Permaculture ‘solutions for future living’

There has never been a better time to learn about these valuable design systems that are helping individuals and their communities all over the world to be self reliant.
The ethics behind Permaculture are: Care of Earth, Care of People, Share our Resources
Modelling on natural ecosystems, fruit and veges can be grown in abundance in back yards, natural resources on each property are utilized fully to save on energy and water use. New knowledge and technologies are blended with the best of old knowledge and the old ways to move us forward.
Communities naturally begin to work together again sharing ideas, skills and their excess produce! Southlanders well known ingenuity and community spirit will thrive on the challenge of finding better ways of living will and we have no doubt that ‘Sustainable Southland’ will lead the way!
Visit your local library for books on Permaculture by Bill Mollison, David Holgrim and Rosemary Morrow or visit www.permaculture.org.nz
The best Permaculture resource for Southland is the South Coast Environment Centre on the main street of Riverton. They have extensive knowledge, experience and resources they are keen to share- Easy backyard vege gardens or food forest, heritage fruits and seeds, stand alone energy systems, community networking and more.
Excellent Permaculture talks and workshops are now being held by request all over Southland. Be part of this exciting future
contact the Environment Centre
ph ( 03) 2348717
permaculture@sces.org.nz

In April 2008 we held a two week International Permaculture Design course here in Riverton with tutors from Washington USA and Takaka NZ. We now have eight trained Permaculture Designers living in Southland and they continue to work together to educate and inspire others to get involved.
We have a selection of audio interviews from the course which will be linked from this page soon.

We visited a local woodlot, Topics covered: trees for firewood, shelter, buildings, woodwork and the birds. Hedgrows, coppicing, and pictured right a local enterprise growing native seedlings for local community projects and invididuals

Water topics included using various old and new methods to measure water levels. Making swales and ponds, collecting and storing water. Learning about 'key lines' on the landscape to design systems utilizing and enhancing the natural landscape to store or transport water within a property.

Landscapes both real and created were anaylsed to design the best positioning for shelter, housing, trees, gardens, water storage, access, etc. Knowing the natural elements affecting the landscapes enables each design to be specific, unique and effective.

A group project to build a cob oven gave us hands on experience of earth building. A DVD of Huckleberry and Robina's round house being built to council specifications while only using natural local materials was inspiring. We viewed other examples from around the world...the many innovative ways to build that are both functional and attractive.

The Guyton's 'Forest Garden' proved to be an inspiration to all- even our visiting tutors thought it may be the oldest (15 years)and best example in the South Island if not NZ. Their two acres was planted out in natural formations where different size trees and plants co-existed in a series of interdependent self sustaining 'Guilds'. Diversity, layering of plants, working with the elements affecting the site created a wonderful lush and fruitful forest. Gathering food for our lunch was a memorable experience.

Transport methods and use will change as society moves away from oil and fossil fuels. Efficient use of energy becomes impportant and Ted's electric bike was a good example of some of modern solutions we heard about.

Studying the make up of soil and ways to enhance its fertility in natrual ways was very enlightening.

making seed balls for seed dispersal was heaps of fun

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every aspect of growing your own veges was covered and we had lovely organic veges to eat during the course as well

The final design work on local properties was challenging and we had to use everything we had learnt in a practical way in real life

On our last day- time to spread back around NZ and the world and share our skills and knowledge.