Don't miss Michael Reynolds in Daylesford!

Hey, Michael Reynolds workshop preparation is proving to be lots of fun, creating a wave of enthusiasm amongst lots of people beyond HRN, SHAre and the Council for future prospects of what we might create at the tip, the source of much wealth for building. Will it turn into a passive solar lunch room for Jenny.....?
And, Mike should be a real font of info both about the ins and outs of his particular way of designing and building for self sufficiency using discarded industrial materials (hence the workshop at the tip) as well as the regulation quagmire that our Council is looking at lightening up - do I hear you making skeptical noises?? Well, we at HRN are pretty excited about the steps forward in the Council and for the first time are working closely with this Council. Times they are a changing at last.
Oh, and if you book for the talk on Thursday evening, that will help us to know how many to cater for  at supper time.
Put a note in your calendars for next film night - Thursday, March 10th when we will be showing
The Oiling of America
 and
  Robert Pekin the creator of Food Connect in Brisbane will be in Daylesford to tell us all about his 1000 box CSA(Community Supported Agriculture) in March.

Loads to do, see and learn

Don't forget our film night this Thursday 10th February, 7:30pm. We'll be showing Garbage Warrior, at the Town Hall. A great preview before Michael Reynolds comes to town. We're hoping to also show a short film from Peter Cowman of Living Architecture, who is also running some workshops in the area. His open house last Sunday was very interesting, he has a different perspective on "Shelter Making" that is very valuable.

Meanwhile, an important message from Hepburn Wind:

Australia’s clean energy future is being questioned by the Federal Senate’s inquiry into the ‘Social and economic impact of rural wind farms‘. Without a strong display of community support, it is possible that we won’t see any more projects like the Hepburn Community Wind Farm built in Australia. Put in your submission here to support wind farms in Australia.

And a message from Ian Lillington about some more upcoming learning opportunities:

There are four exciting opportunities coming up soon for anyone involved in transition, sustainability, food systems, community gardens etc.  Brief details follow - please share them around as bookings close soon.

 

Robin Clayfield - Queensland-based trainer with over 25 years experience - making a rare visit to Vic to run:

1.  "Dynamic Groups" 4 Day Intensive Course to be held in Melbourne from 1st to 4th March at C.E.R.E.S. in Brunswick. This course is for people involved in Permaculture, City Farms and Community Gardens, Transition Towns and similar. It is open to all though it's great if we all have similar interests for maximum benefit.

2.  "Creative Community Governance and Decision Making" Day, also at C.E.R.E.S. on Tuesday, 8th of March. This is for anyone involved in Community organisations or groups where making decisions and having discussion could be more energising, fun, creative and/or productive.

Information about Robin's Dynamic Groups Courses and the CCG & DM Day can be found on www.dynamicgroups.com.au. Please let Virginia know on vsolomon@netspace.net.au if you are interested. Some of us from Hepburn are going down so let us know if you want to join us (Robin is highly recommended)

PLUS - with a range of highly skilled and experienced Victorian trainers; and tours to private permaculture properties:

3.  Castlemaine Permaculture Design Course - low cost, high quality. 16 Wednesdays over term 1 and term 2, with State government subsidy making this the cheapest PDC anywhere. [Get it while it lasts!] Run by the Castlemaine Community House. Bookings on 5472 4842.

 

4.  Diploma of Permaculture - the highest level of accredited training in permaculture in Australia, starts soon at Eltham College. Some subsidised places available. Details at http://www.elthamcollege.vic.edu.au/www/sustainability-permaculture.php or email vsolomon@elthamcollege.vic.edu.au.

And if you're based a little further afield in the northerly direction from Hepburn (over Castlemaine way), check out the Growing Abundance project - to share fruit trees and harvesting work, to learn about production and preservation of your local food, and to find out where to get food around the Mount Alexander Shire. Well worth a look. We're working on some similar things over this way in the Hepburn Shire, let us know by email or phone 5348 3636 if you're interested in helping us out.

Building, building and more building - workshops galore and a film night too

Michael Reynolds of Garbage Warrior and Earthship fame is soon to join us here in sunny (and occasionally somewhat rainy) Daylesford. SHARE are organising 2 events on 24th February (details below), with a little bit of help from us and others, and in anticipation of this we are showing the film Garbage Warrior again.

We will show Garbage Warrior on Thursday 10th February, 7:30pm at the Town Hall. Please come along and join us, and be inspired to attend Michael's public talk and/or workshop on February 24th. Also, our new Sustainability Co-ordinator at the Hepburn Shire, Jill Berry will discuss suggestions/ideas for projects for which her department could apply for funding in the forthcoming council budget. Get your thinking caps on and let's discuss your ideas just before we view the film. Short and sweet.

