Convergence Ready For You

a hen looking back over her shoulder as she stands on a peak above a sea of mist

Your Special Time to Breakaway

Gone are the days of hugging and shouting at Convergences, squeezing into a venue to hear a great speaker or being tousled by the crowd to see something amazing.

Fortunately, the Australian Permaculture Convergence is bravely holding space for you to participate in something amazing. The program is loaded with diversity and interesting discussion. Every convergence needs diversity. And best of all, your enthusiasm counts.

This is all the space this participant had, using grey water for a garden." Rowe Morrow speaks on Wednesday 
Outcomes from teaching Permaculture in 10 refugee camps
“This is all the space this participant had, using grey water for a garden.” Rowe Morrow speaks on Wednesday
Outcomes from teaching Permaculture in 10 refugee camps

If you live in Australia, here are 5 great reasons to buy your tickets, pack your bag and venture out again. The time is ripe in Australia. The scene is set for a great convergence.

So, come along to celebrate natures abundance – 12 April to 15 April 2021

Maybe you have become quite comfortable with staying at home. Here are 5 good reasons to make a special break and converge once again.

Cleverness is limited to working with the miniscule known - Quote from Stuart Hill

1. Broaden Your Reach

The best reason for going to conferences is to meet with likeminded people and peers on a level footing. Convergences bring together people from all different climates and experiences with common needs and discoveries. They are a great way to meet new people and get a feel for how other people respond to challenges.

As usual, the permaculture convergence will welcome you to sit with people from a wide range of backgrounds and experience. As you build new connections you can reconnect with people you haven’t seen for a while and discover where their dreams led them. In fact, each convergence can feel like the chance to open a time-capsule full of inventions and ideas.

  • Linda Woodrow, Author of 470 presents – Imagined Futures: The role of imagining in creating the world we want
  • David Holmgren – Permaculture and the climate emergency in the Australian context 
  • Robina McCurdy – Empowering Bioregional Food Sovereignty
  • Stuart Andrews – Natural Sequence Farming 
  • Starhawk – Earth Activist Training

2. Convergences Expand Our Mindset

You will hear a lot about new approaches and techniques, learn from elders and listen to the newest faces starting out in Permaculture.

Bunya Halasz –

Bunya Halasz - Successional Agroforestry – an Exploration of Humid Tropical and Subtropical Systems

Successional Agroforestry – an Exploration of Humid Tropical and Subtropical Systems 

Of course, convergences give us the opportunity to ask presenters questions about their work and the rationale behind it, which you can’t do when reading journal articles or watching a video. As a result, convergences are authentic and interactive.

  • John Champagne, Jed Walker and the Permafund team – Permafund – microgrants for community projects worldwide
  • Michael Wardle – Trees, their needs, and the myths of dynamic accumulators
  • Virginia Solomon – Designing Permaculture Jobs
  • Andrew Pengelly – Bush Medicine Walk – Wednesday W2
Dianella Mt Kembla public walkway
  • Shane Sylvanspring & Trudy Juriansz – Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) principles and Permaculture principles
  • Tim Barker – Appropriate Technology for Resilience 
  • Tom Kendall- Design elements of a functioning biodigester in Australia
  • Charlie Brennan – Sensing Place – hearing trees and rivers
  • Robin Clayfield – Growing Community – Abundant Tools for Dynamic Groups, Effective Collaboration and Empowered Action
Davidson plum flowers

3. Collaborate

You don’t have to be a formal presenter, you talk to people about what you are doing, share ideas in workshops, add energy to a group or get feedback with a mentor over lunch. Talking about what we do with others offers ideas and energy to future generations.

  • Robyn Francis – Fair Share in the Anthropocene,
    Emma Brindal – Fostering Earth Care in folks of all ages,
    Fionn & Laura Quinlan – Families in Transition – Sharing Land & Visions,
    Nick Radford – A Permaculture Language,
    Shaoying Wang & April Sampson-Kelly – Designing a Chinese Village with Permaculture
  • Mark Jones & Billa Lauiti-Kolkr – Working with First Nations Custodians- a Discourse for Permaculture Leaders
    Erin Young – Sociocracy: Shared Leadership for Positive Impact
    Helen Schwencke – Inviting Nature to Dinner – How to grow food and support the little guys ( with Dick Copeman)
Lizzy Smith talks about Risk Management
Lizzy Smith – Risk Management for Permaculture Projects 

4. Convergences help us Smile

“It isn’t work if you’re having fun” said a great environmentalist lecturer Ted Trainer. Creative energy is vital for innovation. And Permaculture is always innovative. Our designs relate to the here and now as well as planning for next generations. It is here that we can enjoy the challenge of building a cleaner future for all. As a result, our interactions at convergences help pioneer our Care of People practices.

