I got the email attached below from Megan and I promised her that I would send a message to everyone that I know involved in this to help out. So if you’re involved in creating and presenting Permaculture courses, please contact her.
After many years of trying I have finally been allocated budget for PDCs. Could you please quote me on a company letterhead? I cannot give you quantities just yet so please quote on 1 person; including meals & accom. I also need dates for the next course. Could they take place here at our little nursery in Addo (preferably!!!!) or do they have to take place at your place? And note that a Xhosa interpreter would be required as well
Megan G. McCarthy
Assistant Cluster Manager ISCU
Working for Water & Working for the Coast – Frontier Cluster,
South African National Parks (SANParks)
Cellular: 082 89 44422
Office: 046 – 653 0610 E-fax: 086 590 6010
E-mail:meganm@sanparks.org
Web address: http://www.sanparks.org http://www.dwaf.gov.za/wfw/
P.O. Box 50 Alexandria 6185 ~ Treat the Earth Well, It Was Not Given to You by Your Parents, It Was Loaned to You by Your Children ~ Indian Proverb
Off grid living is in my future because I’m moving to rural KZN, to live amongst the Zulu people, learn their healing art by initiation into being a sangoma and living with my love.
A dream come true, because we’ll be living next to a beautiful clean river, and without an Eskom line in sight. What pleasure!
The Nduna says that most people are leaving because the government is not bringing the electricity to them, but we’re looking for that in particular, and I’d like to continue a discuss here. In the comments section below, please share your experiences with Off-Grid living, and share any advice you may have for me.
More and more people are realising that you can still enjoy the modern urban comforts while enjoying the independence of off grid living. Being off the grid means being exactly that, off the grid.
No power lines,
no electric bills,
and being free of utility grid demands,
not to mention their ever-rising rates. Off grid living is environmentally friendly and cost effective and it is an option available to almost any one owning a home.
The principles of off grid living may be applied to any home in the world, even those currently tied to the grid. From solar panels, hydropower and windmills, there is growing curiosity in off grid living and breaking free from fossil fuel burning power plants. The technologies have advanced and the costs have dropped greatly.
Even do-it-yourselfers can take leaps into off grid living with many kits, resources and manuals available for instruction. As energy demands increase globally, those living off grid can rest easy knowing their own energy costs are diminishing.
The idea of off grid living can be scary to some who believe they will have to give up some of their most prized possessions and electronic gadgets to achieve such freedom. This is very far from the truth. Off grid living is simply about learning to moderate your use of electricity. It can be as simple as turning off lights that are not really in use. Purchasing appliances that don’t use energy when not in use (like clocks on microwaves and stoves). Learning to unplug, not just turn off. Things like computers and printers, well anything with the little green light that is always on, these items are stealing precious energy and adding to your bill. Wanting to become part of the off grid living adventure, doesn’t always mean giving up everything, sometimes it just means getting smarter about the things you have.
Off grid living has gotten so popular that even completely re-locatable high efficiency homes are being produced to meet those needs. Very similar to mobile homes and travel travelers in layout and definitely only designed for a one or two person dwelling, these housing units use solar power, passive solar design and a small amount of natural gas to provide off grid living that you can take with you when you move.
If you are interested in off grid living, but need more success stories to drive you over the teetering point then start your research on the Internet. There are tons of great resources available and individuals who took the plunge into off grid living with great success telling their stories. Imagine, no more gathering around that one little candle when the power goes out, or having the neighbors over to watch their favorite shows when there is a blackout. Off grid living is obtainable for anyone and you too can enjoy the life of off grid living no matter where you make your home.
Have you ever wondered if there is an easier way of growing highly nutritious vegetables than the traditional or even organic way, one that eliminates virtually all of the toil and ongoing maintenance of the garden, the very thought of which may be stopping you from starting your own vegetable garden?
If this is the case, or even if you are a keen vegetable gardener already, you can learn what this way is and how to apply it in practice to grow your own vegetables that have a much higher nutritional value than even organically grown vegetables with very little effort in comparison with the effort required to grow veggies the traditional or organic way by coming to a Permaculture Design workshop at the Siyakhana Food Garden on the weekend of the 26th and 27th of May, 2012.
ABOUT PERMACULTURE GARDENING
So what exactly is ‘permaculture’, you may well be asking yourself? The word ‘permaculture’ is derived from the words ‘permanent’ and ‘culture’ and describes a set of design tools and gardening techniques that can be used to create sustainable systems that empower human beings to live in harmony with the natural world, which is permaculture’s underlying philosophy and aim.
