Solstice Dinner

What a night we had at our dinner!

The musicians set the ambience for a celebratory evening that 60 of us contributed to in many different ways. Firstly by contributing things we had grown, preserved been gifted or created ourselves including even our drinks; elderberry wine, gorse flower and elderberry soda and elderberry cordial to mix with fresh mineral water collected on the day.

Gary Thomas came up with a brilliant menu that included a few unusual ingredients like acorn meal and flour, dandelion and chickweed for the nine main dishes and three sweets.

We were all rather surprised by the variety of fresh produce that we managed to come up with in mid winter and how creative people are in making things from nature's abundance.

An able handful of cook's assistants helped Gary to bring his menu to life.

The decorations for the room were created mostly for traditional European solstice greenery and many diners also made themselves laurels to wear for the evening.

A solstice ritual with candles gave thanks to the longest night of the year and then the returning light.

Some quirky stories of how particular ingredients of the dinner had been obtained were shared much to our amusement and Gary told of why he wanted to create a dinner of this kind.

 In keeping with the longest period of darkness of the year, the photos too are a little dark but really give you a feel for the evening.

Thanks to each and every one of you for making the evening such a a grand celebration!

The Economics of Happiness

This has to be the icon film of HRN as it fully illustrates how going local really is a choice strategy in leading us all to a more fulfilling, gentler and just society.

Brought to us by Helena Norberg-Hodge whose previous film, Ancient Futures, was seen by many of you in 2008 at an HRN screening. Her ground-breaking work in the Himalayan region of Ladakh is internationally recognized, and earned her ‘Alternative Nobel Prize.’

Screening at the Savoia Hotel in Hepburn Thursday July 14th at 7.30pm



NOT TO BE MISSED!

National Permaculture Day

National Permaculture Day in Daylesford on the 30th April was a joyous celebration of community spirit. Over 300 people attended the day's activities, workshops, open gardens, talks and meals, some of which you can see in this short film by Patrick Jones.

Event Reminders

Hi folks, as usual there's a lot happening in our area right now. Watch this space for news of exciting developments from the Transition Towns Training at the Daylesford Town Hall last weekend. Here's a link   of up-to-date peak oil resources.

We plan to develop a criterion for material put here on our HRN blog but as yet we haven't had the time to do this. Suggestions as to what we include will be discussed at an upcoming meeting / dinner / film, but feel free to discuss here.

Meanwhile here are few local events I'd like to mention:

Solstice dinner with a difference

On Wednesday June 22^nd HRN will celebrate Yule (the winter solstice/longest night of the year) at the Daylesford Town Hall at 7pm.
This year Gary Thomas is going to make up some shared plates from our ingredients.

The challenge is:
                              we, the eaters of this dinner, provide  all the ingredients from our own gardens, gleaned from public spaces, preserved or processed from either of these, or that have been gifted or that received outside the monetary economy.
We are aiming to have an enjoyable celebration where all ingredients and labour are freely given and shared as a foray into a different approach to living in community.
There will be creative effort put into limiting our buying of anything for the dinner, including energy to cook and stay warm. Discussion over dinner will be invited about where things came from, how they were produced, what we were not able to obtain in this way, etc and there will be an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the ‘gifts’.

Join us in this adventure!
If you'd like to attend, please let us know by June 3^rd what ingredients or help you are able to offer for the dinner so the menu can be constructed,  or simply if you would like to come along .... drinks, music, poetry,etc are other possibilities you could offer to freely share.

Hoping to hear from you soon…
the HRN schemers

Also,

If you're booking into the Transition Training weekend (28/29th May) that's great! You will have to book with SHARE, but could you also let us know, so we have some idea of how many of us HRN representatives can attend....Thanks

MAY 28/29 Transition Training in Daylesford

Announcing a Local TRANSITION TOWNS TRAINING WORKSHOP....Building community resilience and localised economies from the ground up. There are some 360 Transition Towns Networks around the world acting on creating a better future for their families, business and community. Transition Towns initiatives help communities design strong and healthy futures despite diminishing supplies of cheap energy and threatening environmental demise. 

This practical and informative training covers the principles, steps, processes of the Transition Towns model and the logic of an Energy Descent Action Plan (the EDAP). Jacinta Walsh one of the few officially recognised Transition Towns Trainers worldwide will conduct the training in Daylesford Sat 28th & Sun 29th (9.15 to 5.30 both days). Bring some food you have grown or made to share. We will provide home made soup and bread and refreshments. SHARE members $65 for weekend.

To book contact 03 5309 2664 or email Laurel Freeland on president@share.asn.au
 

The Great 'Simple Living' Survey is still open...

Oops! I have just discovered The Great 'Simple Living' Survey is still open, so as well as reading the interesting results so far, you can still fill in the survey for future research purposes.

National Permaculture weekend 30th April, 1st May - excitement builds! Also preserving workshops and surveys galore

National Permaculture weekend is fast approaching and preparations for the feast of events, activities and, of course, food are coming along and we're all getting very excited.

Saturday 30th April is a day of celebrations, at the Daylesford Community Garden in Albert Street (next to the library). It all starts with a bang at 10am when the Community Garden Permablitz happens, so get your work clothes on and head over nice and early!

