Archive

Topic: Permaculture living

Feeding RetroSuburbia

Food and where it comes from is an ongoing theme in RetroSuburbia. This essay extends on the discussions in Chapter 29, Sustainable and sustaining diet, and the further information given in Appendix 4, Retrosuburban diet. It outlines David’s vision for a localised, resilient food system in an energy descent future

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A Short Personal and Global History of Retrofitting the Suburbs

My childhood and adolescent years in suburban Bicton (between Fremantle and Perth WA) were set against a backdrop of Swan River estuary beaches, swamps, cliffs and caves. Many summer nights were spent fishing for tailor, flathead, and garfish. Our backyard included citrus, stone fruit, grapes, almonds, a vegie garden and

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Vale Vries Gravestein

As I have been working alone in the garden over these last few days I have been thinking about Vries Gravestein as an elder of the Australian permaculture movement at the same time that the nation is reflecting on the passing of another big man, Gough Whitlam. While comparisons between the two might be trite, in my garden solitude the emotions about the passing of influential elders did blend.

Beyond the family I have met and worked with so many of Vries’ students, most notably John Champagne who has played such a critical role in embedding permaculture in this bio-regional community and in maintaining the bonds of the national permaculture family.

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Monet’s Garden at Melliodora

An invitation to be a “pop up speaker” at the NGV’s Monet’s Garden Exhibition gave me an opportunity to address this vexed role of aesthetics in  permaculture, in a very special context.  I was speaking in the largest exhibition space surrounded by Monet’s magnificent water lillies. This post splices my speaking notes with a selection of photos from Melliodora that illustrate the points of the talk. I began my talk by saying “I feel like the devils advocate invited into the Vatican of aesthetics”

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National Permaculture Day

This short video is of the National Permaculture Day celebrations in Daylesford on 30 April, hosted by the Daylesford Community Food Gardeners (DCFG) and the Hepburn Relocalisation Network (HRN), with the help of SHARE (Sustainable Hepburn Association), Daylesford CFA, Hepburn Council and local residents. David Holmgren speaks about “The Local.” Available to watch on Vimeo.

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Bee keeping for the energy descent future

From a permaculture perspective, bees can be beneficially added to any system, improving pollination of crops, yielding storable sugars, pollen, beeswax, and other minor yields, all without detracting from any other yield or use in the system. The full text of this article discusses the use case and usage of apiculture in a permaculture setting

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Garden Agriculture: A revolution in efficient water use

First published as an (edited) opinion piece in Water Volume 32, No. 8 in December 2005, ‘Garden Agriculture: A revolution in efficient water use’ by David Holmgren discusses food futures in a post-fossil-fuel society. Full text available for download.

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Permaculture co-founder steps into limelight

This interview by ABC radio’s Landline program by Tim Lee was first published 28/03/2004. It features Rod May, an organic farmer and the former mayor of Hepburn, Ted Lefroy of CSIRO’s Sustainable Ecosystems, Su Dennett and  Maureen Corbett from Melliodora as well as David Holmgren.

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Compost toilets and Permaculture design principles

This brief piece was written in September 2003 as a contribution to a book (in French) by Christophe Elain, “Un petit coin pour soulager la planète: Toilettes sèches et histoires d’eau”, published 2005 by Goutte de Sable. Full text available for download.

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Other News

Do With Su

I am very excited about the launch of Do with Su on the Holmgren Hub. It is a culmination of a long process for my partner in love and livelihood to share her skills, passion and wisdom with a wider audience.

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