As far as a 'campaign', Ruth and I would also recommend contacting ABC's Gardening Australia, and we're happy to do so if it would help. Maybe an article in the gardening sections of newspapers/magazines would also attract interest.
In the mean time, we'll forward on your email to people, and hopefully they can at least attend your open day.
Best wishes from Ruth, Damon and little Nikos (6 months old)
Hi Lovelies,
I can see where they're coming from.... well real estate is in Clayton after all. No, really, Do you want me to personally contact Josh Byrne for your Organic, permie spot on ABC Gardening Australia (it's possible that he hasn't been working with them for some time: i wouldn't know: I'm too busy in MY permaculture garden in East Vic Park, to watch telly! But if I had a lawn, well, that would be a different story.) The potential is enormous, and I haven't even READ the comments filed under the bread about this issue! It'll be HUGE! Ginormous! The greatest media blitz! DAMN! Cat! THIS IS YOUR PITCHFORK REVOLUTION! I can see your neighbours joining the blockade infront of the Turf delivering semi-trailer now!
No, really- I think you ought to definately direct them to this blog spot- how could they not be impressed with the pictures alone!
But the main reason that I'm writing is that I just wanted to offer you all the letters of support as a former housemate. Oh, and can I order a raisin and rosemary white sourdough please? yum.
And, I just set up a blogspot meself "Gardening in Space" (for the metaphorical gardener, like me! But it was definately inspired by Those keen gardeners at Thomas Street, Clayton, by crikey!). I expect that it might wither and die though (like my gardening), since I haven't had web access at my home for some months. You might like to visit Gardening in Space, onetime, and post a comment to the White Space, tho??
You need to talk to your landlord and set up an escrow account that will compensate him if you do not restore the lawn if and when you move out.
He would probably never find cool tenants like you to garden. Without the lawn he is stuck paying someone to restore it.
So suggest to him you create an escrow account that will allow him to hire a landscaper to fix the lawn (go ahead and get some written estimates for him to look over - let him know you are with him, not against him). If you do move out, you fix the lawn, and he reimburses you the escrow amount plus the interest the account has accrued while in the bank.
This will need to be a legal attachment to the lease and notarized.
Put yourself in his shoes. He has an investment in the property and your (well-meaning) improvements has reduced the number of possible future tenants.
So when you get your community support day, get everyone to pitch in a donation to the escrow fund. Maybe see if someone is a lawyer and can help with the details.
Best wishes from Rob in Philadelphia PA
Guys,
what a wonderful thing you have created at thomas st! I admire your spirit and your drive. I know my own version of peace and calm and healthy living such as that you've cultivated and i can understand you don't want to loose it, i don't! But change is inevitable, there's not alot of point fighting it, we need to be pragmatic about these things. For what it's worth, i think that escrow suggestion has some merit. Regardless, I sincerley hope that the present situation, whatever its outcome, won't discourage you from working towards a greener self-sustaining lifesyle; ..wherever you may be.
Kind regards, Jules
Hi guys.
Good work with your garden - pity about the landlord, hey?
I'm managing a van park in Queensland and trying to bring in permie concepts like a food forest (long term plan) and composting (happening now!).
Just an idea - why don't you approach your landlord and suggest that you will put $2000 in a trusted third party account for the sole purpose of re-establishing lawn when you leave? (In Queensland, the RTA or Residential Tenancies Authority would be a good place to start).
That way the landlord sees you as serious, and you get more time to continue your experiment. You may even have enough time to win the landlord over to the ways of permaculture, but not necessarily.
Good luck!
Dear Cat and Friends,
I am a "landlord" and can only think that I would have loved tenants like yourselves. I have 1.5 acres of garden plus a 3-bedroom house, which is presently rented out, but may become vacant again soon. The comments from others about getting donations and setting up an escrow account to restore the ecological wilderness of lawn when you leave, and having a signed agreement with the landlord seem a brilliant option. Also, I would love to see your efforts on the ABC Gardening Show.
