Saturday, October 11, 2008

Our First Public Open Day

On September 21, 2008 we hosted a Permaculture Open Day on behalf of Yarra Valley Permaculture Group. In the week leading up to the BIG DAY we started thinking we were mad to have taken on such a task. We were so busy getting the place ready we hardly had time to to do anything else. We squeezed a meal here and there, went to bed late and were up early the next morning. Even in our sleep we were thinking "open day thoughts". (Often waking up with the comment "I've just thought of something else that needs doing.").

Well the day came and went and what a day it was! Of all the things we imagined might have gone wrong- nothing did. We had around 600 people visit that day (including around 50 invalauble volunteer helpers), and the day's activities went smoothly and without any major hitches. Judging from the positive and enthusiastic feedback, most people found it informative and enjoyable. We certainly enjoyed ourselves.

Mind you it has taken a couple of weeks to recover. We have our energy levels back and we're starting to catch up on regular tasks that were placed on the "backburner". This week its planting spuds (something we had planned to do in August). The house is starting to get back to normal- but the garage/workshop is still tidy. That won't take long to fix.

One of the best things about the open day was the way it encouraged/motivated/forced us to get the place looking at its best and we probably finished 20 or more major jobs that otherwise would have taken months to get done.

We've told you all about the open day, but haven't introduced ourselves or told you anything about what all those people came to see. That will have to wait till the next post.

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