  • Victoria Holder – Hidden permaculture in hospitality & why you don’t know about it
  • Dominique Chen – Decolonising Food Yarn
  • Jane Milburn – Permaculture your wardrobe
  • Ko Oishi – Northey Street City Farm – 25 years of design exploring opportunities and constraints
Ko Oishi - Northey Street City Farm – 25 years of design exploring opportunities and constraints

5. Synergise

Many minds make light work. The exchange of information during a convergence bears many fruits and build a brighter future.

  • Dick Copeman – Responding & adapting to climate change – a permaculture perspective
  • Morag Gamble – Permaculture Education Futures
  • Elisabeth Fekonia – Ferment your Food 
  • Carly Garner – Inspiring NextGen Earth Stewards
  • Megan McGowan – Permaculturing our Permaculture: A case study
  • Beck Lowe – Retrosuburbia 101

‘So why attend? Can’t I read about the convergence later or watch the video?’ Well you might ask. In truth, a convergence is something that you feel, see, hear, taste and interact to enjoy. In the end, it is like going to the beach. You smell and hear the surf, you feel the rush of cold water and sand goes everywhere. After all, a video of the ocean never feels the same as being there.

For those of you who can’t attend. We will keep the team spirit pumping. For those of you who are packing already – See you there!

Hard and Soft Technologies

 Can’t Live Without You – Dear Technology

help-meTechnologies can be classified as Soft or Hard. Most technologies sit within the range between these two extremes. Knowing the difference helps us choose a technology to do a task with the least environmental cost.

Basically, Soft technologies are those handled by people. Whereas, Hard technologies don’t need people to watch over them.

“We use hard technologies to make things easier and faster, by reducing the number of choices for users. Hard technologies are brittle and stifle creativity. They prevent us from doing things and that is why we use them.  They are complete. Hard technologies act as filters – they structure our spaces and limit what we can do.” Jenny Mackness

Elaborating on technologies

A fire pit is a soft technology because requires a skilled operator to start it and keep it going.  However, a wood-fired oven is a slightly ‘harder’ technology because some of the physical effort is reduced by the addition of walls and a chimney.  Eventually, the electric heater was developed. It required less effort and provided speed. This is how the technology of heating became ‘Hardened’.

Very Hard technologies don’t need humans to keep them in operation. A solar passive house is the ultimate Hard technology – it functions without an operator.

Soft and Pliable Technologies

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Ferrocement – a creative soft technology

Soft technologies are flexible and empower creativity. The user has to plan and orchestrate processes. This requires skill and creativity. Soft technologies may appear to be simple but they require time, skills and observation to function.

Co-Evolution

bikeMixed technologies can be an intelligent conversion or enhancement of technologies. The bicycle is the perfect mixed technology. It is the most efficient form of transport known to man. A bicycle requires human energy, skill and observation to operate it. And so we Segway to the Motor car. The common car is a mixed technology.  The self-powered, self-driving car will be a hard type of technology.

Hard Technology Improves Peasantry lifestyle

An example of a soft technology is a house that constantly needs cleaning. Consequently, hard technology deals with inevitable issues such as waste management. One example is the The flush toilet. This is a hard technology, requiring little handling to do a vital job. A simple pit-style of toilet (the old hole in the ground) is a hard technology whereas a good composting toilet is an evolved mixed technology.

chicken-weeds-worms-towerIn a simple chicken house, the poop builds up. The chicken in the wild would not tolerate this, it would move house and allow nature to recycle the waste. The domesticated-chicken-owner is constantly cleaning up after them.

Imagine a chicken house design that is self-cleaning. The Chicken-Worm-Tower is a mix of simple animal housing technology with good flow-management strategies (the waste from the upper level becomes food for the lower levels).

