Thomas Street

Permablitz this Sunday in North Melbourne

Dan — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 05:35:00 +0000

Hey fellow permablitz junkies!

What's happening on that front you must be wondering and my word don't we have some exciting news for you:

This Sunday June 25 CODEMO is heading to Buncle St Community Garden, North Melbourne (details from Peta 0411 899 618, Dan 9029 2550 or Nelson 0433559928). Starting at 12 noon we will meet with a group of Spanish-speaking gardeners with whom we'll enjoy garden tours and talks, pupusas, permasalsa and sharing what we've learned about permaculture with our North Melbourne neighbours. We're taking a minibus from the Springvale/Clayton area leaving at 11am so let us know if you'd like a ride. Buncle St Garden is located on the corner of Mark Street and Buncle St North Melbourne, outside the Moonee Valley Health Centre and near the Boundary Road overpass. Melways ref 2AE4.

Then, on Sunday July 2nd, we hit the garden of Willie from Chile in North Clayton. As you may know, 76-year-old Willie is the undisputed king of permasalsa so this is not a day to miss. Willie has been doing a fine job of applying what he's learned at previous permablitzes, and in addition to adding a new sheet-mulch and wood-chip path vegetable bed we'll be mulching up a storm, learning how to graft (bring your fig, nectarine, peach, and lemon cuttings or rootstock), meeting the neighbours, enjoying Willie's amazing pumpkin and butter bean soup, baking bread from grain we'll mill with Willie's grain mill, and much, much more. If you can only make one permablitz this year, this here is the one to be at.

Following up on Sunday July 30 is a big-time permablitz at Di's place in Box Hill which will most likely see another chook tractor launched and some fruit tree planting madness.

Then we have plans for the gardens of Ana and Pato with small spaces they're all set to convert from lawn to food production and there are also plans afoot to visit Linda in Eaglemont (where her friend and permaculture person Pam will tell us about organic gardening in Cuba). If you have either a space you'd like to see more food growing in and would like to be permablitzed, or if you are keen to help facilitate a permablitz day in future, get in touch and let's make it happen! Contact Nelson on 85026300/0433559928 or Dan on 90292550/0422448933.

Best,
Dan
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http://www.codemo.org.au/
http://www.permaculturesolutions.com.au/thomasstreet

ps. Dan's running some 6-hour sustainable kitchen skills workshops (learn how to make sourdough bread, yogurt, kefir, sprouts, cheese, wheatgrass juice, and nut butter - that's more than one thing an hour!). They're on Saturdays and cost $40 which includes all the ingredients, lunch and probably quite a few laughs. 0422448933 for more details or email me back if you want a flier. The first workshop is Saturday July 1st at Springvale Community Centre and the second is Saturday July 8 in North Melbourne.

Thomas Street Garden Giveaway

Dan — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 10:29:00 +0000

Well the inverse permablitz was a great day with large numbers of plants, bags of compost, and piles of bio-mass flying off to enrich the edible gardens of others. The sadness of seeing the Thomas St Garden beginning its morph back into green cancer (lawn) was displaced by the happiness of seeing car, van and ute-loads of plants driving off to new homes. The day started with a semolina dish and potato curry from Sri Lankan Saku then a garden taro-stem, silverbeet and pumpkin using fish soup from Cambodian Naron. Thanks to all who made it (especially the cooks!) and we wish you happy growing and eating with your new plants.

Di's Chook-Tractor Garden is Almost complete

Dan — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 10:22:00 +0000

Check out this great picture of Di's absolutely amazing new garden in Boxhill. Di's been planning her Woodrow-style mandala garden for a while, now has a chook dome, and by the end of next week will have chooks! (We're donating an araucana to get the egg rolling). Di is planning to host a permablitz on July 30 - stay tuned for details and let us know if you'd like to be on the permablitz mailing list.

Catching up with ourselves

Dan — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 09:55:00 +0000

Well, life's been a bit of a hurricane lately but things have calmed down for the moment so why not get up some pix of the latest Thomas Street goings-on. Last Sunday we permablitzed Willie's place. We had fun ripping up plenty of roses, planted a pile of veggies, herbs, green manures, a kiwifruit and a hazelnut with extensive mulching. Then this Italian guy from round the corner came over with homemade wine so that was most of the South Americans gone ;-). Check out pix here.