A properly designed and laid out permaculture food garden grows vegetables in harmony with nature by facilitating natural symbiotic bonds between different plant species, animals, bacteria and fungi. The main benefits derived from this food production method are the elimination of:
The costs of external inputs inherent in normal agriculture or even organic gardening, such as fertiliser, compost and pesticides;
Unnecessary labour and human interference in natural seasonal yields and productive capacity, which can be hundreds of times greater by volume as well as nutritional quality than is the case with commercial agriculture or organic gardening.
Such a permaculture food garden is fertilised by organic kitchen waste and old decaying plant matter produced by the garden itself, and is irrigated by rain water running off the built environment bordering on the garden and dew fall that the plants in the garden produce to keep cycling water in the eco-system the garden forms, hence no expensive external inputs are required. Once it has been correctly set up, a permaculture garden is an extremely low-cost, low- maintenance alternative to a conventional or even organic vegetable garden that will give you a lifetime supply of highly nutritious, fresh, contaminant-free vegetables available in your back garden with no maintenance costs whatsoever!
If this sounds too good to be true, we invite you to come on the 21st and 22nd of this month to the Siyakhana Food Garden and experience for yourself how this is possible by creating an authentic permaculture food garden along with other participants in the workshop under the guidance of Jamie Shepherd, a permaculture and hydrological settlement design expert.
MORE ABOUT JAMIE AND THE PERMACULTURE DESIGN WORKSHOP
Jamie originally trained with Bill Mollison, the Australian founder of permaculture, and so teaches and practises authentic permaculture – albeit with his own creative flair to adapt permaculture to African conditions – and is authorised to call his workshops ‘permaculture’ workshops. Jamie has been involved in the design and laying out of permaculture gardens for over 15 years, most notably as co-owner of a business in Fourways that designed and laid out permaculture gardens for people in their home gardens and as manager of the government-funded ‘One Homestead, One Garden’ project that has established over 180 authentic permaculture gardens for local people living in a village and the Dukuduku forest just outside the town of St. Lucia in northern KwaZulu-Natal and trained them to maintain the gardens properly to improve food security and quality for many of the local people, a programme that has also led to the re-forestation of the area by improving the condition of this fast-dwindling forest’s degraded soil and plant undergrowth.
By attending this workshop, you will be part of a team that actually designs and lays out the first permaculture garden at the Siyakhana Food Garden situated in Bezuidenhout Park in Bezuidenhout Valley in Johannesburg during the weekend, so expect to get your hands dirty and to work up a sweat! As a result of the practical nature of the course, you will leave the course knowing exactly how to apply the theory and philosophy of permaculture to design and set up your own permaculture garden in a matter of only a couple of days, an upfront investment in time and energy that will supply you with fresh, nutritious vegetables for the rest of your life.
You will receive a free electronic copy of Jamie’s e-book entitled ‘The Lazy Man’s Guide to Growing Highly Nutritious Food’ when you book and pay the R1,850 investment required for the workshop to help prepare you for the workshop, as well as a hard colour copy of the e-book when you attend the workshop (and we’ll feed you a healthy lunch on both days made with food grown in the Siyakhana Garden).
To book your place/s for this life-changing workshop on the 26th and 27th of May and be part of yet another inspiring initiative to extend the positive impact of the Siyakhana Food Garden project on society, call 071-853-2368 and tell them that Haroun sent you. Promo for May Permaculture Design Workshop.doc
WESSA SustainEd in partnership with the Local Government SETA is offering free Assessor training in the last week of March with a focus on Environmental Practices for Municipalities – so if you have environmental expertise and would like to become a registered Assessor (allows you to assess any NQF accredited course within your field of expertise) then please go to our facebook page for more details.
Please share this opportunity with anyone you know who might be interested. For more details go to:
We will also run this course in KZN in late April or early May.
WESSA SustainEd is also offering 15 bursaries for the National Certificate: EETDP (an occupationally-directed qualification for environmental trainers and educators worth 121 credits at NQF level 5) and 150 bursaries for the Environmental Educators course (a 12 credit short course based on the EETDP). These bursaries are funded by USAID as part of WESSA’s Stepping up to Sustainability Programme.
