APC Program Schedule Sunday

Wellness sharing circle

Presenter: Jasper Simmons

Registration

APC Opening Address

Keynote: Permaculture, urban agriculture and food futures

Presenter: Walter Jehne

Morning tea

Change venue

Articulating & Activating Hope

Presenters: Kirsten Bradley and Hannah Moloney

An open discussion with Hannah Maloney + Kirsten Bradley, for those wanting to communicate more effectively about cultivating active hope at this time on Earth. How can we better ground and help activate our networks and communities towards hopeful behaviour and outcomes, in the face of so much loss and strain? How do we hold space for multiple realities (not all of them hopeful) while leading with purpose and encouraging others? How can we get better at pacing ourselves to ensure we can continue to contribute, in the face of so much urgent need? Bring your examples, your thoughts, and your questions.

ILLUSTRATIONS WITHIN THE PERMACULTURE WORLD

Robert Allsop, Andrew Jeeves and Brenna Quinlan

A panel discussion about the history of illustrations in Permaculture books and education material, styles and uses of illustrations in books and education, illustrations as a tool for teaching in both English language and non English language speaking groups. Specific examples of different artists work and approached to illustrating.

The Good life in 2022

Presenter: Corryn Dean

In a face paced world, and a whirlwind 3 years in which more people realised the fragility of our food systems, creating a ‘home paradise’ with a buffer to the economical and food shortage crises, and with ever changing regulations on what we can do, see how one family are tackling these challenges, the best they can.
On an suburban 650sqm (+/-) block, we keep milk goats, dual purpose chickens, and a handful of other animals. We grow fruit and veggies, native tube stock for the Trees For Life landholders revegetation program, worm farm, compost household and community waste, and take on the challenge of larger scale local network composting, verge gardening, quitting commercial diary, and growing more of their own meat. The hope is to be a case study for others, to help and encourage them to build their skill sets for resilience, and living a more community-sufficient life, where ever they may be.

Importance of Slow

Presenter: Bruce Kain

We live in a world obsessed with moving faster than ever before. At Blimey Charley, we still believe there is a place for the slow(er) life. Based on a little three-acre plot in Charleston, Adelaide Hills, focused on teaching our kids about the power of healthy soil and healthy food.
With four kids under the age of eight and have traded pursuit of “balance” for some type of “harmonious imbalance”. Within the weekly madness, we try always find a way to carve out time to stop, to slow down and to make sure we don’t lose sight of what’s important to us. From preparing the soil, nurturing the seedlings, harvesting the fruit, veggies and flowers, preparing & cooking and sharing with our family and tight knit community, our kids are involved at every step of the way.
We’ve been lucky enough to travel all over the world, yet the best memories we have together are with bare feet in the veggie garden, dancing around the kitchen whilst we cook something delicious, together. From Shakshuka with our homegrown tomatoes and free-range eggs to spicy kimchi and pickles. Handmade pasta’s, chili oils to scones with homemade jam and cream.

From the Hill to the Hills

Presenter: Rebecca Phyland

In 2000 Rebecca brought a property up the ‘hill’ on Mount Clay in south-west Victoria and for over 10 years (and with many volunteers) she built an eco education centre and showcase permaculture-inspired garden and conservation zone. She relocated to the Nangkita ‘hills’ near Mount Compass in South Australia in 2020 and started from scratch, applying permaculture principles to her new conservation property through a more refined and strategic lens. In between Rebecca worked on many projects across the Pacific Islands applying her knowledge to a range of coastal settings, facilitating transition activities for local communities, and embracing and learning from Indigenous Ecological Knowledge. The case study of this journey highlights diverse applications of the permaculture principles for living and working towards a sustainable, connected society, but at the same time embracing the turning points that life offers.

