Previous Projects
CHURINGA DISABILITY SUPPORT CENTRE: 2009-2010
Water, greywater, blackwater, compost toilet
GREENSBOROUGH (Ben & Hannah): 2009-2010
Water, greywater, blackwater, compost toilet
GREENSBOROUGH (Eli & Jody): 2009-2010
Water, greywater, blackwater, compost toilet
In my childhood home in Europe my family engaged in subsistence farming and we grew all our food. Some of this food has been consumed fresh and some of it we preserved for the long winter months. At that time there were very few jobs and most people were self-employed in the village of my birth in a variety of trades and professions. As a village community we had to provide for most of our needs locally and only purchasing manufactured raw materials as needed.
Permaculture has been a long term interest of mine from its early beginnings here in Australia. In the late 1980s I happened to hear a radio broadcast of a Bill Mollison interview on a local radio station. My life in the subsistence farming community of my childhood was still fresh in my mind and I thought that with the help of the permaculture tool box we could make the subsistence farmer's life a great deal easier.
I completed my first PDC in 1991 and over the next 30 years I have used and adopted permaculture techniques to suit my property. I have been experimenting with a variety of water collecting, filtration, storage and infiltration techniques. I have discovered the soil food web and worked on re-introducing soil biology at my Kinglake property. I feel that the design process has chrystalised for me during my Diploma of Permaculture course while visiting a large variety of small and large scale permaculture systems. The largest impression on me was on projects being implemented by Cam Wilson who was one of my teachers at the Diploma of Permaculture, Eltham College. Cam was implementing a design process on a large property in Heatherdale. This was where I first heard of infiltrating mulch pits. This made great sense to me as I have read of larger scale water collection systems in Yeoman's Water For Every Farm. Now I feel I can use and adapt my design ideas for small and large scale systems.