Ducky gets to know his mum

Ducky gets to know his mum, a photo by Tamara Griffiths Moonrise Permaculture on Flickr.

Guess who turns 9 this week???

Here he is at 3 weeks old, and we've been together ever since :)

Duck connections... the circle connects!

Remember my first ever post - about meeting duck people in Tassie - in 2010? Have a quick look via the link below...   then come back!

http://tamaraandduckyhaveadventures.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/duck-connections.html

Well, today - I met one of the people in that story, here in Upwey!

Here is Stephen's post of the same evening!!!!!

http://www.stephenpowell.com.au/wordpress/?p=111

I find it amazing when a line becomes a circle and comes back to its beginning! 

Here is Kevin's web page - he's an awesome wildlife artist, photographer and environmentalist.

http://www.stephenpowell.com.au/wordpress/

Fabulous! And 5 quacks from Ducky!!!!!

Teaching 2 free PDCs - 3 months on from the Permaculture Planetary Pilgrimage

The teaching journey has begun! 
I wrote this post 6 weeks ago - but didn't have time to post it, I've been so busy teaching!!! 

"Teaching a PDC, feel the fear and prepare like mad"

Tonight is the night! Taj and I are starting our first ever PDC class and we are stoked!!! We've been preparing like mad for the course that starts tonight (6.30 - 9.30) and for a second class that starts on Tuesday (10.00 - 5.00). Of course all the years leading up to tonight have been paving the way but the immediacy of the class has us putting our final consideration in the order of things tonight. Its actually very interesting running a 3 hour a day course and a 6 hour a day. The 3 hour course has to cover the same stuff as the 6 hour but the punctuation of highpoints is different. People have to say "Wow I learned something really important" in 3 hours rather than 6 - and getting to know each other in the group at the same time.  

In the planning stages of our teacher training extravaganza last November, I knew that the Planetary Permaculture Pilgrimage would kick my backside into finally teaching a Permaculture Design Course. Having come through it, I was galvanised to teach but I finally also had the confidence to jump in and go.  The next step to all these trainngs is to teach a pdc. Delvin has already taught full PDCs - he runs them over the space of a year and I realy love his model. I have decided to start with two courses runing in parallel: 3 hours on a thursday night and 6 hours on a tuesday starting at 10am - early enough for me!

And now:
I'm about 6 weeks into teaching two free PDCs, so 3 weeks off completion of the Tuesday class - but I am really starting to enjoy myself and am getting good feedback too. I had both classes come to learn with guest teachers yesterday, it was great!  Ed and Michelle are local permies and are part of our Ultra Local Upwey Permaculture Group. Almost all of us in the group live within walking distance of Upwey township - and where we have our classes. Ed taught a class on "Catch and Store Energy" and Michelle spent the rest of the day helping everyone learn about community, invisible structures and social mapping. I helped out with some scribing of the brainstorms and facilitating the group work late in the day. 

Here are some pics of Ducky joining in - he has been great for breaking the ice and he helps us with our morning warm up - some of you will have seen the 'tricks' Ducky does when people throw their hands over their head, its silly, fun and I love it. 


Here he is helping us learn about patterns. We're using Robin Clayfield's pattern card deck. Create a niche and something will move in - Ducky moved into the middle of our starburst pattern to demonstrate how energy moves. I didn't even need to ask him!!


I've been using lots of creative ways to get heavy factual information across. Luckily these courses are free because it doesn't work every time and I've changed processes when I've seen it wasn't working with the group. 


I've discovered I'm much better at creating processes when I'm with other people - Robin Clayfield ran her course down here again and I went to two days - a very good reminder for me and I noticed how I like to create with others. I've had this one woman band thing in my mind for so long - like Bill Mollison and Rosemary Morrow, but really, teaching overseas will be much more sustainable and less lonely with other people.


I've noticed I have 'learning gaps' as well. Geoff Lawton's idea of getting the diagrams down pat was good advice. I need to work on getting them right, and using them to best effect.


I see this as the beginning of something incredible, and I just know where we'll be in 5 years! I very much enjoy co-facilitating, and I've had Taj a few times and again in a few weeks. I taught how to eat acorns after Taj and I found each other last year! Here is her blog: http://thepermapixie.blogspot.com.au/


I'd also love to hook up and do a PDC with my PPP cohorts - Ali Ma and Kathleen are both in New South Wales. It would be awesome to do a women's PDC with them - we are in early discussions on doing some stuff together. I feel truly grateful that I had these friends to do the PPP with - and to now have us all on the same page, passionate and throwing ourselves in. Support on the adventure is so important.