This is such a sad video, and shows just how sorry our choices we make towards our future survival, and an impassioned plea by one man against the most evil empire the world has ever seen, western imperialism.
What does environmental devastation actually look like? At TEDxVictoria, photographer Garth Lenz shares shocking photos of the Alberta Tar Sands mining project — and the beautiful (and vital) ecosystems under threat.
For almost twenty years, Garth’s photography of threatened wilderness regions, devastation, and the impacts on indigenous peoples, has appeared in the world’s leading publications. His recent images from the boreal region of Canada have helped lead to significant victories and large new protected areas in the Northwest Territories, Quebec, and Ontario. Garth’s major touring exhibit on the Tar Sands premiered on Los Angeles in 2011 and recently appeared in New York. Garth is a Fellow of the International League Of Conservation Photographers
Garth Lenz is an award winning conservation photographer whose work has been seen in shows around the globe. Recently he appeared at a TEDx event in Victoria, BC Canada with his exhibition, The True Cost of Oil.
Through Lenz’s photography, this exhibit showcases the beauty of some of Canada’s pristine environments—and the dire impact that tar sands oil extraction has on them.
There is a possibility of Lush Cosmetics, a UK based company whom has been very supportive of the GEN and the Gaia network, to fund spaces for South African participants to attend the Ecovillage Design course at Khula Dhamma.
One thing they ask is that:
Applications for bursary support for the South African delegates should be on a case-by-case basis, and we need to know why these people deserve to come on the course and what they will do with the knowledge and skills afterwards.
So if you know of people whom may be interested in attending, we could gather their information asap and send it in to Lush, it would be great to have this ready by the end of the week so that we may send in the application by next week monday, 19 March 2012.
We will aim to ask for space for ten participants and they need to be aware that they will have to pay their own transport to Khula Dhamma.
Making your own compost by recycling food scrapes from the kitchen is a great bonus for those who love gardening. When recycling compost for the garden, we tend to use only vegetables and any other biodegradable products, which include eggshells. One may look at this humble shell as having very little use but mind you, the eggshells are the best source of nutrients and very easy to break down.
Next time, you want to throw those eggshells away, think again as it is a garden saver for you. If you are a dedicated gardener, then the eggshells are the best thing for you apart from the manure that you get more animals. Here are 3 of the best ways in which you can utilize eggshells in your garden.
1. Eggshells as a source of drainage
While this may be a temporary method of draining your soils until you get better soils that drains well, the crushed eggshells placed at the bottom of your containers will amply benefit the soil. In container planters, the root ends of the plants may rot which is due to poor drainage of water, so the eggshells help to top the pooling of water around the roots ends of plants. What you can do is, to crush up the eggshells to 1/4 of its original size and scatter these pieces at the bottom of your planters. When the eggshell breaks down gradually, it will also add essential nutrients to your soil, making your plants to thrive and grow healthy.
2. Eggshells as food
Eggshells are the best source for essential calcium, having about 90 percent calcium carbonate which plant roots greatly require. Although this may come with proper watering, drainage and manure, there is always an added benefit if you use the eggshells. Eggshells also contain lime which is another requisite for soil and plants. Plants like pepper, eggplant and tomatoes can really benefit with this extra dose of eggshell treatment. Crush the eggshells minutely and apply them to the containers before you soil up. This way, the breakdown process will be faster and you can be assured of a rich yield.
3. Eggshells as pesticides
Garden pests like slugs, caterpillar, snails and cutworms are some of the worst woes of a gardener. You can greatly reduce the attacks of these pests by lining up your garden perimeter with eggshells, making it difficult for the pests to slither past. Most of these ground pests have soft undersides which can cut easily when caught on rough edges, so they will prefer to keep away from your plot. Crush the eggshells just big enough to arrange in the soil or the border of your vegetable patch. You will find that in no time, the slugs and pests will loiter around unable to get through the barriers and die away or get eaten up by their predator creatures.
While you may collect the eggshells for your garden use, remember to rinse them off properly before crashing them. Raw eggshells will only encourage more pests, rather than repel them away.
About the author: Rubela is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology and luxury. Beside this she is fond of gadgets. Recently an article on Gi Joe Action Figures attracted her attention. These days she is busy in writing an article on Hair loss treatment.
This is a non-commercial attempt to highlight the fact that world leaders, irresponsible corporates and mindless ‘consumers’ are combining to destroy life on earth.
