Sustainability in Permaculture, New Zealand
Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005
Workshop Leader: Joe Polaischer and Trish Allen
- Address: Rainbow Valley Farm, 588 Matakana Valley Rd, R.D. 5, Warkworth, New Zealand. Tel: (09) 422 7432
Notes on the Process
talk / lecture / slide show / discussion / participatory - give details: DVD film presentation followed by questions and discussion.
Overview
Joe will talk and show slides from Rainbow Valley farm, which has 20 hec. of land in subtropical climate. Permaculture principles and biodynamic methods are used on this farm. They have planted 800 fruit & nut trees and 13,000 timber, firewood & amenity trees, have animals, aquaculture and worm farming. The farm uses appropriate technology and sees biodiversity as important. Now they have started environmental education and other awareness programmes at the farm. Presentation with slides and overheads.
Summary
Jo and Trish presented a film that was broadcast on the New Zealand TV network, and attracted 500,000 viewers. The film was inspirational and showed many aspects of Rainbow Valley Farm – soil, building, crops, skills – as well as presenting the concepts of Permaculture. After the film we had a question and answer session that helped us to know more about the farm and Jo and Trish’s work.
Key Points
- Jo had grown up on a small farm in Austria after World War II. This had given him huge skills and understandings of how to work without money, make best use of resources and find creative solutions.
- Rainbow Valley Farm started as “rubbish land” covered in gorse, with very hard clay subsoil and virtually no topsoil. Mulching, worm farming and shredded gorse was used to build soil and create a productive system of crops. The planting of 1000 trees, coffee, sugar cane and use of ducks, hens, guinea fowl as food and as part of an integrated pest management system also contribute to the farms success.
- Educational activities include visits from schools, lectures and educational outreach to other countries. A newly developed Community Supported Agriculture system and Farmers Market also provide opportunities for demonstrations and public forums for discussion and trying out new skills. Joe and Trish use a very creative approach, including showing visiting children how to make sustainable toys from local plants (we saw a sugar cane boat).
- The house is beautiful and practical, combining art, local materials, recycling (wine bottle walls) and passive solar. The whole site has been designed to run without electricity and all water is gravity fed.
- Closing the nutrient cycle is key. Amongst other strategies Joe has developed compost toilets based on squatting instead of sitting for increased health.
- Experimentation is key to the work and these are small scale and low / no cost. Success can be developed and mistakes learned from.
- Whilst having a low income as compared to others, their quality of life shone through and it was clear that health, abundance and happiness were present in good measure at the farm.
- Joe has developed a keen understanding of ecological footprint analysis and energy accounting and sees this as a key tool for judging success and impact of our work, as well as a constant reminder of how much we still have to do.
- Joe feels it is crucial that we no longer accept the greenwash, counter the culture of denial and look critically at how we can make most effective use of our time to empower change and create practical abundant systems to meet our needs.
A highly inspirational and thought provoking presentation. Videos are available. See their website for further information about their work.
[Scribe: Andy Goldring]