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Bungala Ridge Permaculture Gardens REDUCE ... REUSE ... RECYCLE ... REPAIR ... RETURN ... REVEGETATE ... REPLENISH |
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Where We Began... In 1986 at a local meeting focussing on nuclear disarmament and world peace, Robin and I came across Permaculture One and Two by Bill Mollison and David Holmgrem. I flipped through these books and found them to be constructive, compelling and reassuring. They formed the foundation of a changing internal philosophy, an odyssey that began with fear and moved into hope. Permaculture invades every area of our life - it isn't just an agricultural/horticultural adventure - it is a design paradigm for life! It was hard at first to think like a permaculturalist - so many of my attitudes, beliefs and behavioural patterns had to change (and still do!) Permaculture isn't something you can achieve overnight, either. I can build a mandala garden in an afternoon, following instructions. But permaculture isn't about borrowing ideas from other people and applying them in our own situation - it is about learning what our situation is and then making the most from it. This can be in any area of life - not just gardening! As you read through these pages you may come across conflicting information - our property is in a constant state of flux and some of the descriptions belong to a past era - last week, last month, a year ago... the place constantly changes as we experiment and evaluate. From time to time I check through what I've written, and endeavour to update each page, but recognising the learning journey is probably more important than the information on each page and as we all know, nothing stays the same for long! We live on four and a half acres. Our property is roughly split in half, with buildings and orchard to the west and regenerating bush on the eastern side. Because of the slope we situated our house high, close to the gate, to capture the panoramic views. Some permies have suggested we made a mistake buying a south-facing block and that we should pack up and buy a property with a solar facing aspect, but we are happy. Permaculture should work anywhere! We've planted thousands of native trees and bushes, plus over100 fruiting varieties in our orchard, lots of flowering plants to attract bees and birds. Our 10 metre by 10 metre vegetable garden acts as a chicken tractor, connected to the chook and duck yard. We have more chooks to roam the orchard, and they keep the grass relatively under control. We've recently put in our greywater system - this brings us to a total of 14 ponds! We hope to finish the very tiny dam later this year and we are looking for low cost appropriate technology solutions for a liner.Guinea pigs and pigeons and two geese complete our intentional livestock, but we enjoy lots of wildlife - kangaroos, echidnas, possums, and increasing variety and number of birds, and millions of insects and termites. Our climate is mild and frost free, with hot dry summers. This means most of the gardening and landscaping work is done in winter and spring when the ground is not baked hard. Although our house uses rainwater we are connected to town water and this has allowed us to quickly establish our plant systems using micro irrigation and mulches, both living and salvaged organic materials. We began our permaculture journey firmly remembering that it takes a system years to evolve and develop... the key to permaculture is observation before action. From our early gung ho actions we have observed many surprising and sometimes disappointing consequences. Now we tread more carefully, slowly, hesitantly... taking our time and reflecting more before we act. Sometimes it takes years to finish a project, waiting for the best solution to present itself!
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