Nicole Foss in Daylesford

Nicole Foss is coming to the Daylesford Town Hall  February 16th at 7.30pm.

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 Nicole is the co-editor of The Automatic Earth, where she writes under the name Stoneleigh. She and her writing partner have been chronicling and interpreting the on-going credit crunch as the most pressing aspect of our current multi-faceted predicament. The site integrates finance, energy, environment, psychology, population and real politik in order to explain why we find ourselves in a state of crisis and what we can do about it. Prior to the establishment of TAE, she was editor of The Oil Drum Canada, where she wrote on peak oil and finance.

Foss runs the Agri-Energy Producers' Association of Ontario, where she has focused on farm-based biogas projects and grid connections for renewable energy. While living in the UK she was a Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, where she specialised in nuclear safety in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, and conducted research into electricity policy at the EU level.

Her academic qualifications include a BSc in biology from Carleton University in Canada (where she focused primarily on neuroscience and psychology), a post-graduate diploma in air and water pollution control, the common professional examination in law and an LLM in international law in development from the University of Warwick in the UK. She was granted the University Medal for the top science graduate in 1988 and the law school prize for the top law school graduate in 1997

She is also extremely practical. Below, she shares with us what she and her family have done to prepare themselves for the big changes on the way.

Don't miss this opportunity. Book now and get a 20% discount on the door price or email HRN for more info

Peak Oil Ball & 1st workshop of the year

The Mayor's Peak Oil Ball drew a diverse crowd. Quiz Master Rick Tanaka, in his inimitable style, and team mate David Holmgren (below with Laurel and Gabe) brought a few more hidden facts to light.

Beth (centre), natural fibre prize winner 

Miri and Clay recycled  outfit prize winners

Hubbard's Peak by Maureen

Thank you to everyone who came and contributed to the fun of the evening and to the Mayor's Climate Change Fund.

The first workshop of the year will be held on January 13th at Melliodora and will be on creating a clay floor. The workshop will be lead by James Henderson and there will be only 6 places. There will be some preparation leading up to the day which will require participants to be available for a couple of hours during the week before the workshop day (TBA). Expressions of interest should be sent to HRN. More details to come.

HAPPY SOLSTICE TO ALL!!

Solstice Party

Well, the summer solstice is just around the corner so come and celebrate at Melliodora under the pear tree on Thursday December 22nd after 5pm.

Please bring a plate of your homegrown/preserved goodies turned into your favourite dish or drink or a meat dish from wild or homegrown/home killed source. No pets please. For more info contact us.

Peak Oil Ball

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Come and help support the Mayor’s Emergency Climate Fund to help Hepburn Shire communities with emergency relief for climate-related disasters such as fire, flood, winds, etc, and innovation in renewable energy.

Date: Saturday 3 December 2011
Time: 7:00 pm
Venue: The Palais, 111 Main Road, Hepburn Springs
Tickets: Dinner and Show: $65. $600 per table of 10
Show Only: $25 - at the door on the night
Music by the Cartwheels Big Band
Quiz by Rick Tanaka
Drinks at bar prices

• Prize for best recycled outfit
• Prize for best local natural fibre outfit
• Prize for who ever walked to the event from the furthest away

Book at the The Palais, 111 Main Road, Hepburn Springs
Ph: 5348 4849 www.thepalais.com.au

Another date or your diaries is December 10 when SBS gardening guru Costa will be in town to help launch the Hepburn Wholefood Co-op.

A PS from last time about Seed Saving. The Seed Savers Handbook is usually $32 but for orders of 4 or more it is $19, so please email Liz on relocal.liz@gmail.com by 4 December if you'd like to add yourself to a bulk order. $19 if you drop off your money in a (second hand) envelope with your name on it to Melliodora, 16 Fourteenth Street, Hepburn, $21 if you pay afterwards, to cover costs.

Also mentioned at the film night was the possibility of a bulk buy of some of Juliette de Baircli Levy's books about dog health and Farm and Stable. Unfortunately we haven't found any bulk buy options, so perhaps instead you could look at purchasing them from ABE books, a website that collects together suppliers of second hand books.

Peak Oil Ball & Saving Seeds

Hi all,

Firstly just a bit of housekeeping: the Community Dinner that was scheduled for tonight has been cancelled due to lack of numbers. In the future if you would like to see such events go ahead, please make sure you book in advance.

The next upcoming event is the Mayor's Peak Oil Ball on Saturday Dec 3 at the Palais. Details to come.


Thank you to everyone who turned up for the screening of Juliette of the Herbs at the Savoia. What a lovely film and what a lively discussion afterwards. Thanks to Margot for being the scribe. Here are the notes from the night:

How do we create a culture of seed saving and swapping?