I can't say how happy I am to be teaching, my students are amazing and this is the happiest I've been for many, many years! I'm actually amazed I've managed to run 2 PDCs! I was pretty exhausted there for a month or so - I'm 6 weeks in on both classes and I've had huge support from my PC community.


The amount of commitment and effort the students have put into a free class has been extremely heartening. Mary in the Tuesday class has taken it upon herself to create a blog for the class notes! Love your work Mary! (Mary also made a valentines day card for me and ducky - so at least I got one!)
http://permieclass.wordpress.com/trees-tue-28-feb-12/


I'm starting a new PDC on the 21st April here in Upwey. Class size will be limited to 12.
I'm trying to keep costs reasonable so it is as accesssible as possible:

$800 business or government or corporate 
$600 waged 
$400 unwaged/concession with a concession card
Both scholarship places are already filled


Now that I have been teaching for 50 hours, I can apply to the Permaculture Research Institute for registration as a PRI teacher. See the links below.

http://permaculture.org.au/2011/10/19/the-pri-restarts-the-permaculture-teacher-registry/
http://permacultureglobal.com/pri_pdc_teacher_applications/page1
Resources for emerging permaculture teachers

http://permaculture.org.au/resources/

Lemon the Duck - her blog

Hello humans (and a few of the non humans that read my blog),

I have a wonderful blog that I read - very irregularly, but it is extremely heartwarming. It is the blog of "Lemon the Duck" a crested Pekin duck that was born with some issues with balance and walking.

This is her latest photo from her blog :>

She swims well and LOVES children - which seems to be a very "duck" thing.

She has written a book - it has become very popular with teachers who want to show the many abilities of differently abled people and animals.

Her blog is at
http://lemontheduck.blogspot.com/

Her website is at
http://lemontheduck.com/id1.html

Duck and human love to all
and a happy and safe New Year for 2012
Love Tamara and Ducky

A letter from Ducky

I've had a letter from Ducky :>

Dear Mummy,

I'm just writing to let you know how I'm going.

Mrs T took us all up to Melbourne for a few days. It worked out OK because we'd had enough time to get to know each other really well before we left.

Douglas will be turning 91 on New Year’s Day and his arthritis is pretty bad. He has to use his wings to haul himself up but I found out that he can still bite like the dinosaur he looks like. He’s got this amazing tail which I find irresistible.  


So I sneak up behind him when he’s lying down and poke into his tail.  This makes him really mad, but by the time he’s realized what’s happening and has hauled himself up on his wings and tried to turn around to get me – I’ve learnt it is expedient to make a lightening exit. 

His missus Muscovy, Donna, kind of sticks up for him!  She sometimes just stands and stares daggers at me – which is really scary.  

But maybe it is because when I first arrived I had the time of my life jumping on top of her.  She wasn’t expecting that but now she knows how attractive I find her and so she menaces me with her dark stares.  Really Mummy – she might be beautiful but she is quite scary.

After a while and a few instances of Mrs T having to come racing over to save me from Douglas Dinosaur Duck, we all kind of got used to each other and so long as I can resist Douglas’ tail – everything runs smoothly.

Anyway, as I said before, Mrs T took us all up to her 10th floor apartment in South Melbourne.  Douglas and Donna travelled in their big plastic tray on the back seat of Mrs T’s car, and I was in my box beside them.  Once we arrived Douglas went into a sulk because he thinks he might get carted off to a vet or something frightening like that and even Donna couldn’t cheer him up.   


I remembered being there several years ago and found my reflection in the oven door glass window very fetching.  Mrs T put papers all over the place and barricades to keep me in, but I could see Douglas and Donna through the glass sliding door between us and it was great fun when they came over and we’d have a conversation about the weather. At least that’s what I was talking about.  Douglas might have been telling me what he thought about me.

When Mrs T tried to step into my papered barricaded area so she could get things out of her fridge, I would hurl myself at her feet and try to rip strips of flesh off. It was all in good fun really, but it meant that she didn’t hang around very long.

When Mrs T wasn’t out I was allowed to join the others on the balcony and I was able to go exploring behind the pot plants and in the kennel that Donna and Douglas’ sleep in at night.  It was awesome in there.  I also had a good look at the views across Albert Park Lake – stunning!

Then the King of the Ducks, Mr Laurie Levy came for a visit and played a little game with me.  He’d try to poke at me, but I was always too quick and would peck his hand.  He chuckled and I quacked and Donna and Douglas came over to watch and together with Mrs T we all had a good laugh.

After 3 days in town it was getting to be a bit boring, so we were all very pleased to return to Somers last night.  Mrs T. shone a torch around and I knew where I was immediately. 


Today I’ve been hanging out with the yellow plastic duckling in the pond and sitting with Donna and Douglas under the Cootamundra tree. They are also very pleased to be back at Somers.

