Tag Archives: Social Permaculture

The weather here has not been very supportive of gardening lately. First a very hot dry period towards the end of 2023 where many plants and trees died, then this year has been so wet and humid up here in South East Queensland. The result has been an overgrowth of tenacious grasses and ‘weeds’ that threaten existing trees and take over whole orchards, access paths and large areas of land as well as many large woody herbs and trees overextending themselves to obscure anything around them. Then along comes fantastic Volunteers and WWOOFers (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) who have helped turn a problem into a solutions.Lots of hard work…• Making Hot Compost from the ‘weeds’ and prunings, often chipping them first• Sheet mulching weedy areas by cutting ‘weeds’ and grasses then adding biochar, rock minerals and some nitrogen bombs then covering with soaked cardboard then straw• Placing ‘weeds’ in …

There’s a magical and nourishing event that happens monthly in Maleny called the ‘Maleny Seed and Harvest Swap’. Robin was invited to be a guest speaker after the swap session during one gathering last year and has been going regularly since then to the swap. It’s the most awesome system. People bring anything they have surplus or to swap from their gardens, lay it out on the tables, then at 9am, everyone wanders around and takes what they want or need. More people come in later, place things down and the gathering continues. People bring produce, plants, cuttings, flowers, eggs, honey, dried herbs, seeds of course and you never know what else. Robin brings potted edible plants, bunches of greens from the garden, surplus produce, most recently chillies and passionfruit, dried herbs like Perilla, Horsetail, Peppermint and seeds that are in abuncance. Her presentation on the first occasion was about …

A passionate and skilled group of 18 people from India, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Solomon Islands plus two University Professors (Kristen from UQ and Jagjit from Monash and India) and two student interns participated in a specially designed 3 day tour of places of interest in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in mid December 2023. Robin hosted the tour group with Raven’s help covering logistics and most admin tasks. The program included beginning in Maleny with an Acknowledgement of Country, Lunch at an Indian restaurant and a presentation by Assistant Manager of 44 year old Maple St Co operative, a wonderful member owned food health food store. The afternoon completed with some shopping time and a tour of the Co ops, Collectives and points of interest around Maleny then a bus ride to Crystal Waters Permaculture Ecovillage and dinner with Yoav from ‘Good Food Vibes’ on the Deck at Crystal Waters. …

The last week of July promises to be a lively, creative and fantastic learning time. It’s a year since Robin’s last ‘Dynamic Groups’ course. It’s her annual offering of this type of course at Crystal Waters and since Covid began she has only offered this once a year in her home community as travelling to other states and countries by invitation wasn’t possible. The six day intensive runs from 23rd to 28th July and will be followed a day later by a big Permaculture Music gig with ‘Formidable Vegetable’ launching their new album. People booking for the course are recommended to stay the extra day and night and be part of the event. More info about the ‘Dynamic Groups, Dynamic Learning’ can be found on the FaceBook event here. Treat yourself to some Professional Development and lots of fun and confidence building. Contact Robin now to book your place.

Exciting news. For the first time ever at Crystal Waters, the world travelled Permaculture Band ‘Formidable Vegetable’ will be rocking the Village Green and Deck area on the last Saturday evening of July. Fresh from a sold-out national tour, Formidable Vegetable are back with some all new permaculture-boosted electro-funk and positive climate action that the whole neighbourhood can get down to as they launch their brand new album ‘Micro Biome’. With accolades from the UN and having toured to over 20 countries, Formidable Vegetable inspire folks from 5 to 95 to grow their own food, restore their own ecosystems and live a better life with irresistibly funky home-scale solutions to the many problems of the world. From the local farmers market to massive festivals such as Glastonbury, Formidable Vegetable are as at home on stage alongside the likes of Radiohead, Dolly Parton and The Rolling Stones as they are in …

Spontaneous, unsolicited testimonials are always the best kind. This one from Charlie appeared on FaceBook this week and Kate picked up on that and posted on LinkedIn. Thanks to you both for your support of this important work. “If there’s one thing we need more than ever, it’s the ability to organise in harmonious ways. Robin Clayfield is a master of bringing people together and creating dynamic, transformative and… dare I say, FUN groups with the ability to make meaningful change in the world.” – Charlie McGee “I can’t put it better than Charlie, but what I can say is that Robin Clayfield’s Dynamic Groups work has been formative in my own facilitation and practice. I can’t recommend this course highly enough. The annual Dynamic Groups residential training is coming up next month at Crystal Waters Eco Village. Email Robin for more information”. Kate Williams