It is dedicated to all who died fighting for the planet and those whose lives are on the line today.
The cut was put together by Vivek Chauhan, a young film maker, together with naturalists working with the Sanctuary Asia network
The principal source for the footage was Yann Arthus-Bertrand
The energy of the moment is recognising that the corrupt world of commerce is at an end but where do we put our creative energies into?
For me, it’s into ecovillages, and tomorrow I visit my chosen village again, Umphakatsi
I drive on the day that most people in my circles believe to be the end of the prophetic Mayan calendar, and I believe that my energies are most effectively devoted to building this community into thriving reality.
The first steps are to learn to build basic shelters using the superadobe technique, http://calearth.org/ and to start growing food
I’d love to know what your vision is for yourself, what’s important to you, where your passion lies and what you think is happening and what will happen I’m our planet’s immediate future.
September 14-16, Al Gore to Lead Worldwide Event on the Reality of Climate Change 24 Hours of Reality features new multimedia presentation broadcast live from around the world in 13 languages
Washington, D.C. — The Climate Reality Project, founded and chaired by former Vice President and Al Gore, will host a 24-hour event beginning on September 14 to mobilize the world to confront the reality of the climate crisis. 24 Hours of Reality will take place around the world from Pakistan to Cape Verde, and from Indonesia to Alaska. The entire event will be broadcast live over the Internet by Ustream, and can be viewed at http://www.climaterealityproject.org.
“Extreme droughts, terrible storms, and larger floods are devastating many parts of the world,” said former Vice President Gore. “Today, climate change is no longer a prediction: It’s a reality. Yet around the world, we are still subjected to polluter-financed misinformation and propaganda designed to mislead people about the dangers we face from the unfolding climate crisis. Those who want to protect their own short-term financial interest are employing the same strategy first used by tobacco companies years ago to mislead the public about the science linking cigarettes to disease and death.”
The former Vice President added: “The time to face reality is now. 24 Hours of Reality will bridge oceans and cultures — in every time zone — to bring the world together to emphasize the truth about the climate crisis and how we can solve it.”
24 Hours of Reality will be presented in 13 languages, with one presentation for each time zone — making it a truly global event. At 7 p.m. local time during each of the 24 Hours of Reality, a citizen activist personally trained by former Vice President Gore will connect the dots between extreme weather and a warming climate, highlighting both the impacts of climate change and the inspiring solutions emerging in each time zone around the world. These local presentations will be interlaced with a studio presentation from New York City, featuring videos, live interviews and more.
The Climate Reality Project has partnered with diverse organizations around the world to host 24 Hours of Reality. Located in the same countries where 24 Hours of Reality takes place, these groups are working tirelessly to uncover the truth about climate change and work toward solutions. At the conclusion of each presentation, our viewers will be invited to join our local partners in specific actions to help solve the climate crisis.
The event will begin in Mexico City on September 14 at 7 p.m. Central Time, move westward around the globe, and conclude with a presentation in New York City by former Vice President Gore on September 15 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
In South Africa, the presentation will be given by Jeunesse Park, Founder of Food & Trees for Africa and the Climate Change Leadership Awards. Jeunesse will present live from the Durban Botanical Gardens at 19h00 on Thursday September 15. A “watch party” will also be held at the FTFA Khaya in Wendywood, Johannesburg at that time.
WHAT: 24 Hours of Reality, featuring a multimedia presentation about the reality of the climate crisis.
WHERE: Hourly events taking place around the world, broadcast live by Ustream. Locations include Mexico City, Mexico; Boulder, Colorado; New Delhi, India; Beijing, China; and more. For a full list of locations, visit www.climaterealityproject.orghttp://www.climaterealityproject.org .
WHEN: One presentation each hour for 24 hours at 7 p.m. local time, beginning September 14 in Mexico City. It will conclude with a presentation by Al Gore on September 15 at 7 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time. To find a presentation in your time zone, please visit http://www.climaterealityproject.org
WHO: Former Vice President Al Gore, joined by 23 citizen activists delivering a multimedia presentation around the world, along with our partner organizations working to solve the climate crisis worldwide.
Facebook Fan pages with the Ustream for Facebook http://www.ustream.tv/facebook application; or other social media platforms.
