Free Edible Forest Garden workshops - Upwey 20th and 21st of July

In return for the sponsorship and support of Permaculture Melbourne and people of the Upwey community to enable me to attend Dave Jacke's Edible Forest Garden Intensive at Milkwood Permaculture I am offering free workshops.  

Two day workshop in Upwey on the 20th and 21st of July

Saturday 20th 10am to 5pm

Sunday 21st 11.45 to 5pm  

We will start following Permaculture breakfast at Magpie Cafe - 10.30 to 11.30am.

Location is to be announced. 

You must be an "Upwey or surrounds" local to attend this workshop.

Please contact me for info or registration: Tamara@moonrisepermaculture.com.au

If you can't make these dates please contact me anyway and I will let you know when I am running these workshops for other groups. All Upwey and surrounds people will be free. If the response is too large I will run another lot of workshops later in the year. 

Texts: "Edible Forest Gardens" Volume One and Two by Dave Jacke

If you have these books please bring them. My volumes will be available on the day. You can probably share someone's book if you don't have a copy. The cheapest place for these books is Amazon or you can purchase them from Dave Jacke direct at: http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/about_book 

Two Day workshop: Theory and Implementation

Theory:

• Permaculture, Ecology and Forest mimics

• Understanding forest dynamics and succession

• Resource sharing guilds

• Mutual support guilds

• Edible Forest Garden Pattern Language

• Site Analysis and Assessment

• Edible Forest Garden design basics 

• Patch Design using the matrices in Volume 2 of "Edible Forest Gardens"

• Coppice crops

• How Australian EFGs must differ from examples in the UK and USA


Action: 

• Implement an Edible Forest Garden design at a public place in Upwey with donated plants (please let me know if you would like to donate plants by 15th July so I can design them in)
 

These are the first of many forest garden workshops in Upwey. These classes will well and truly get you started, but as people get acquainted with Forest Gardening and have specific areas of interest I can run more workshops and possibly an EFG book reading club.

Read how Dave Jacke explains forest gardens here:

http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/about_gardening

Make sure you check out Angelo Eliades' Melbourne demonstration EFG at his website:

http://deepgreenpermaculture.com/my-garden/ 

Angelo has created a huge resource for budding permaculturists and Forest Gardeners. 

Angelo runs excellent tours of his garden and speaks eloquently about it and many other topics. 

Other upcoming courses: 

• Introduction to Edible Forest Gardening at "Upwey Townies" Monday 15th July from 6pm, Upwey Township Hall
• Permaculture Design Course (PDC) with Tamara Griffiths and Taj "The Perma Pixie" runs Wednesday evenings from 10th July until December email Taj: thepermapixie@gmail.com 
• Permaculture Design Intensive, this post-PDC course runs 5 weeks, October and November
• register your interest with Taj: thepermapixie@gmail.com 
• Understanding and improving soil with Taj "The Perma Pixie" August and September email Taj: thepermapixie@gmail.com
• Spring Wildfoods workshop with Taj "The Perma Pixie" Sunday 6th October, Thornbury email Taj: thepermapixie@gmail.com 

Tamara Griffiths

Moonrise Permaculture

Tamara@moonrisepermaculture.com.au

0407 45 7707

Permaculture in suburban Adelaide... alive and well!

I've just been back in South Australia and spent time with some of my oldest friends in Adelaide. Pictured is Madelaine, the extraordinary daughter of Mel and Mat. I reckon if a 9 year old thinks like this, we really can save the planet! I am very lucky to have 'nieces' in Victoria as well, something on them soon! Take it away Maddy!

Black forest school garden wonders

Hi my school garden is run by Kate. We have worm bins and Chickens. We do worm bins I am number 7. At the garden we do stuff at recess and lunch like holding the chickens and picking vegetables or fruit. We also water the plants. We’re allowed to do a range of activities at the garden during the school hours, we have lessons like we do something to do with art we do a sheet or something with the teacher and do something with Kate like planting we also play in the mud pit I have made things with gumnuts and gum leaves and popcorn seeds and lots of other interesting things. 
I like holding the chickens we have a hot house we have 3 worm farms we have a tree section we have a pizza garden section we have tomatoes and eggplant and rhubarb and grape vines and lots of olive trees and celery and bean and capsicum and cabbage and there are people that pick the olives we have a cook book that the school made so they asked people to right a recipe for the cookbook dream of a land that thrives on experiential and happy learning in gardening and there are lot of things you can do in a garden instead of sitting down watching t.v. or playing video games get out there and water the garden plant some seeds or pick some flowers for mum or dad or if you have a small back yard you can get  a hanging basket from your nearest gardening store such as bunnings you can put a plant in there what is your or maybe you can go to the nearest farmers market or the central markets or you can go to your nearest plant  nursery or see the animals. 
There are lots of different things to do in life only if you try them because if you never try things you will never experience the world and its food and people and natures wonders and all of mothers natures gifts because there not just there to look at get involved don’t be a couch potato enjoy yourself and have fun I love hanging out in the garden you don’t have to do stuff you can just sit there and look around you well you might be able to have a picnic on the weekend or do a sport use your free time wisely. 
by Maddy Healey

Maddy and I went exploring her neighbourhood at the weekend. We found Pomegranates from a house near the Glandore Community Garden - we asked if we could have some - cheeky, but they said yes and gave us two awesome ones! One of these just fit in my hand!

The chillies were hanging through a fence... SCORE! There is so much food out there is suburbia, if I see lemons on the ground or over a back fence, I usually help myself, taking care not to break any limbs (this used to infuriate my gran when people would scrump apricots, apples and citrus at her home in Whyalla). 

Tamara, Gabby and Maddy at a permablitz at Franco's shared garden in Unley, Adelaide. They are great helpers. I think Gabby has just found something wiggly :)