And also on the theme of building...

Peter Cowman is running a number of events in the near future in the Castlemaine and Daylesford areas, with an Open House on the topic of "Architecture and the Meaning of Life," this Sunday 6th February, 2-4:30pm. The updated venue is the Ray Bradbury room, Frederick Street (behind the market building) in Castlemaine. And this one is just a gold coin donation too! See the Living Architecture Centre site for all the details.

And out the other way from Daylesford town...

The Satyananda Yoga Ashram in Rocklyn is running a Yoga and Earth Building Render Workshop from 17th to 21st February. See the flier here.

Michael Reynolds event details:

EVENT 1: WORKSHOP THURSDAY FEBRURY 24, 12PM to 3PM DAYLESFORD Principles, Permits, Planning, Practicalities Michael Reynolds is a world expert in Zero Carbon building and build Biotecture.  He will be presenting and demonstrating how to use build making use of local recycled materials and deal with building and planning regulations.  The workshop is aimed at Local and State Government decision makers, builders, engineers, owner builders, planners and architects.  This workshop is supported by the MAV.  See Michael’s film the Garbage Warrior and website http://earthship.com/haiti for his disaster recovery work in Haiti.   Booking Essential, Limited Spaces.   Cost: $65 - $75   Enquiries and Booking: president@share.asn.au, Tel 03 5309 2664, www.share.asn.au EVENT 2: GARBAGE WARRIOR PUBLIC TALK, DAYLESFORD TOWN HALL 7 – 9PM THURSDAY FEBRURY 24, 2011 Michael Reynolds, internationally acclaimed Garbage Warrior will present on Earthship Biotecture and The Art of Zero Carbon Living.  Michael is an engaging and knowledgeable speaker on building from local recycled materials, influencing policy and disaster recovery. See Michael’s film the Garbage Warrior and website http://earthship.com/haiti for his disaster recovery work in Haiti.  Booking preferred, we need to plan for this popular event.   Cost: $10 - $15.  Enquiries and Booking: president@share.asn.au, Tel 03 5309 2664 www.share.asn.au

Wild Food workshop this weekend, and some reading and watching...

Don't forget Alexis' Wild Food Identification, Gathering and Preparation workshop this Sunday 30th. There's still space, so email us or call 5348 3636 to book in! It will be really great finding and gathering wild food, then preparing and eating it! I very much enjoyed my meal when I attended a previous workshop and have made use of my identification skills in finding food to prepare meals since!

Also don't forget to head to the market stall for Sally McCrae at the Daylesford Market before you head down for the workshop.

If you aren't able to make the dinner and films tonight, you can check out the update from the Chile building project here. Worth a watch to see what our funds are helping them do over there.


And just a few other things to check out while you're at it:

A new article by David Holmgren, on Bee keeping for the energy descent future, is available for download from the Writings page of the Holmgren Design Services (HDS) website. This article is a reflection on "the prospects for apiculture (bee keeping) as a sustainable and resilient livelihood in the future" and considers the current state of apiculture and future possibilities from a number of different angles.

Also on the HDS website, a press release by David entitled Urgent need to recreate flood resilient rivers and floodplains. This press release is a response to the recent floods and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of streamside vegetation management strategies that are currently in use and that are recommended by David Holmgren and others. 

David also recommends that "Tradable Energy Quotas is probably the only public policy that might have a chance of giving us orderly energy descent," and that "this report should be widely read and discussed."


Also check out a video, 300 years of fossil fuels in 300 seconds, here.

Dinner & short films Thursday 27th - change of venue, Wild Food Gathering and Preparation (and Eating!), and market stall for Sally!

A late change to the venue of our upcoming dinner and short films Thursday 27th January, it will now be at Conti, still at 7pm for dinner, 8pm for films. Book with us by email or phone 5348 3636. Come along to share a meal and catch the Chile building update and Transition message from Rob Hopkins.

Now for the promised details about Alexis' upcoming Wild Food workshop on Sunday 30th January...

The full workshop will run from 10am until 2pm and will include a walk to find our yummy weeds and then cooking up a storm with said weeds to share a meal. $45 for the full deal, including lunch. If you really can't come for the whole session, $20 for the walk, $30 for the preparation and meal. Book with us by email or phone 5348 3636.

And before you head to the Weed workshop, check out the market stall for Sally McCrae that morning (30th January), at Daylesford market. Sally is a local midwife who is facing pressure from the medical profession to justify her homebirth practice. Supporting homebirth is important so that people can have right to choose how they give birth. Karen and Sarah are organising a market stall to raise funds for Sally's legal costs, she has yet to hear about hearing and the costs are mounting.

