Autumn Equinox

The autumn equinox has passed, and so has our annual Autumnfest celebration described in our last post. The weather was kind, the music was great, the displays were interesting and informative, the food was tasty and the products were of great quality. In short, everyone did a wonderful job. We had a great time and we hope you did too. It was a wonderful day with around 35 displays, stalls and entertainers and hundreds of visitors (many of whom had not been to our market previously).

There were many highlights. The music, song and dance lifted the spirits and was very entertaining. The crowd particularly enjoyed our own little Riverdance performance by Irish Dancer Kate Bilton and her pupils (appropriately in the vicinity of Healesville’s River St.).

Another highlight was the songs of the Mountain Country Carol Singers. Their hilarious song about “Fluff” really resonated with the listening crowd. Performances by buskers representing the Healesville Music Festival (to be held in May) also added to a day of relaxing entertainment.

There were many displays focussing on the environment and sustainablity. Kurt van Wyjk’s electric car drew plenty of interest; especially the development cost of $15000 and the extremely low running costs.

The solar and wind power display by Solarquip reinforced the advantages of generating your own power, and Glen was able to give an update on what the Federal Government is now offering by way of financial assistance.

Art, craft and jewellery stalls provided a wide range of decorative items and plant stalls had a good range of garden and herb plants for sale.

The animal displays always attract interest and Amanda’s gorgeous goats certainly did that. This was the first time they had made a public appearance off their Steel’s Creek farm and they really took it in their stride and lapped up the attention. Many children enjoyed the hands on experience of giving them a pat.

 The youngsters also had fun joining in the activities organised by the Arts Council.

The food supplied by our catering stalls was delicious.

There was food for every taste and enough for breakfast and lunch. We could choose between mouthwatering crepes and quiches, exotic Middle Eastern dishes, freerange beef and pork sausages (from the Yarra Valley) and drinks such as hot chai and Mexican hot chocolate (to die for).

All these stalls used organic and free-range ingredients and the aromas from everything being cooked or baked on the spot was so tantalizing to the taste buds.

Of course our regular stalls selling local produce allowed everyone to go home with armfuls of organic locally grown food that they could eat during the coming week.

If you missed this year’s festival, don’t despair we’re going to it all over again next year. However in 2011 it is going to be bigger and better. We are going to apply for a grant from the shire that will enable us to advertise our festival much more widely to attract more stalls and more people.

We intend making Healesville's Autumnfest the "must attend" festival in this area with more entertainment, informative speakers and a focus on preparing our community for the environmental and social changes that are going to affect us in the next few years.

When we have more information we will post it on this site. If you know of anyone else who would like to be kept informed about next year's event please tell them to get in contact. If you like to be super organised you might like to mark next year’s date (Saturday March19, 2011) in your diaries.

Hope to see you then (if not before).

Healesville Autumnfest 2010

Healesville Organic Farmers’ Market presents

Autumnfest, 2010

Saturday March 20th, 8 am to 2pm

@ the Healesville Railway Precinct

Our annual festival to welcome the arrival of autumn also celebrates the Market’s sixth birthday. Over the past 6 years, stallholders have battled rain, hail, wind, scorching temperatures and the stress and fear that came with Black Saturday. No matter what nature’s challenge, your loyal stallholders still keep coming week after week. Thank you to all our customers for your support through purchases and friendship. Without you the market could not keep going.

The Healesville Autumnfest grew out of the Healesville Organic Farmers’ market. It embraces the philosophy that human beings need to feel connected to the earth in their daily lives. The autumn festival is a way of reminding us that the seasons shape our lives and our activities. The date for the Autumnfest is the closest Saturday to the Autumn equinox.

Bring your friends and tell your neighbours. As with past Autumnfest celebrations, the usual stallholders will be joined by plenty of extra stalls. There will be a variety of entertainment, informative displays, art and craft demonstrations and stalls selling good tucker for one and all. Some stalls will focus on domestic animals such as goats, pigs and chooks and will provide information about these animals.