Education For Sustainability

Presenters: Steven Fuller & Debra Bradley

Teaching Fungi In Permaculture Classes

Presenter: Deb Colville

The bio-diversity of fungi is an important contribution to healthy plants, soil, food, people and ecosystems.
The aim of this presentation is education. It is to explore some ideas for options to approach teaching and learning about fungi in a permaculture class, and in an informal community garden setting, to a variety of student age-groups, in a variety of contexts.
Examples of curriculum design elements and permaculture teaching materials will be demonstrated.
Taking fungi into account wherever teaching about the role of permaculture principles is involved seems important.
Including awareness of such biodiversity, and in particular embedding knowledges of fungi into a variety of teaching practices is important when we ‘teach permaculture’.

Covid experiences sharing circle

Presenter: Jasper Simmons

_{Contrary to our principle of valuing diversity, governments and media have actively prevented many Covid stories from being heard. There has been friction within our circles. Focusing on our well-being, let’s practice empathy and acknowledge the humanity in all. In this Way of Council sharing circle, listen & share your own personal stories from your heart, free of fear and judgement. There will be limited numbers, no questions or discussion, and facilitators will not present their own perspectives. Participants are encouraged to stay for the full double-length session.} 

Change venue

Water – Techniques from around the World
to capture, store and use it

Presenter: Graham Brookman

The capture and management of water is a central theme in permaculture design and many projects fail because a land capability assessment and simple maths has not been done to calculate water needs. This illustrated presentation shows water capture, storage, filtration and reticulation techniques from around the world and highlights water saving and reuse systems in use at The Food Forest where rain, groundwater and river water are all used in a resilient system for home and farm use. Water quality and basic calculations on volumes and equipment will be covered.

Urban agriculture: Soil, space, and society

Presenters: Hannah Thwaites, Dr Matt Salomon,
Isobel Hume, Prof. Tim Cavagnaro

Holistic solutions to rampant urbanisation and correlated climatic and societal challenges are required. We need to be able to feed more people, with less resources, in an ever-changing environment. As a multifunctional nature-based solution, urban agriculture is recognised for its positive contribution to urban ecosystems.
This panel of University of Adelaide researchers will explore a variety of considerations about growing food within the urban boundary including: soil health in urban agriculture systems as a critical element to food production; spatial and resource requirements for self-sufficiency in vegetable and rainwater harvesting; and the social role of urban agriculture in growing resilient communities from the home garden.

Ethical hunting for the community

Presenter: Carmelo Scavone

Industrial farming brings on huge impact on climate change and animal welfare concerns. Hunting can offer a local, sustainable, ethical approach to sourcing meat. While bringing community together, starting uncomfortable conversations and preserving native biodiversity. With Uncle Moogy, we’ll dive into indigenous hunting and tanning practises, and how they integrate in the story of his people. We’ll talk about the skills and tools that are required, the emotions and contradictions which come with sourcing meat, the benefits on our communities’ self-reliance and the shift to a more conscious eating.
You’ll learn about our experience in South Australia has changed the way we spend our time and our money and the way we eat. You’ll also learn simple actions that you can take to shift to a more ethical meat consumption.

Permanomics: permaculture design towards
economic justice

Presenter: Rayna Fahey

Economics is the study and practice of how we value the people, objects, and resources around us, and how we go about trading what we value. Colonisation, globalisation and neo-conservative economic practices have created an extractive and exploitative system that is rapidly accelerating the destruction of ecosystems and the global climate.
How do we apply a permaculture lens to economics?
What are the permanomics solutions that we can be working to support today?
In this session, we look at how we got to where we are today and explore the local, regional, and global opportunities to restore commons-based economies.