Save seeds from our home gardens and community gardens.

Swap them at community garden working bees and at the monthly harvest swap meets.

Be careful as cross pollination can occur between some plants eg: zuccini, squash and pumpkins. Daikon crossed with wild raddish makes a useless root.

Growing successful plants means they are better adapted to a specific area, but they can lose the individual characteristics the plant started with.

Adaptability vs quality.

Rijk Zwaan is a Musk-based seed company that specialises in breeding and supplying vegetable seed for commercial cultivation. Maybe we could have an excursion out to see how they their company operates.

To save seeds make sure you identify what they are:

•     Variety
•     Lineage (how long you have been growing the plant)
•     Where the plant was grown (wet or dry part of town)
•     When the plant was harvested
•     What type of soil the plant was grown in
•     How was the plant fertilised?
•     Was the plant grown in sun or shade?

 

Perhaps we could have a communal stamp made up with all the info we need to know about seeds. Variety, shade, frost sensitive etc.. Just like regular seed packages.

Do we want to have a centralised shire seed bank?

Resources:

www.seedsavers.net

The Seed Savers' Handbook by Michel and Jude Fanton

Film: The Seed Hunter

Reminder for Pardon My Carbon and community dinner

The Rod Quantock show is this Thursday. Please let us know by tomorrow if you would like to join an HRN table for what promises to be an entertaining night. BYO dinner (local of course) and drinks to share.

And the Community Dinner is on November 16th which is the following Wednesday. Book if you would like to join us so that we can set table.

Old Is New Again, Transition Conference in Melbourne, Rod Quantock in Daylesford & film night this Thursday

Well, just take a look at the Automatic Earth blog: October 30 2011: Reviving the Department of Subsistence Homesteads and discover 'the solutions' from the States to the1933 great depression...anything look familiar?

You can watch Nicole Foss explaining finance - highly informative but give yourself a free evening and a nice snack before you settle in. Or shall we do a film night so we can talk about it?

You may be interested in this MAV Transition Conference but if you can't get there (or it is a stress on the finances), contact a Councillor or Shire officer to suggest they go.

SHARE is hosting Rod Quantock again so if you want to join us on the HRN table, let us know. The cost is $19/head.

Oh, and don't forget film night this Thursday and in preparation, think about what seeds you have or could collect to swap/gift this year.

Garden Party

This is just a reminder about the Garden Party this Sunday at Rea Lands Park.

The weather is forecast to be 20˚C and very spring-like, so bring a picnic and rug, your loved ones and come on down!

There was a bit of a rush on the seedlings we had for sale yesterday so not everybody got what they needed. Florian will have a seedling stall at the Sunday market this week so maybe you could pick some up some from him then. Alternatively, please order some (see list here) through HRN and they will probably be here next Wednesday with bulk foods.

Don't forget that this Thursday, November 3rd we'll be watching Juliette of the Herbs at the Savoia at 7.30pm. Regular menu available.

See you Sunday, folks!

Juliette of the Herbs and Community dinner

Thursday, November 3rd at the Savoia at 7.30pm join us to see Juliette of the Herbs

Our discussion afterwards will be on seed saving and creating a seed bank.

Also, put November 16th (Wednesday) in your diaries for our community dinner at the Town Hall accompanied by music and a spot of dancing. More on that soon ......

Local happenings

Hey all, it seems that a lot of us have been really flat of late but there a bunch of things happening to go to that could get us smiling again. Try some of these...

This Saturday pop up to Jubilee Lake between 12 and 3pm to celebrate the new lessee of the Jubilee Lake Caravan Park - a residents' co-operative! Congratulations Hepburn Shire for giving them the lease! HRN will have a stall there.

Paul Hawken

If you want to hear Paul Hawken, he will be in Bendigo October 28th as guest of the Bendigo Sustainability Group. Email us if you want to be part of a table. (It is expensive I know but hey, it could be worth it.) We will be car pooling across.

Then, Daylesford Community Gardeners are hosting a garden party Sunday October 30 between 10 and 3pm. Oh what fun! Bring a picnic or enjoy some Ego Culinaria tucker while reclining on the grass with friends.

Also, starting in November are a series of bicycle maintenance workshops at the Neighbourhood House between 2 and 4pm on the last three Saturdays. Great idea if you have an old bike you would like to zip into shape for Critical Mass (last Friday of the month at 5pm at the Daylesford Primary School).

And Keeping it Local: Local Wardrobe is a nice little clip on local clothing, something I neglected when Ken Warren asked the question about transitioning and local clothing at a recent film night. Here is what a small group is doing.

And coming soon.......................next film night Juliette of the Herbs and a community dinner.