First Course Finished!

On Friday the Permaculture Design Course Finished. It was amazing. There is much more to learn, but now I have the basic tools and ideas to investigate further. In the end it was sad to see some of my classmates depart. We made sure to exchange contact information.
Since the course is over, I have been learning farm hand skills for my 2.5 week internship. The chores include weeding, planting, watering, harvest and animal care. The animals are quite entertaining. The pigs, Polly and Pudge, have a daily menu of food that needs to be prepared (oats/ rice with fruit and greens). Each time I walk near their pen, they snort eagerly for more. The ducks are very shy. I have to give them their food and then leave for about five minutes, or else they won't go near it. I also have been getting used to collecting eggs from the chickens. It was awkward at first, each time has been easier since they seem to be getting used to me.

The last 4 days of the design course were spent on group projects. We were given an difficult piece of land (an abandon cow paddock down the road) and expected to develop a design plan for it. Friday night was a farewell Balinese banquet. Certificates and speeches were given around a campfire, naturally instruments appeared to continue celebrating into the night. I'm not sure what time I went to bed.

-Matt

Field Study

-The weekend was a nice break, but a hot one. A bunch of us drove to a nearby waterhole and went for a swim to cool off.
-We have been learning about farm animals and native "bush" foods this past week. As one of our hands on lessons, we moved the geese pen to a different part of the garden. Despite having to occasionally run from the charging male goose (Bruno), everything went to plan.
-On Tuesday, we were able to visit the neighboring ecovillage designed by our teacher, Jarlanbah. The properties are sold individually and residents contract their houses with local passive solar architects (or build it themselves). There is a strong commitment to keeping a beautiful, clean and green neighborhood. Everybody has gardens, most people have chickens and many have solar power.

Well, the first week of classes is over. They were fantastic. I don't think I have learned so much in so little time, but I am just at the base of the mountain. I have a much broader view of what permaculture can acomplish for humans and nature at this point. I will need to use my new acute understanding of permacuture to more accurately question different ideas and applications. I am excited to see how I might apply what I am learning to architecture and building arts. Now, it is the weekend. A review of last weeks notes is definitely in order. I will also probably take a few naps in the hammock and prepare mentally for next week.
-Matt

Captions:
-The chickens eat mainly scraps. They provide us with fresh eggs as well as soil cultivation and pest control. In return we help keep their beds tidy by laying some straw down.
-I heard a loud buzzing yesterday, but didn't pay much attention to it. Later, I decided to investigate only to find a bee swarm collecting the nectar from one of the fruit palms. Some Lorikeets were competing for the nectar. They made trips to and from the tree. Finally leaving when they couldn't stand the bees anymore.
-Thursday was spent on soil studies. This has definitely been our most difficult sector to date. The soil does encompasses many different study areas (chemistry, microbiology, physics etc). I will try and find one that works for me.
-It was nice to sit down for a relaxing Moroccan dinner and talk with the group.

Fruits of labor

The summer variety fruits and vegetables are producing throughout the gardens due to the extensive rainfall. "Lime Caviar" is especially interesting. It looks like an ordinary pod plant, but when you cut it open, it swells with tiny orbs. Aparently it can be made into an appetizer.

-Matt

Contour lines

We have been learning to read contour maps to better understand the flow of water on a landscape. At times it is very technical, but we almost always go into the fields or garden for a practical application. For example, we used an A-Frame level to find the site for a ditch-like "swale".

Some of the houses in Nimbin are quite colorful. This house is part of the large community center.

-Matt

Patterns

On Tuesday we looked at universal patterns and shapes in nature. Look at the pine cone. Can you see the natural spiral direction of the shoots? Pineapples and sunflowers are the same, in fact all natural elements contain some sort of pattern. We did a scavenger hunt in the garden to find growing examples of a few of these patterns: tessolations, crenolations, branching, exploding, lobes, streamline, packing. We then aranged the examples by category in a circle to compare eachothers findings.

Check out:
"Art Forms in Nature" by Ernst Haeckel

-Matt

Double Take

It's amazing how things appear so simple at first. Like the forest and garden. Trees, flowers, etc. I have tried my hardest to see the details of how things interact. I did a double take when I saw I was being watched by a hidden spy. Click the forest image to try and find him. Click the Link "Double Take" for the answer.