Softening Up The Hard Technologies

Traditionally, a building is a hard technology however, skills can be developed to soften any negative effects of a building.  With observation and adaptations the building becomes a mixed technology.  Adaptations develop and the user learns to drive the structure. These adaptations include simple tools like opening critical windows to allow breezes through. More adaptations include the use of heavy curtains to prevent air circulation and heat loss. In more extreme cases the user reduces heat-loss by applying insulating materials and plugging drafts.

Does a Technology have to cost the Earth?

Choosing a technology deserves a little bit of environmental analysis beyond the immediate financial cost.

  1. technology-save-us?What is the embedded energy in the product?
  2. How long will it last?
  3. is it able to adapt with my needs?
  4. How is it repaired?
  5. What waste is generated?
  6. Is it easy to dis-assemble and recycle?

Hard and Soft Technology of the Permaculture Site

A young Permaculture site is a soft technology. It requires vision, care, skill and training. The user needs to be flexible and creative. As the site matures we see the space become a Harder technology.  The mature forest is robust and requires less maintenance.

The hardened environmental system rewards us with food and improved habitat. Within the mature food-forest we will enjoy being creative and we have more resources to play with.

Learn more about Permaculture Design with Us

Participate in a hand’s-on workshop through our hybrid learning systemFront-Page-Gallery-9

Christmas Tree: ‘Alive and Kicking’

Bigger and better every year.

Our Christmas tree is now 10 years old and is slowly getting bigger! It is now over 2m tall.  When it outgrows the doorway it will be allowed to reside in the garden. It is an indigenous Araucaria evergreen called a Bunya Bunya.

Bring in the Christmas Tree
Bring in the Christmas Tree

Bunya Bunya’s have massive (35kg) cones of edible nuts. We must be careful never to stand under a Bunya when it is in fruit. Bunyas are an ancient species, surviving over hundreds of millions of years. But very few of these proud ancestors were stuck in a pot and harassed by summer ornaments. Our Christmas tree has character. The young leaves are bright green and there is a positive glow about the tree.  We must forgive this tree for having bent branches due to the annual decorations and an imperfect trunk due to constant traffic on the balcony where it usually resides in the ‘off-season’.

Before you rush out to buy one of these trees in time for Christmas just 8 years later, be warned! There is a reason that this tree species is an ancient survivor. Beneath the good looks is resilience (it is heavy and strong) and great self-defense strategies (it’s pretty anit-social).  Getting a Bunya Bunya to come indoors is a battle that needs armory and planning. Even after using thick clothes, eye protection and gloves, we bear the scars.  A Bunya Bunya gives nasty scratches to anything that goes near it including possums, deer, birds and festive revelers.  The plan is to bring the tree in when the days are dry. This makes it lighter to transport. We then let it have Christmas ‘drinks’ in moderation to avoid the risk of death by over-watering.

handmade-angel-for-christmas-tree‘Tis The Season Of
Consumer Power

There are workable alternatives to living in a sea of toxic plastic. This is the season of great consumer-power.  Lets enjoy supporting farmers, restorers, artists and craft-makers who make the effort to rid our world of non-recyclables and invest in ethical gifts.

Value Biological Resources

A fundamental principle of Permaculture design is to use biological resources. An investment in renewable resources such as a living tree requires only a little maintenance. Like a fine wine, it gets better as it ages. Traditionally, most people would cut or buy a cut tree (you can use a branch), bring it in and then find a use for it after Christmas. Most people have to compost there tree somewhere.

some ‘silly season’ recycled Christmas Tree ideas

Real Is Better

A real tree is a far better choice than a plastic tree. The plastic tree not only gets shabby with age, it is nearly impossible to recycle because it made of many different types of plastics and not made to be easily disassembled.

handmade-star-for-christmas-treeA simple native conifer or pine tree that is fragrant and not spiky would be an excellent investment.  If you have patience and skill, invest in a rare indigenous tree. This will give you pride and revolutionise the legendary tradition of having a real Christmas Tree.  If you want to a few sample, dig up a weedy pine sapling from beside the road. If you are feeling highly skilled and have no growing space, try a bonsai Christmas tree. Bonsai’s can live for hundreds of years.

Let’s start a fashion growing potted Christmas trees and if we succeed we can give the spares as a special future Christmas present.