If you have any donations of good quality household goods, furniture, clothing, kids' stuff, toys or books, or if you can help with the running of the stall on the day, please contact Sarah on 5348 7993 or Karen on 0434 261 306 or email to organise pick up/delivery of goods and advise of your availability.

See the flyer here, or the link on facebook here.

First HRN event for 2011! Thursday 27 January

Our first event for the year will be a dinner, with an update from the Chile building project and a transition message from Rob Hopkins. (Rescheduled from late last year as it was a busy time for everyone!) See our previous blog post for more info about the message from Rob Hopkins and the update from Chile...

The dinner will be at the Savoia, 7pm Thursday 27 January. Dinner is a set menu with bookings in advance, in line with our sustainable eating out guidelines for minimising food waste. Please book with us, by email or phone - 5348 3636.

On the topic of Chile, a long overdue big thank you to everyone involved in helping to raise funds for the Chilean community of El Manzano who were affected by the earthquake early last year, particularly those who were involved in last year's benefit dinner, gig and art auction. It was a wonderful night with a delicious dinner, excellent company and fantastic music to dance to. Thanks to the cooks, the musicians, organisers and helpers and also special thanks to the artists who donated their art works for the silent auction and to those who donated prizes for the raffle. See a few pics from the night below. :-)

It will be great for us all to hear a much awaited update on the progress of their project that we helped support AND learn a little more about sustainable building!

Enjoying the delicious local organic feast prepared for dinner.

Scattersoul delighting the audience...

who kicked off their shoes to dance...

and enjoying themselves while they were at it!

Also, advance notice that the next Edible weed walk with Alexis Pitsopoulos will be on Sunday 30 January. More details in next week's blog or email us for early bookings.

Community dinner, update on the Chile project and a message from Rob Hopkins

So, December has arrived fast and our last event for the year is a dinner so let us have an evening of pleasure with a shared table of local food, an update from Chile on their building project that we raised the $6000 for and a message from Rob Hopkins that was delivered to the MAV day that was held around the theme of transition at Flemington Racecourse last month. We (the small Shire that we are) had 7 people from our local community, including John Collins and Jill Berry from the Council in attendance so Transition is definitely on our priority list in Hepburn Shire. Rob's message is quite inspiring so we look forward to seeing it together. It will be at the Savoia as usual at 7.30pm Friday December 10th.
Also, if it takes your fancy, bring a song a short story, a poem or a skit for us all to enjoy.
Please book.
And if you need a new something to wear, you might just find it at the clothing swap at Breakfast and Beer on the same afternoon between 3 and 6pm

Don't worry if you forgot  the Bushfire Prep working bee at the Hepburn Hollow on Sunday 28th November, it was too wet. BUT do continue to do fire prep around you home; it may seem wet but who knows when the grass will dry off and become a fire hazard;  the HRN tools are always available here for you to borrow. The hollow is starting to look good so take a bike ride, maybe pack a picnic and have a peek.
A couple of inspiring blogs, one local and one a bit further away
 Finally, the Melliodora Solstice Party is on Saturday December 18th. By invite only. Mail us.

Sustainable Building Expo 13/11; Cambodian Women's Health Centre fundraising event 14/11; Hepburn Hollow working bee 28/11

Don't forget SHARE's Sustainable Building Expo this Saturday. Details on the SHARE website share.asn.au. HRN will have a stall, so drop by to say hi and let us know if you'd like to help us wo/man the stand.

Some news from some local women is copied below about a fundraiser this Sunday for a Women's Health Centre in Cambodia.

Also, note in your diary now, there will be another Hepburn Hollow bushfire preparation working bee on 28 November. Full details next week (though you probably know the drill by now anyway)...

"A fundraiser is being held on Sunday 14^th November to collect items for a group of five local women and three children to take over to a Women's Health Centre in Cambodia where they will volunteer for a few weeks.


For women in Cambodia, “crossing the river” (giving birth) is seen as the most dangerous day in a woman's life. Extreme poverty, nutritional challenges, isolation, ill equipped hospitals and lack of knowledge about warning signs in pregnancies all contribute to Cambodia's high maternal mortality rates.


Denise Love, a registered nurse and midwife from Sydney and her husband Gary self funded the Women's Health Centre in Takao, which officially opened on 1 August 2010. In the first eight weeks over 800 women were seen. Denise says that “Whilst we first went to Cambodia with the intention of supporting pregnant and birthing women, it became obvious that we also needed to start with basic life skills. The villages we have been visiting and talking with are asking for some very basic help such as how to access clean water, reducing diarrhea, help with coughs and how to grow fruit and vegetables. We are also opening a small school for 5-7 year olds on December 1 2010. A local 16 year old Khmer boy is going to be the teacher and is looking for any support we can give him. It is a school for daily living skills.” Denise is now living in Takao and plans to stay there until the centre and school are able to run successfully and sustainably without her there.


