Permaculture

About the film

Here’s a subject we’re super passionate about – although it’s not a topic always appreciated at the dinner table! Humanure composting is the ultimate in self-responsibility – when we use flush toilets we not only waste beautiful clean water, we waste an incredibly useful resource. Our poo, when properly composted, is a brilliant addition to our gardens, making it the ultimate in ways to create a closed-loop system.

While this isn’t an immediate option for apartment-dwellers, it’s certainly an option for anyone with a back yard big enough to hold a couple of compost bays. In this video, Greg and Lisa, from Wanaka, New Zealand, describe one of the easiest ways to compost your poo. We highly recommend the book Lisa mentions by Joseph Jenkins, The Humanure Handbook – you can buy it online or download a free PDF.

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About the film

In the small town of Oxford, Kane and Fiona Hogan have transformed their urban 1/2-acre property into abundant veggie gardens. The aim of Urban Gardener is to build resilience and food security in their local community – both by growing food for people to purchase and by helping people to grow food in their own backyards.

Here is yet another inspiring initiative that brings together the essentials for resilience: good healthy food and strong communities. Check out progress at Urban Gardener on their Facebook page.

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About the film

In the small town of Riverton at the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island is Robert and Robyn Guyton’s amazing 23-year-old food forest. The 2-acre property has been transformed from a neglected piece of land into a thriving ecosystem of native and exotic trees where birds and insects live in abundance. Robert and Robyn are a huge inspiration to us, not only for their beautiful approach to healing the land and saving heritage trees and seeds, but for the way they’ve impacted on their local community.

They’ve operated an environment centre in their town for over 20 years, where the community comes together to learn and discuss, buy produce and sit by the warm fire over a cuppa. We’ve even heard of folk who’ve up and moved to Riverton because they’re so inspired by the Guytons!

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The Food is Free Project is a community-building and food-growing initiative that began in 2012 in the USA and has taken root in many communities all over the world since then. This film is about the Food is Free laneway started by Lou Ridsdale in Ballarat, Australia. People leave excess food, seedlings, plants and even food scraps for composting on permanent tables set up in a laneway alongside Lou’s home. Anyone can take food for free.

The initiative is not just about promoting the idea that everyone should have access to good food, but about drawing together communities to help each other to live and eat well. We loved filming with Lou – she’s super inspiring! You can follow her efforts at https://www.facebook.com/foodisfreelanewayballarat

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About the film

A tour of Purple Pear Farm in New South Wales, Australia, a permaculture and biodynamic farm with rotating tractor domes over mandala garden beds, pigs, chooks and some great philosophy. Mark and Kate run a small CSA (community supported agriculture) offering vege boxes to their local community.

They dream not of growing ever bigger and bigger and controlling the market for veggies in their region, but rather of staying small and supporting other vegetable growers to initiate similar projects, or even to join theirs, so that everyone in the community is eating well and living well. Now there’s a vision to be inspired by!

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About the film

A tour of Limestone Permaculture Farm in New South Wales, Australia. Brett Cooper manages the 1-acre property as a productive farm helping to feed around 50 families. The tour includes a look at the orchard, caravan farm gate, chicken and duck areas, and shade house, and Brett talks about what brought him and his family to this complete change of lifestyle – in which they are thriving.

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About the film

Andrew Martin once worked in the finance industry in Australia, but after learning about the true state of the world as peak oil and climate change begin to take effect, he knew he had to leave that unsustainable lifestyle behind and do something useful to help heal the earth and to be more resilient in the face of change. He and his wife Beth moved to New Zealand, where they’re in the process of turning green-desert farmland into a productive and bountiful forest of food.

It’s incredible to see how much they’re harvesting after just three years. Andrew researches extensively about the big interconnected issues in the realms of economy, environment and energy and offers his skills and knowledge to city and regional councils that need to build their own resilience (that would be pretty much all of them!). Find out more about Andrew’s work on his website Rethink Enterprises.

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Agari Permaculture Farm, in Victoria, Australia, is a workshop space for natural building, permaculture, natural health, healing and more. This little 4-minute film shows off their amazing cob house, earthbag dome, kitchen/social area, and the awesome people who created this great space.

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