Food stalls will include crepes, organic pork sausages, chai tea, Mexican hot chocolate and more. Forget breakfast at home. Come along and eat with your friends at the market. Afterwards you could shed those calories by walking the Healesville Labyrinth which is in the adjacent park and history buffs can check out the Healesville Tourist Railway.

Entry is free and you could make a day of it by visiting other attractions in the Healesville area in the afternoon.

A project of Yarra Valley Permaculture Group

Permaculture Resources & Courses

If you are interested in finding out more about permaculture consider joining a group (there could well be an active group in your area). For details of groups and events see the Permaculture Melbourne website (www.permaculturemelbourne.org.au) or search the web for a group in your area


Most groups offer informative newsletters, a chance to network with people who are happy to share their skills, visits to properties to see what others are doing, and access to a host of free or low cost workshops on topics like grafting and pruning.
The best way to “get into permaculture” is to do a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course. Now is the perfect time to check out what’s available because there are many courses getting under way in the near future.
If you would like to do an “Introduction to Permaculture” or a Permaculture Design certificate (PDC) course we particularly recommend those run by:-

• Graeme George PH 5962 5070 Courses in the Yarra Valley, Croydon Hills & Brunswick Email: earthcarepc@virtual.net.au

• Peter Allen (http://www.petethepermie.com/) Courses in the Dandenong Ranges & Eltham PH 0418665 880

• Cam Wilson http://www.forestedgepermaculture.com/ Course at Heathmont
Many people do not realise that Permaculture is much more than organic gardening. It is actually a design system that can be applied by anyone whether they live in the suburbs or the country. Permaculture designs take the total picture into account, including food systems, water supply, energy use, building design, fire defence, waste minimisation, maintaining environments, diversity, urban solutions and much more. After the course, you will be in a position to draw up a design for your own property from scratch, or if infrastructure is in place, “retro-design” the property to make it work better. Some of the courses are subsidised and offer excellent value for money.

There are many websites with information about permaculture and sustainable living. Here is a selection that we recommend:-

• http://www.seedinternational.com.au/pc_principles.html Great site for information regarding permaculture concepts

• http://www.petethepermie.com/ Pete runs a whole range of courses & sells fruit trees & shrubs. He has a wealth of knowledge about fruiting plants, which he is happy to share.

• http://www.permaculturemelbourne.org.au/ Information about permaculture & groups around Melbourne

• http://communityharvestproject.org.au/ Great for information about events relating to local food production from backyards to larger operations

• http://www.holmgren.com.au/ David Holmgren is a co-originators of permaculture and his website contains information and publications relating to the subject

• http://belindas-simple-life.blogspot.com/ Belinda lives in the Dandenong Ranges and produces an informative blog which covers a wide range of topics

• http://greeningofgavin.blogspot.com/ A suburban journey towards sustainability that started after Gavin’s green “epiphany” (a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into reality). Gavin’s blog is very readable and informative. He is passionate in his beliefs, and entertaining in his delivery. Once you start reading you will find it hard to resist joining his blog as a “follower” and checking in on his journey

Tenderbreak is in the News

Tenderbreak is in the news again. Earth Garden Magazine has published an article about our Fire Bunker in its latest edition (Summer 2009), which is available at newsagents now. The latest issue also contains articles about aquaponics, quince trees, a DIY electric bike conversion and much more. EG comes out quarterly and has a focus on articles relating to sustainable lifestyles.

The inaugural summer edition of Yarra Valley & Ranges magazine also contains an article about our place. Celeste, who took the photos, manages to make the place look very classy. This new publication promotes the unique food and wine, people, places, gardens and art and culture of our region (The Yarra Valley and surrounding area). If you cannot find it at your newsagent their website is http://clpublishing.com.au/ .

Insulation Rebate Program

At the moment the Federal Government is offering a subsidy to existing home owners to help them insulate their roof space. The program has been so popular that the government has scaled back the amount offered from $1500 to $1200 and it may be dropped altogether when allocated funds run out. The scale back means that in most cases the rebate will not completely cover the cost of insulation, but for a medium sized house it will only involve a small outlay.