Denise has been coming to Daylesford during the past year to train doulas or birth attendants. Minna Graham, Maggie von Glesch and Jacinta Saunders are all doulas travelling over to work with Denise in the centre. Selena McVeigh and Joe Arrow are horticulturists joining the volunteer team to help plan and implement a food and medicine garden at the health centre and also plan to set up a seed bank.


The fundraiser is being organised to collect donations of needed items that can be taken over by the volunteer team in their backpacks. Items needed include packets of gauze squares, cotton wool, disposable gloves, rubber gloves, wound dressings, any basic bandages, tennis balls for schools, colouring pencils and pens, wooden toys, books for children, and used childrens back packs filled with  pencils, pens and paper, string balls, toothbrushes for children, B&B soaps, undies girl sizes 3-14 any woman’s sizes, baby singlets, non-hybrid seeds. Any cash donations are very welcome! $2 would buy a village family a chicken, $45 would sponsor a midwives wages for a month, $25 would sponsor a midwife to attend a conference. Donations can be either collected at the fundraiser or deposited straight into the Relief Fund. ANZ Surry Hills, NSW a/c name LifeOptions Inc. – Cambodia Relief Fund BSB 012487 a/c # 250001495.

The fundraiser is being held at the Hepburn Springs Reserve Playground at 2pm on Sunday 14th November. There will be lots of empty backpacks there ready to be filled with donations. The girls have a luggage allowance of 160kg. If the weather is rainy the backup venue will be the Palais. We look forward to seeing you there!

For further information on this project please check out www.lifeoptions.asia"

Reminder: Film night 11/11; Ideas for the ESAC EDAP?? (Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee Energy Descent Action Plan); SHARE Sustainable Building Expo

Don't forget to call us on 5348 3636 or email, to book for next week's dinner at Conti, Thursday 11 November. Dinner is at 7pm, the film, Design for Life - Permaculture - The Food Forest Story is at 8pm (no booking required for the film only).

If you haven't heard yet, Su is our HRN representative on the new Council Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee (ESAC). Part of the mandate for this committee is to create an Energy Descent Action Plan for our Shire. Please talk to Su if you have any ideas to contribute. She will keep us informed on the committee's progress as well. Keep up the good work Su!

An upcoming Sustainable Hepburn Association (SHARE) event reminder as well, in case you aren't on the SHARE email list. Find out more about SHARE at share.asn.au.

WHAT: Sustainable Building Expo
WHEN:  10:30am – 4pm Saturday 13th November 2010
WHERE: Daylesford Town Hall
As a way of helping people to reduce their energy use and to promote local green businesses, SHARE is holding a Sustainable Building Expo on Saturday 13th November.   Our aim is to set up a market place in the Daylesford Town Hall where people can learn and ask questions of experts about all aspects of sustainable building for either a new house, an extension or retrofitting an existing home.  We want to de-mystify green building.

We are asking stallholders to provide clear information about how their product/area of expertise can help people to live comfortably with a much smaller carbon footprint.  We have invited our local Town Planners, Architects, Builders, Plumbers, Electricians, Energy Assessors as well as suppliers of photovoltaics, solar hot water, low volatile organic compound finishes, black/grey water treatment plants, energy efficient lighting/appliances, double glazing and other suppliers of green building products. Gary Thomas of Spade to Blade will be selling delicious organic food and drinks.

Entry: $5 adults, SHARE members and all kids free. (Sign up for membership on the day if you like!)

Dinner and film night: Design For Life - Permaculture - The Food Forest Story, Thursday 11 November

Our next film night will be Thursday 11 November, 8pm at Conti, with a 'sustainable eating out' dinner beforehand at 7pm, for just $15. Please book for dinner on 5348 3636 or email us. The film of the day will be Design For Life - Permaculture - The Food Forest Story, just arrived from the aforementioned Food Forest in South Australia. (Due to recent arrival, replacing the previously advertised Oiling of America, apologies for late changes.)

Join us for this documentary about Annemarie and Graham Brookman's journey on their way to creating The Food Forest, "one of the World's iconic permaculture properties and one of Australia's most awarded organic farms."

Some photos of our last Conti dinner to inspire you to join us as well...

Chatting before dinner, a great chance to make new friends and build our community

Alexis explains the amazing feast he has prepared for us from local and wild foods

And look at the spread!

Serving up - yum!

See you on your bike at Critical Mass! 5pm Friday 29 October at the Daylesford Primary School zebra crossing. (That's tomorrow!) :-)