Wishing you all the best and a peaceful resolution.
Gillian
hello thomas street,
i'm far away from melbourne, but was forwarded your cry for help from a mutual friend. I am not australian but did live in australia for about 4 years and feel a great deal of love for the place. one of the things that inspired me as a visitor, was all of the fruit bearing trees taht grew rampant around suburban sydney. It has awed me that some of the earlier settlers of sydney had thought to plant such things in abundance since they would be a gift that keeps on giving.
permaculture systems are similiar to that, and are necessary in our urban environments.
re: suggestions, something that i have always found helpful is connecting with neighbours, invite the people nextdoor and accross the street to share in a feast that comes from your garden, perhaps you can contact your landlord and do something similiar. it may all sound very simple, but killing people with kindness, especially if you've never had a problem before, can often calm them down. Its possible that hey think you are doing something shady...
sometimes landlords are simply insane, but other times it is the real estate agent that is up to no good, i had that situation occur in canberra, where the real estate was playing both us and the land owner, my house mate was studying law and contacted the landowner to tell him what was happening, and it turned out that he was blind to it all, and he got rid of those agents.
i wish you luck and thanks for such good work!!
hi thomas streeters
i was forwarded your email by PAT (permaculture assoc of tassie). what a crazy situation, eh?! having had numerous notice of breach of contract ra de rahs from landlords for inane 'issues', my first comment would be to get on the blower to the tenants union of victoria. they are brilliant and will offer practical, useful and relevant information from a legal/technical perspective, which is what you need initially. the escrow account suggestion may be a great one, but it may also mean that $ are going to the landlord as compensation, but if the tenancy laws and regulations don't acknowledge that you could still be in the stinker. so ... find out where you stand, what you are truly responsible for, what your options are for addressing the notice ... all those nitty gritty legal details that you need to know as tenants. i wouldn't write to the landlord until you know all that. and certainly don't make any offers until you know that they are worthwhile.
the bottom line is that it would have been best to get the landlord's approval to transform his backyard. then you avoid any potentially nasty situations down the track. i, like most readers of your website, find it completely alien that someone would want to remove your magical, glorious creation and reintroduce a barren, environmentally destructive lawn (not to mention downright ugly). but there are plenty in the world that don't share our view/philosophy. i applaud your approach to use this situation to spread the word about permaculture. i'd also suggest to your landlord that the works you have undertaken on the land do add value to a niche market of tenants (people like us), which means he could earn more rent from the property with the improvements. he just needs to be educated - about niche markets, adding value ... those awful marketing terms that do actually come into play in our lives from time to time, even in this situation!
may the force be with you all! and yay to the baby chicks. how very exciting. big claps!
angie
Wow! thanks to everyone who has left a comment, emailed us or called so far - we really appreciate and are getting a bit blown away by all your support, ideas and generosity!
Hey Dan,
Sorry to hear about your troubles. Whether the escrow account works out or not, you'll have to find a way to scrape off all the fertile soil you created and recompact the soil to return it to it's original state of extreme disrepair. But that's how you know that you are doing a sensible thing: people hate it. (Remember what they said to Heron 2000 years ago when he wanted to use his steam engine to build trains?)
As for the gig, you know I'd be there if I wasn't 16255 km away. For anyone going, please be prepared for some really kick-ass trumpet playing.
(^-^)
For Russell, I've been trying to get in touch with you for a long time. Please contact me at either duckrace2000(at)yahoo.ca or through Permaculture Reflections.
Hey Dan, it's James/Jamie Lawless here back in NZ. Havent seen you in a long time but looks as if your having fun with your garden of eden. I fully support what you and your flat mates are doing and think it is a shame that you are being forced to remove all of your hard work. Hopfully you are still able to come to some kind of positive outcome. As a flatty myself I would love to have a garden that could provide nice fresh, crisp vegeies and other items as you have. I hope everything works out for you all across the ditch. Flick me your e-mail some time, mine is blue_streak2000@hotmail.com
Cheers
James/Jamie
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