To attend the presentation in Durban, or to attend Green Drinks at the FTFA Khaya for the watch party please, or for interviews, email info@trees.org.za
My friend Nicholas has started a new business and I’m helping him promote his amazing compost bins. Its all very serious, using words like:
Besides solving your waste problem, we create a platform for your business to convert begrudged environmental compliance into unique opportunities that are valuable assets to PR, Marketing and operations. Downstream food garden initiatives can be setup by your selves, or through Roots landscape Design that setup and help you to maintain your own sustainable food garden, tying it in with the catering on your own premises (including rooftops) or at other sites to feed people.
Hectic hey?
But nevermind my reluctance for formal language and business speak, this is indeed an important product and business to get into and if you have the money (it will set you back a few grand) then go and check out this product and fill in your name in the form to get him to contact you.
i think Sarah is too funny with her formal tone of email. but how can one ignore such an email, especially since i haven't yet set up postie on the umphakatsi site, and so can't yet blog by email.
i can copy/paste though, and hence i'm posting here first
Here’s the newsletter, and attached below it is in pdf format
Umphakatsi Peace Ecovillage
Location:
Umphakatsi Peace Ecovillage is located in Steynsdorp Village, Mpumalanga Province in South
Africa. It is bordering the country of Swaziland and a 30 minutes drive to the capital city of
Mbabane and an hour drive to Mozambique. Steynsdorp can also be viewed through google earth
and the Umphakatsi peacececovillage is accessible through 4 wheel drives, quads, mountain bikes
and walking. The nearest main public road is 2.5 kilometre to the ecovillage.
Where are we now?
Buildings
We started building the huts in 2006 and currently have 3 huts thatched with grass. Two of the huts
are in hexagone shape and the third hut is in a square shape. One of the huts has been divided with
timber panels to 4 rooms. Thus there are bedrooms that can accommodate 2 – 3 persons per room,
1 living room joined with the kitchen. The fourth room is smaller is going and yet to be developed
as a shower. All facilities at the ecovillage are basic. The kitchen area is furnished with a 2 plate gas
stove, and few cooking utensils. There is a swimming pool which is under construction and an
informal pit toilet with shoulder
high walls and a roof.
Access to Water
Illustration 2: living room
Illustration 1: outside view of hutA natural river stream that runs for 365 days – through out the year provides a blissful supply for
water for drinking, cooking, irrigation and washing. The river is located about 20 metres away
from the huts. This is a main source of life and energy the ecovilage worships and are greatful to
have. The majestic waterfall is another point of attraction, which is a 20 minutes walk from the
ecovillage, branding an orgasmic state in a near approaching view.
Vegetable Garden
In December 2009 we had our first vegetable supplies from our organic vegetable garden.
Potatoes, carrots, corn, pumpkins, green beans, tomatoes, pumpkins are some of the vegetable we
have. There is a need to focus more on making the ecovillage sustainable on food supplies, and this
is our priority.
Illustration 5: green beans
Illustration 4: corn field
Illustration 3: waterfall view for
umphakatsi peace ecovillage
Illustration 6: tomatoesOrchard
The ecovillage has 22 fruit trees such as mangos, guavas, peaches, bananas, casava, avocados and
litchis.
Recycling and renewable energy
We promote recycling of waste material and use of renewable energy. We are in a process of
learning. Tertius Wermeyer has taught us how to make organic compost. Christelle Antonites taught
us how to make mosaics from broken glass and bottles. So we have now established an organic
compost field where we dispose our organic waste to make compost for our plants. We also have a
solar cooker, and are in process testing the use of 60 cm x 30 solar panel to recharge mobile
phones. However the energy is not sufficient for efficient supply, we speculate the a need for a
bigger solar panel, but this requires research information if possible.
Access to technology
We have access to two large mobile networks in South Africa and internet could also be accessed
via personal wireless modems.
How many people stay at the ecovillage?
There is one person who stays at the ecovillage, with occassional visitors that come as volunteers
Illustration 8: Solar cooker stove
Illustration 7: Solar panel on grass roof of
the hutand or for beginning to heal.
What we need?
We need people to join the community as volunteers and as members of the community to work on
the ecology, cultural, social and spiritual programmes. It is expected that members and volunteers
will spend sometime working on the different aspects of the ecovillage as in when they are
available. We recognise the need for members and or volunteers to still do extra work outside the
ecovillage until we are sustainable which is a longterm objective.
by 
by 
Promo for May Permaculture Design Workshop.doc
Gen newsletter article.pdf