Prepare yourself by:
- choosing some seedlings - to plant in the garden during the Community Garden Permablitz (10am);
- collecting some apples (find a yummy wild unharvested tree!) and finding a bottle or two - to press some juice (11am-3pm);
- finding a plain cotton t-shirt or top, in your drawers or at the local op shops - to screen print on the day (11am-2pm);
- dehoarding some things to swap at the swap table - seeds, plants, fruit, vegies, clothes... (11am-3pm);
- preparing your favourite recipe made as much as you can from local ingredients - to share at the evening meal (6pm) while you listen to reLOCALisation stories, poetry and music around the fire; and
- getting excited about the music, talks, chestnut roasting, clay work, wood carving, films (in the library), and permaculture design exercise (at Raelands Park, Raglan Street) that are happening on the day!

Sunday 1st May, the official National Permaculture Day, is a day of tours. Meet at the Community Garden at 9:50am for free tours of 3 Daylesford food gardens. Or you could take the chance to book in for a tour of Melliodora, Hepburn permaculture gardens, with David Holmgren (held monthly September through to May). The mudbrick passive solar house tour runs 10am-12:30pm, and the garden, orchard and animal systems tour is at 2pm-4:30pm, $25 per person, per tour (including morning or afternoon tea), call 5348 3636 or email info@holmgren.com.au for bookings. As a bonus, first two HRN people to book for the afternoon Garden tour can come free, so let us know if you are HRN when booking!

And in the mean time preserving workshops seem to be the go all around...

Next Wednesday 27th April Su is running a preserving workshop from 9am to 1pm at Melliodora. The cost is $50 and there is a limit of 6 people so get in quick! Su will cover preserving tomatoes, fruit, juice and chutney.

And the Castlemaine Community House is running some preserving workshops too, Quinces: what to do with them on Saturday 7th May, 10am-1pm, Olives: preserving and pressing on Saturday 28th May, 11am -2pm and Apples & Pears: making juice and cider, Saturday 25th June, 11am-2pm.

A number of film screenings are happening in Castlemaine as well with the first ones being The Gleaners and I on Sunday 8th May, 5pm, and The Real Dirt on Farmer John on Sunday 22 May, 4:30pm.

Email Lucy or call 5472 4842 to book or find out more about the Castlemaine workshops and films.

Lastly, if you haven't already, click here to fill out the Hepburn Wholefoods Collective consumer and backyard food producer survey. They would greatly appreciate you taking the time to complete a survey, to assist them to establish the community's needs regarding sustainable wholefoods options within the Hepburn Shire.

Speaking of surveys, we were a bit slow off the mark to tell you about the Simplicity Institute's Great 'Simple Living' Survey as it has now closed, but the results are very interesting at a quick glance. 87% of survey participants who have made a transition toward a simpler life report that they are happier living more simply! (That includes me.) :-) And only a measley 0.2% said that they were 'less happy'! Read all about it here. Living simply is a big part of transitioning to the future, so it's great to know that most people end up happier that way!

When we next get some spare time around here we will be working on a Household Audit project which aims to help us all learn better ways of doing things at home, a lot of which are about living more simply and reducing external consumption across all areas. Ask us more about this if you are interested in getting involved.

Peter Harper, this Saturday! National Permaculture Weekend celebrations!

Don't forget about Peter Harper's talk on Plants, Land and Carbon this weekend. 7:30pm this Saturday 16th April at the Hepburn Primary School Hall. Email or call 5348 3636 to book.

And, announcing the details of our upcoming National Permaculture Weekend celebrations, Saturday 30th April and Sunday 1st May! Da daa daa da da daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Join us from 10am Saturday 30th when events kick off with a Community Garden PERMABLITZ!

Please let us know if you'd like to help us out on the day or with organisation prior to the events. Otherwise just come along and join in the festivities! We'll have a marquee to keep us dry in the event of wet weather so come along rain, hail or shine. :-)

Peter Harper lecture, Bioenergy Seminar and Ballarat Permaculture happenings

Don't miss the unique opportunity to hear Peter Harper speak about Plants, Land and Carbon, and what role agriculture and land-use can play in decarbonising a fossil economy. Brought to Australia for lectures in Melbourne and Sydney by the British Council, we are fortunate to host Peter at the Hepburn Primary School Hall on Saturday, April 16th at 7:30pm. Book with us by email or phone 5348 3636.

CHAF along with Central Victorian Farm Plantations Committee and Ballarat Regional Treegrowers are hosting Dave Atkins to run a seminar on using woody biomass for bioenergy on Thursday 7th April in the Trench Room at City of Ballarat from 10:00 - 12 noon.

Dave Atkins is a world renowned forester from the US Forest Service. Dave set up the Fuels for Schools and Beyond program that has successfully overseen the installation of 14 biomass boiler systems in schools and hospitals across the States.

Three events with Ballarat Permaculture Guild:
Introduction to Permaculture with Graeme George - April 9 & 10
8:30am to 5:30pm both days at Ballarat South Uniting Church

Practical Pruning Apple Trees with Carolyn Jones - April 9
9:30am - 12:30pm at Snake Valley

Vegetable Garden Tour with John Ditchburn - April 9
10am to 12 noon at Soldier's Hill.
Truly an excellent garden to visit!

Email bpgworkshops@gmail.com or call Steve on 0409 551 539 for more info and booking instructions for the Ballarat Permaculture events. Booking form available here.