-Matt

First day of Classes

The Permaculture design course (PDC) started yesterday. We received our packets which explained some of what we would be doing throughout the course. The first day was spent mostly getting to know all of the participants. Some of the participants are from Australia (Melbourne, Brisbane) and a couple are from abroad (Israel, New Zealand). There are about 8 of us in all, which is just about the right size (in my opinion) to get things done efficiently. As the day continued, we examined each others learning styles in a timed protocol exercise. I think it makes it a lot easier to collaborate with someone when you have a little insight into their learning process.

The next day or two will be spent building a foundation of permaculture theories. This will help us to find the context and reasoning behind the applications we will learn in the future. Oh, almost forgot, we toured the wild food forage forest. There were lots of fruit bearing lime trees and spice plants, like the cardamom and nutmeg bushes (I thought they smelled a little like eggnog).

Cultural Note: I asked if there was any tomato sauce in the kitchen. I was handed what looked like ketchup, it was. Apparently ketchup is "tomato sauce" here. I'm not sure what "real" (ha ha) tomato sauce is called.

-Matt

Wha'll it be? Wallabee?

The creatures here are very interesting. As much as it makes me look like a foreigner, I can't help but to stare at the wallabees. I was in a hammock the other day when a large lizard slithered onto the deck to bask in the sun's warmth.
The Djanbung premesis is designed in a way where the buildings and outdoors flow into each other. It seems known here that nature is in control and we must accomadate it as much as it does us.

p.s. If any one wants to drop me a line. My address is:

DJANBUNG GARDENS
PO BOX 379
Nimbin, New South Wales 2480
Australia

Estimates:
Postcards are 75 cents postage and letters an ounce or under are less than $1 with AIRMAIL LETTER POST
(according to US postal service: US to AUSTRALIA rates)

Don't forget e-mail is great and free!

Train car plaza

Some quick notes:
I did a little illustration of the train car plaza yesterday. There are so many things worth sketching here, it's hard to pick and choose.

I bought some groceries yesterday. Australian packaged food seems to have high ingredient standards. That makes it a little easier to shop seeing as I don't really understand their nutritional facts.

Classes start tomorrow so I made my self unpack the rest of my belongings.

-Matt

The main building

The main classroom building is made from earth bricks. It is in the shape of a hexagon. The classroom is in the middle and the kitchen, cafe, offices and porch surround it. It has stayed quite cool in the heat, even though it isn't air-conditioned. The library is extensive and will be a real treat for research. During midday the best way to escape the heat is to find shade and be still (like in a hammock). It's pretty easy to find relaxation somewhere on the grounds.

Where does the water come from?

The shower and washing water come from big solar water heaters and tanks. I had never used a composting toilet before. Truthfully, it was completely odor free and felt no different from a regular toilet, except that it was silent.

Time travel

The past day and a half have been a blur. I don't think I ever really understood what jet lag was until now. The best travel time estimate I can give is this.

Wake up Wednesday, January 4th 3am Indiana time. Go to airport. Fly to Chicago at 6. Gain an hour. Two hour layover. 4 hour Flight to L.A. Gain three hrs. Six hour layover. 12 hour flight to Auckland, New Zealand (sleep some) Lose one day. 1 1/2 hour layover. 3 hour flight to Brisbane, Australia. Three hours for baggage, immigration and customs. 20 minute cab ride to bus station. 4 hour bus ride to Lismore, New South Wales. Lose 1 hour. 25 minute cab ride to Nimbin. Arrive Friday January 6th at 6:30 pm.



It felt good to finally sleep. I had my first solar heated rainwater shower. It was surprisingly hot and refreshing. Everything seems to glow deep shades of green. Rain clouds gather over the distant mountains and bring occasional showers. The air is oxygen rich and when it isn't raining, the birds, insects and farm animals can be heard together as a constant hum. I took some pictures of the grounds this morning which should explain more than I can.

-Matt

Boxcar Children

I live in a refurbished train car that housed workers when the old railroad was being built. It is very cozy. just my size.

Packing Mania!

It's my last night in Bloomington and I am trying to pack my entire room into several cubic feet. The packing has been a good excersize for me to determine which possesions I need to survive (and which ones I think I need). Funny enough, my anxiety about the traveling tomorrow is slim to none. Maybe it's because so much planning time went into this trip. My lay-over in LAX is about 9 hours. That isn't much fun. Maybe I can get some reading done. I will be glad to finally get settled in Australia (and to get out of this cold weather!).
Good Bye Bloomington! -Matt
p.s. check out my new summer cut!