Covid experiences sharing circle – Continued

Presenter: Jasper Simmons

_{Contrary to our principle of valuing diversity, governments and media have actively prevented many Covid stories from being heard. There has been friction within our circles. Focusing on our well-being, let’s practice empathy and acknowledge the humanity in all. In this Way of Council sharing circle, listen & share your own personal stories from your heart, free of fear and judgement. There will be limited numbers, no questions or discussion, and facilitators will not present their own perspectives. Participants are encouraged to stay for the full double-length session.} 

Change venue

Lunch and networking

Change venue

Fire Edge Roads to Retardant Landscapes

Presenters: Dean Turner, John Champagne & Chelsea Moseley

Presentation by Dean Turner, John Champagne and Chelsea Moseley about the retardant landscapes and design workshops that grew out of a social permaculture response to the 2019/20 fires around the greater Cobargo region.
The Badja Fire Edge Roads Gatherings organised by The Crossing Land Education Trust grew a unique series of workshops on permaculture design and fire preparedness including cool mosaic burning, retardant shelterbelts and refuges, on the gate fire maps, relationship saver decision grids and some must have contents for emergency backpacks.
This is a resilience story of fire response, and a unique collaboration between a permaculture elder, a firefighter, a Landcarer and a Land Education Centre that was threatened by fire over 6 weeks from every direction except the south east.

Building a DIY Green Roof: a case study

Presenter: Sam Ryan

A green or living roof is a structure with growing medium and plants installed on the roof of a building. This presentation and case study of a green roof built south of Adelaide – Tarntanya will outline the benefits of green roofs, key requirements, plant and soil selection. The project was completed in 2019 using a second-hand shipping container as the building structure, and cost less than $1200. It was built by two people with basic carpentry skills and some second-hand materials.
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A Permaculture Lens on Mental Health

Presenter: Chris Day

Brief: Permaculture with a focus on people care, mental health, and growing strong connections, communication and support

In this workshop I would like to explore:

• How can we use our Permaculture thinking to help our own and our peers mental health?
• How can we best support each other
• Practical ways we can in our workplaces and daily activities make sure we are looking out for each other and ourselves
• What are the signs to look out for when people are struggling
• Acknowledging the stigma of mental health as a weakness, and highlighting it as a strength to be able to share how we really are going, and working through the hard stuff
• Acknowledging those whom have taken their lives that were an inspiration to many, but were suffering in silence

Future Scenarios in Hindsight:
Lessons learnt over the last 15yrs
and the prognosis for the next 15yrs

Presenter: David Holmgren

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Wicking beds, companion planting and myth busting

Presenter: Mark Smith

Wicking beds provide plants with the perfect level of moisture all the time resulting in constant growth and strong, healthy plants. But there are many myths around wicking beds. We’ll go through wicking bed designs with a myth busting session. Plus we’ll look at to integrate companion planting into your vegie patch.

Change Venue

Native Foods and Climate Resilient Communities

Presenters: Rebecca Sullivan and Damien Coulthard

Cultivating connection and community

Presenters: Emma Lewellyn, Annemarie Brookman,
Benedetta Martin

Annemarie Brookman, Benedetta Martin and Emma Lewellyn will facilitate a discussion on cultivating strong, safe and socially connected communities.
Humans are social creatures who crave connection. Something that brings people together is the desire to belong to a place, a group and/or a purpose.
We can all relate to the global experience of the Covid19 pandemic, when we lost our regular social channels and were forced to rethink how we live our daily lives and connect to community and environment.
Permaculture’s ethics and principles offer a solution-focused framework to cultivate community that can help us through the ongoing challenges that come with disconnection and displacement.
Through our experiences and observations working with schools, migrants and disadvantaged groups we share how some of the challenges of isolation and marginalisation can be navigated.
With stories, pictures and participation, this session explores how shared experiences, nature engagement, connection to diverse food cultures and traditions, and community, are powerful tools to help develop place-making and meaningful relationships. This can improve our mental health and resilience in our daily lives.