Don’t tell Mrs T. but I am actually light years ahead of Donna and Douglas.  They really aren’t that smart.  Hanging out with them is a piece of cake now I know how to handle them.

Next week Mrs T has to go up to Morwell to sit in on a court case where two duck rescuers are being charged with dumb things like taking rubbish away from wetlands and swearing and other stuff.  


A nice duck rescuer will be here to look after me for a couple of days and then another lady will do it.  Mrs T. will be back on the 25th.  She says to send you her love and she hopes you’re learning lots and having a great time.

I have to go and check out that plastic duckling again now.

Love and endless quacks from

Ducky

Tamara and the animals: a short film by Estela!

Here is a short film made by the wonderful wwoofer Estela here at Sisters Creek starring Tamara and Ducky! Its quite good fun, I laugh everytime I hear myself laughing!
Estela is a Brazilian WWOOFer who stayed with us for a while. These are rare breed Large Black Pigs. I think they are AWESOME!!!

Harvesting knowledge

I've been wondering how to fit everything in that I want to blog about - I've been harvesting basil, apples, quinces, snails, chestnuts, mushrooms, jerusalem artichokes... and then the time passes and I think, bugger, that was too long ago to write about now...

But it occurred to me that one of the constants of harvesting is that it is a time of intense learning as well as processing and eating.

So much food

With each turn of the seasons in the permaculture garden we are bombarded with food - too much food and bloody hell what am I going to do with all those chestnuts! This leads us to books, friends and Professor google on all the ways to keep the harvest longer, preserve it, cook it.

It is also a time of creative thinking, ideas and experimentation - last week I read that soaking beans or lentils in water for a few days creates a ferment and reduces the soluble fibre that causes flatulence. I decided to try to turn the Jerusalem Artichoke (aka fartichoke) - a known wind machine into something less gassy using a similar method. I've just eaten some that have been soaked in boiled and cooled water for 3 days and will be able to report back soon :)

The zen of harvesting

As we harvest we can slow down and enjoy the work. We learn about ourselves; harvesting is often repetative or easy work and gives us plenty of time to think. We use all of our senses when we harvest, and we get to have an intimate relationship with the soil, plants and animals that we often don't have time for.

We find out about others. We often bring in the loot with friends and spend hours talking, bonding and celebrating with shared dinners and wine.

Learning the way of the plant or animal is something you get only if you spend time with it and harvesting gives us an opportunity to do so. The chestnut for example, often drops from the tree and rolls down into a hidden little spot in the long grass. Other nuts follow the same contours and I often find a little clutch of chestnuts.

The way to find them is to poke around the little gullies with your tongs or, if they are as big as the ones I've just been harvesting is feeling them under your feet as you move around (much like getting freshwater mussels, feel them with you feet first then duck down to get them out of the mud). You need tongs for the harvest to pry them out of the extremely prickly covering. Trust me.

The way of the snail is something that duck owners get to know pretty quickly and they too can be found by feel in the dark, or, with a torch on chives or your newly planted lettuce seedlings. One of the best things about having a duck is that a problem - snails - becomes not only a solution but a benefit - a high protein snack for the highly carnivorous and incredible egg laying Campbell duck. I once had a dark campbell duck that refused to stop laying in winter and gave me 365 eggs a year. Ducky likes to eat snails in the bath - he grabs hold of the snail as it pokes its head out and shakes them out of their shell!

At the moment I've collected all the big snails for ducky and there are just the babies left, so in rescuing the chinese cabbage I've done myself out of a food source! Tom Cheeseman from Whyalla has experimented with growing slugs and snails on daily moistened cardboard and found it works very well. Snails love cardboard and paper, you will often find them in the darkened folds of boxes, and Bill tells me that the snails of Molokai prefer Dr Seuss to any other material!

Mushrooms too have their season and their spots, finding their little niches and observing them in the landscape is almost as much fun as the feast that follows.

Fungi gives us an amazing opportunity to learn, I have a mycologist friend who used to check all my IDs for me, thus learning what was edible and what will kill you! Fungi hunting is one of joys of life. Above is Bill with Cortinarius Australiensis, a native mushroom we found in the pine plantation that was planted by Forrest Primary school when we were scouting for pine mushrooms. I have not been able to find information on its toxicity so while we wanted to eat it, we didn't.

Autumn was always fun in Bunyip with Ashleigh and Chantelle; we used to go on fungi hunts, bring them home (always leaving some for nature), identify them with books, take photos, look at them with a magnifying glass and enjoy nature, one of my favourite things was this wonderful time spent together.

Processing

There is something fun about sitting on a kitchen floor snipping basil leaves off the stems and meeting the various wildlife that comes indoors with us.

