By Callum Ludwig
Permaculture Week in the Yarra Ranges is coming up next month and features a jam-packed schedule of events.
Following Yarra Valley ECOSS’ Ectotopia Festival on Friday 17 March, there will be something every day suitable for everyone from those who are new to the practice to season permaculture pros.
President of Permaculture Yarra Valley (PYV) Peter Veeken said hopefully the week will spread awareness of what is out there and what is possible with permaculture.
“I’d like to think that everybody who visits the Ecotopia Festival, which is got so many different things happening, would drop by our stall so we can talk to people and hopefully inspire people to see there is an eco-friendly way of living,” he said.
“Hopefully, people may change the way they’re thinking about where they get their food from and things like that.”
Following ecotopia, Saturday will be a Family Wild Bush Foods workshop with adventure and wildlife instructor Leafy O’Keefe before Liam from Eartcore Landscapes discusses the benefits of natural pools on Sunday.
Mr Veeken said a big focus of permaculture is mimicking nature and taking a cue from nature with food.
“What better way to do that than to look at what actually naturally grows in the area as a starting point? Leafy will take us around an area and show us what is edible,” he said.
“A natural swimming pool is built into the design of the landscape and has rocks , aquatic plants and even fish circulating. Liam will do a Q and A and we will visit a property in Croydon with one of these set up.”
Monday and Tuesday focus on sustainable food practices, with a display of Suburban Self-Sufficiency presented by a member of PYV in a small suburban property on Monday, and a visit to an Urban Food Forest from another member the following day.
Mr Veeken said there is a focus on perennial plants for food that will grow again.
“The first member is using every nook and cranny to grow edible foods and she grows enough food to last a year, with a lot of preserving, pickling, dehydrating and freezing so she’s got a continuous supply of home produce,” he said.
“The food forest is a mixture of trees, shrubs, bushes, grasses, all of edible food and in its own little ecosystem, She’s also got quite an extensive vegetable patch with wicking beds and fruit trees, as well as chickens.”
On Wednesday, Mr Veeken himself will be running a workshop on how to treat grey water from septic tanks and the like with a reed bed.
Thursday is a session focused on the benefits of home solar, including off-grid power, batteries and electric vehicles.
PYV Vice President Maya will take everyone on a river walk of the Yarra River on Friday, teling the story from her book about the connection to the river, while she will also be hosting a Downshifting Revolution Seminar and Equinox Community Dinner discussing the drive to reduce consumerism.
Prior to that on Saturday morning, another edible forest will be explored in Dixons Creek which supplies produce to Yarra Valley Estate before the events are rounded off with a Keeping Goats workshop on Sunday.
To book tickets to any of these events or to find out more, visit the Permaculture Yarra Valley Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/permacultureyv/.