Meantime Dan and friends have now run a couple of Sustainable Kitchen Skiils workshops, both of which have been such great fun that we're planning more (register your interest here). It's been wonderful to discover just how much interest there is in the Melbourne community for learning to make healthier, cheaper versions of what most of us otherwise buy weekly from the supermarkets. Here's a few pictures of action that included learning how to make sourdough bread, nut butters, wheatgrass, sprouts, cheese, yoghurt, kefir, viili, and sauerkraut!

INVERSE PERMABLITZ #6 or THE GREAT THOMAS STREET GARDEN GIVEAWAY

Dan — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 02:06:00 +0000

An 'inverse' permablitz you are wondering - what in heck is that? Well, as some of you know our edible garden here at Thomas Street is fated to become unproductive, purely cosmetic, energy gobbling lawn once again. May seem a sad thing, but read on to see how you can make it a happy thing.

Usually, a permablitz is about converting lawn into edible garden (as well as learning skills, building community, and having fun). On Sunday July 9, we are inviting our friends to come and help to do the reverse: convert edible garden into lawn. The happy bit is in the bigger picture. For if you come and help yourself to as many plants and as much compost as you can carry home, the very process of losing our edible garden will hopefully contribute to the creation and addition to more area of edible garden elsewhere. In other words, we're aiming for a net gain in the amount of Melbourne that is edible.

We have literally thousands of plants and hundreds of different species, including food plants, herbs, medicinal plants, and otherwise useful permaculture plants. This Sunday, it is all up for grabs. Here is a chance for you to create an instant garden out of nothing or to add to the diversity of your existing garden. The day will start at 12 noon, and for the first hour or so the focus will be on letting people see the garden, have a cup of tea, a chat and maybe a few final tours. Then from 1pm folks are free to start gently massaging the plants they want out of the ground, taking care to disturb as few earth worms and chickens as possible. We'd also appreciate if you could rake over or otherwise make level any ground you dig up. Make our job easier when it comes to sowing, gulp, grass seed.

On the day we will also have plenty of food-related excitement, based around turning typically neglected garden produce into delicious dishes. Saku from Sri Lanka will be cooking up a brocolli-leaf stir-fry and a potato curry. Naron from Cambodia will show us how to turn our taro stems into delicious vegetarian soup. We can't promise anything, but Vilma from El Salvador may well be bringing on the pupusas and filling them up with garden goodness. And of course Dan and fellow bread-freaks will have the oven spitting bread in all directions. A bit of the old permasalsa is also far from out of the question.

So, we invite all our friends to come and join us for an afternoon not only to say goodbye to Thomas Street (and to hear about our exciting plans for for the future), but to take a piece of it home with you such that it may live on and continue to nourish you as it has us.

Date: Sunday July 9th
Time: 12 noon onwards
Address: 16 Thomas St, Clayton
Bring: Pots/bags/containers, maybe a trowel/spade/large spoon, a snack to share.

Best,
Dan, Cat, Adrian, Associated Ponds and Mulch Supply

ps. We also have a few trailer-loads of biomass (pumpkin stems and the like) that would make great ingredients for a slow winter compost pile that anyone is welcome to take off our hands.

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http://www.permaculturesolutions.com.au/
http://www.eatthesuburbs.com/
http://www.codemo.org/
And soon to be launched: http://www.permablitz.net/

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"When the earth beneath our feet is less like a dead concrete slab and more like a dark moist living sponge, then we know we are on the right track" (David Holmgren)

Details for this Sunday

Dan — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 06:02:00 +0000

*******CODEMO PERMABLITZ NUMERO CINCO*******

The wonderful Willie (from Chile`) is hosting the next Permablitz
backyard makeover this *Sunday July 2nd from 11:30amish*.

Willie has a great site & has done lots of work already including:

*Establishing a host of fruit & medicinal trees with which he can
demonstrate his grafting prowess including; Avocado, Fig, Lemon,
Lemon verbena, Nectarine, Peach & a number of medicinal varieties.
Bring your cuttings for some grafting demos and to swap

*Preparing & planting vegie / herb beds – with loads of room
awaiting the planting - we'll be in the first quarter of the new
moon, which bodes well for leafy annuals such as the cabbage
family (brocolli, cauliflower, etc) (not to mention being a good
time for transplanting and grafting). Bring your spare seeds and
seedlings to plant & swap

*Initiating raised no-dig beds that utilise ground contours for
best water absorbtion. Further construction of these beds will
take place so you can see the process in action.