If your house lacks adequate insulation we reckon it would be worth checking out this program. Details can be found at http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/1517-home-page.asp.

Our daughter Kathy and husband Steve did just this in November, and are very happy with the result. They now have R3.5 insulation throughout their house and have already noticed the difference on hot summer days. They are looking forward to seeing how much difference it makes to winter temperatures.

We do not usually advertise businesses, but we were so impressed with the service offered by Janelle Murphy and her partner that we are happy to recommend them. They are a small business and we found them to be very ethical, knowledgeable and to offer good service and value for money. Their company is called Australian 5-Star and is based in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne (email australian5star@hotmail.com).

Janelle is also an accredited and very helpful energy rater (she does 5 star energy ratings of building plans) and is an accredited Home Sustainability Assessor. This latter qualification enables her to evaluate the energy use of a home and is aimed at providing home owners with ideas on how they can reduce their energy and water bills, increase the comfort of their home and help reduce damaging carbon pollution. The assessments can also be used to obtain a no interest “green loan” for sustainability measures. See http://www.environment.gov.au/greenloans/assessments/index.html for more information.

Tenderbreak Permaculture Tours

After a short break over summer we are recommencing tours of Tenderbreak Permaculture Farm. Over 1000 people have attended one of our events. Some have even been twice. Bookings are required for the tour on:-

Sunday, MARCH 7th

It runs from 1:30pm to 4:30pm and includes afternoon tea.
Our tours are suitable for anyone with an interest in permaculture, organic gardening, passive solar house design, tank water, mudbrick building, property design and layout, chooks and ducks, solar power, grey water systems and sustainable living. In fact our tours are a bit like doing a mini Introduction to Permaculture Course.
Part of the tour looks at defensive strategies against bushfires. The fires of Black Saturday burnt most of our 96 acres, but we were able to save our house and most of our infrastructure. We can now give an account of what aspects of our fire plan worked well and what needs to be improved.

Although our property is a large bush block, we provide information and ideas that are suitable for both rural and suburban dwellers. The size of the groups is limited to ensure there is plenty of scope for questions and discussion.
Other dates are available for group bookings.
Contact us for more details or for bookings at tenderbreak@bigpond.com

2009 The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Personally we are glad to see the end of 2009. It started off badly with horrifically dry conditions which put our gardens, the bushland and us, under great stress ....... and then came Black Saturday. Although we came through it relatively unscathed, the damage done to Victoria and Victorians that day, left its scars on us. Even now almost one year on, reflection about what happened can bring on lumps in the throat, tears to the eyes and an overwhelming feeling of sadness. Each summer for quite a while, (if not forever) we are going to be very much on edge during high risk days.

The year continued badly on the personal front, with the deterioration in health of Andrew’s Dad. Just when we thought he had stabilised, he went downhill and passed away on Boxing Day. Although we knew he was at risk, it still came as a shock.

The year has not been all bad though. We have had many enjoyable experiences, met many, many wonderful people and have learnt much about ourselves and aspects of the journey we are on.

On the people front, we have met hundreds of wonderful people on the “Permaculture in Action” tours we run, and at our stall at Healesville Organic Farmer’s Market. We also greatly enjoyed the company of Emily and Tim and Shelly who stayed with us for extended periods during the year. (See earlier posts). The highlight for Andrew was his surprise 60th Birthday party. We also enjoyed setting up and hosting Sally’s Yarra Valley Open Studio in September.

On the gardening front our fruit trees are one year older and bearing more fruit, we expanded several of our veggie growing areas and built our wonderful hothouse. Our animal flocks have increased in number. We searched high and low for a source of Khaki Campbell ducks, and found a breeder (by chance) within 5 minutes of our house. Our drake is very happy with his four wives. We have also added 4 bantams to our collection of chooks.

We are now looking forward to the new year and the positives which will come with it. Hopefully we will get our next construction project moving, do some more work on the house and of course we have plans to plant more fruit trees and bushes.

Roll on 1010 - we are looking forward to carving 10/10/10 in a mudbrick when that date comes around.