There were lots of tiny snails and a green shield bug. Often the shield bugs get out of control in organic gardens, and even the chooks won't eat the harlequin coloured ones (ducks will only eat a few). It turns out that wrens and other small birds eat the shield bugs! When I mentioned to Lisa that the birds were doing a great job, she said the sunflowers were for the little birds as well - somewhere for them to perch as well as for the bees and other bugs. You just never know when you're going to learn something. I nearly forgot to mention the 10 jars of pesto we made!

Drying chestnuts is an art I and one we didn't get quite right when they went mouldy in the jar :( I have since looked at numerous ways to peel and process them for keeping - Maggie beer had a picture of chestnuts cut in a certain way for roasting that makes them very easy to peel - and when boiling them works very well. Last night I made a chestnut puree, some of which we sweetened with stevia and maple syrup to use on a cake and the rest to freeze for use at another time. Many recipes proceed from here - pumpkin and chestnut soup, flour for cooking yummy, heavy pancakes... mmmmmm. And in the conversations around the puree, I learned that sugar gums in the hight country were tapped by aboriginal people in the spring, much like maple syrup.

Apples and quinces go very well together in jams, jellies, preserves generally, they have high pectic levels and I spent quite a bit of time investigating the chemical reaction that takes place when we make jams so I could understand the process better and from there create my own recipes rather than relying on others. It looks like stevia can be used instead of sugar and I intend to experiment with this.

The harvest continues - your surplus stories, what you're eating, advice or experiments heartily welcomed. Love Tamara and Ducky xxx qqq

Overalls designed by Michelle Walker who works at Tagari, such a talented and creative woman!

http://michellewalkerdesigns.blogspot.com/

Duck connections...

I've been waiting for the right time to do my first post. Last night was the new moon and I was thinking maybe tonight. So, this evening I went down to the restaurant at Boat Harbour in Tassie for dinner, there were guests at my place and guests at Sisters Creek and I thought I'd get a chance to write something. I booked my table and 15 minutes later rocked up, still in my work gear as I had been all the other times I'd had tea here. 

Normally I'd come down, investigate the rock pools for a few hours, watch the moon rise and then have a seafood chowder with garlic bread (I always get the same thing here, it works for me). On at least one previous occasion I'd brought ducky down for a drive and he sat in his box in the playground while I ate dinner directly above. Curiously, the staff at the restaurant had noticed.

So tonight I walked into the restaurant sans duck. He stayed in the car to have a nap. The menu here has heaps of duck and I tend to skip over it and pretend it isn't there. But tonight, over comes the waiter to give me the specials: Duck with this, duck with that, roasted duck, braised duck, murdered duck in at least 5 forms. I'm sitting there looking at him with a certain look I get on my face when waiters mention duck and I eventually say, actually I don't eat duck...

So he goes yeah, I wondered that because you brought your duck last time and a woman at the adjacent table says "oh, are you the duck woman?" I've heard this before, but not in Tassie and politely said "have we met?" It turns out that this woman had the same reaction to all the duck specials that I did since she has a couple of Khaki Campbells herself. The waiter had just finished telling her about this woman who comes in with a duck in a box when in I walk. What followed was the usual duck lovers conversation: what kind do you have, how cool they are, the rest. Halfway through this conversation a man at another table stands up and gives us both his card, he's an artist who specialises in animal portraits and lives in Upwey (where my parents live and Ducky's first home!) I've linked to his painting of a pacific black duck below. Anyway I finish dinner bring ducky over to say hello and write this blog!

Its been quite a good Duck and permaculture adventure type day. This morning ducky and I helped in the orchard at home - I was pulling back mulch and grass so my host could add her biodynamic compost she made last year and splash around her 500 prep this afternoon. Then ducky comes to work with me at Sisters Creek, he has his own pen with a lovely big swimming hole and can talk to the resident ducks (pictured above: he used to join them but one night he refused to come in off the dam and after 4 hours, pitch darkness and having made the decision not to try and swim over to him, I left him there. Good thing there are no foxes in Tassie - or not many - but there are Tassie Devils and Tiger Quolls who both enjoy duck dinner and I had a restless night of worry before finding him happy in the morning. Happy yes, grounded YES)

Right. Where was I? Ducky's pen. Lots of room, places to forage and an endless supply of bugs and snails and worms I take over to him. Today as I planted artichokes I collected the cockchaffer grubs for him. Later I collected the BIGGEST chestnuts but we kept them all - none for ducky :(

So, what a day, lots of duck adventures, duck people and permaculture. Now... whats for desert! ooh! Chocolate brownie with icecream. Very permaculture.

http://www.stephenpowell.com.au/Little_Black_Duck.htm