On the day we'll also cover:

*Mulching workshop! Learn what mulching is and eleven reasons it
rocks! Willie has developed an infamous locally based resource
collection strategy which has allowed him to compost & build the
soil. Let’s put the icing on the cake & see what the magic of
mulch can do.

*Utilising space & available resources; We'll look at some
trellis-value-adding to North facing fence ideal for Kiwi-fruit /
Passionfruit vines, and a hot spot on the hot water service for
germination / sprouting rack, and Willie's quit street frontage
for permasalsa, permasoccer, permafrisbie, hop-scotch – you name it!

*Kitchen workshop heaven; Willie’s amazing butter-bean soup: Flour
grinding & sourdough bread making & why not a bit more juicing?

*Visiting the neighbours - Pat from Italy has offered to show us
around his garden too!

*Where*
Willie from Chile`; Unit 6 / 2 Bettina St Clayton.
(Melway map 79-G1) Off Blackburn rd near Princes Hwy intersection.

*What to bring*
A bite to share. Seedlings (especially
kiwifruit/grape/passionfruit). Cuttings to swap/practice grafting
with. Compost. Your soccer ball!

*Contacts*
Carey: 9754-6260
Dan: 9029-2550/0422448933
Nelson: 8502 6300/0433559928
Willie: 9544-6362

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Dan — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 11:17:00 +0000

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Dan — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:10:00 +0000

Photos of Thomas St on this beautiful Tuesday

Dan — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 01:06:00 +0000

Here's the house from across the road - what a peaceful scene!

The North-side broadbean patch - slowly creeping up.

The Mexican sage is still probably the prettiest plant in the garden (sorry marigolds, but you ain't got nothing on these guys...)

Look at the size of that Chilacoyote!! The hills hoist is completely submerged - periscope and all!!

And here's one of the fruits - we're saving this one for seed. Hey Adrian and Cat - did you see where it's grown over the fence and is producing another huge squash on the peach tree of ouyr Greek neighbours?

A cauli head emerging in the front brassica patch.

Our most mature broad beans in Dan's quadrant of the keyhole bed. Still a ways off though.

The above mentioned front brassica patch - yes - these photos are all mixed up in order!

Random back garden photo.

One happy Meyer lemon tree!

The circular brassica forest.

The ducks enjoying a morning bath.

The Latest on the Giant Pumpkin

Dan — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 08:03:00 +0000

Last week Dan and Cat attended a retreat in which the giant pumpkin featured quite prominently. As well as a conversation piece around which the story of Thomas Street was shared with the group, the pumpkin was then turned by kitchen goddess Pauline into a number of delicious meals, with the giant seeds being dried and then distributed amongst the retreat participants. So the pumpkin's story will continue...

Some links

Dan — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 23:03:00 +0000

Eat the Suburbs - a new Melbourne-based initiative to get Energy Descent Action Plans up and running as peak oil makes its entrance.

Vasili's Garden - a fun Melbourne gardening show that is just starting to ease into a little permaculture!

An interesting article on lawn

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Dan — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 08:24:00 +0000

MARIA HAS BEEN PERMABLITZED...

Cat Moore — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 21:35:00 +0000

Yesterday we held the 4th CODEMO "Permablitz" at Maria and Sergio's house in Endeavour Hills. Amidst the compulsory eating and dancing, we designed and built two no-dig veggie and herb gardens close to the house, and also planted a winter green manure crop of broad beans to prepare the soil for Maria's long-awaited watermelons come summer... Matt talked to us about swales with the help of a speedily knocked up A-frame by Sergio, Adam and Cat spent a lot of time pondering the soil, and Keith's young son created a very rare "mixed ball" tree! A couple of new faces appeared, as well as planty of familiar ones.

Check out Channel 31 7:30pm on Friday (Tomorrow)!

Dan — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 03:14:00 +0000

Yeah those of you in Melbourne should tune in to Vasili's garden show tomorrow at 7:30pm on Community TV station Channel 31 - we've heard a rumour it should be a good one...

thomasstreet.info has moved

Adrian Wedd — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 23:41:00 +0000

Our Thomas Street blog, previously at thomasstreet.info has moved to it's new home at permaculturesolutions.com.au/thomasstreet/ and soon will no longer be available at it's old address. please update your bookmarks!