5 reasons to take a renewed interest in Accredited Permaculture Training

Presenter: Virginia Solomon

5 Reasons to take a renewed interest in Accredited Permaculture Training
For the past 18 months, a group of Permaculture Educators has been working hard to complete the 5-yearly review of Vocational Education and Training in Permaculture.
In a nutshell, the main components resulting from the Review are:

• 5 reviewed qualifications
• 48 units of competency
• 13 skill sets

Opportunities to engage include:

• Training providers, including those offering the PDC, can now consider partnering with RTOs to offer some components of this training
• Funding is available for some programs in some States (and more will come on line in time)
• Opportunities for those with current qualifications (including Certificate IV in Training and Assessment) to deliver this training
• Opportunities for professional development including a plan to make it easier for permies to get the Certificated IV in Training and Assessment
• Opportunities to grow the permaculture ‘industry’ with the new and evolved skill sets that provide integration with the PDC and the long-anticipated bridge to higher education

We look forward to rolling out new courses and to energetic participation and enthusiasm from permies everywhere.

Educators and Trainers professional development

Presenter: Ian Lillington

1. Types of course on offer – Teaching / education — is the PDC still fit-for-purpose? What new options are there?

2. What is the value of various 8 hour, 8 day and long courses in comparison?

3. Online training – can permaculture teaching ever be as ‘good’ if it is done on line, or does it need ‘hands-on’ in a literal sense? What are we learning about on line these days?

4. Teacher training – there are quite a few courses around — are they linked to points 1,2 and 3? Are they a way that permaculture people upskill themselves in response to all the above points? Do we need any kind of national agreement about what is ’teacher training’?

5. Do we need any national standard for accrediting teachers system and issuing Diplomas? The UK model is peer-reviewed and has enough structure to be visible and accountable. It has been refined over many years and they could share it with us – it takes up many unpaid hours of mentors’ time, but seems to pay dividends. Does Australia need a national accredited teacher system?

6. Do we create Educators Guild’s based on bioregions as we have had in SE Australia?

Putting permaculture into pasture.
Re-imagining the principles beyond small scale

Presenter: Gerard Lawry

Early permaculture tended to focus on small-scale design. My presentation describes a case study of transforming a dusty, unimproved, 250ac paddock into a resilient, robust, diversified, off-grid, production system. I’ll demonstrate Eaglerise Farm, an exemplar of possibilities to practice permaculture on a larger scale. I re-imagined permaculture principles into farming philosophies. This afforded ownership of these design tools as I applied them to our landscape. Ecological Performance Indicators (EPIs) evaluate adherence to our philosophies. As an example, I applied the pattern of the landscape to farm sub-division. This process demonstrated earth care. I planted 20,000 trees expanding ecological habitat/corridors, windbreaks and shelter. Bird surveys attest to the success of enhanced ecosystem functions. Further ecological enhancement is evident through the diversity of multi-enterprises. We farm sheep, cattle, pigs, bees, vegetables, fruit trees and berries, chickens, and grapes. My presentation explains how each of these enterprises supports our ecological system and culture. For us, permaculture is beyond small-scale vegetable growing. It’s beyond grazing pasture. It embraces designing and managing diversity, integrating elements to support each other throughout the whole farm. It involves supporting Farmers’ Markets and our customers there. It includes 30-years of fostering countless students’ vision and thought process. It evolves!

Propagating Permaculture Plants

Presenter: Annaliese Hordern

Join me, Annaliese Hordern in a practical hands on fun-drop & skills share – propagating Permaculture Plants.
We will explore a variety of techniques including cuttings, division of above ground parts and learn how to propagate roots, rooted shoots and methods of propagating from seed – all pending on Lachlan finding good plant material!!
We will also cover the function and many uses of these plants.
You’ll pick up some fun and memorable ways to remember ‘game changer’ techniques in the realms of propagation.
Some snips and secreters will be available – always great to bring your own plus a container to sit your cuttings or potted plant in.
Class size maybe limited for practical reasons, sorry!

End of day / pre-dinner break

Permaculture Australia AGM

Dinner

Cultural Compost Theatre

Presenter: Chris Banks

Daily 10 minute improvised parodies of convergence activities, sometimes involving volunteers from the audience.

Elders Awards + Special surprise