New Arrivals

The highlight of December, and a great way to celebrate the end of 2010, was welcoming three wonderful wwoofers and five fabulous chooks into our home.

We came across Al on the wwoofer bulletin board, who was specifically looking for a permaculture property to visit. He flew across from Melbourne at the end of November and generously helped us move house, so shared the experience of our first night sleeping on the land. The shed has turned out to be a magnificent little home, and we have settled in beautifully. We really enjoyed Al’s company for a couple of weeks, gardening by day and holding healthy discussions or watching documentaries by night (lets hope Karim hasn’t turned him into too much of a conspiracy theorist). We also had a few enjoyable excursions to some other permaculture properties, and peaceful walks through our forest where we discovered some fantastic fungus.

We think Al will make a brilliant permaculturist, particularly because of how observant he is. He contributed to a myriad of things while he was here, from planting dozens of pigface cuttings to potting up natives and much more. He built this temporary shadehouse to protect our seedlings until a permanent structure is built…

And joined us at the local permablitz, where the team helped our next door neighbour move huge rocks from the footings of an old stone cottage so he could turn it into a large raised garden bed.

Peter also made the most of our enthusiasm and used Al and I as pack horses to drag posts out of the forest ready to build the shadehouse. This was actually a very easy way to move heavy logs, with no strain on the back whatsoever.

Our next arrival was the chooks, which we already love to bits. As Wellsummers, they are certainly living up to their reputation of being excellent forages, they just don’t stop! Their first few eggs were tiny, with really soft shells, but they’ve since devoured lots of shell grit and over the last few days have been laying some wonderful eggs. They enjoyed the monthly worm prevention mash that we cooked for them two days before the full moon, and we managed to handle them after dark to apply the lice dust and rub their feet and legs with the remedy we made for scaley mite prevention (if anyone would like these recipes don’t hesitate to ask). From left to right, here is Uatchet, Nut, Nekhebet, Ma-at and Isis.

Then Kylie from Hong Kong arrived and spent one week with us. Kylie wasn’t particularly interested in permaculture, but was simply looking for somewhere quiet because it was impossible to find a peaceful place in Hong Kong (night or day). We enjoyed learning more about her way of life, and her visit really made us appreciate our lives here. She taught us some Cantonese words (and had fun listening to us try to pronounce them), and we took her to one of the most peaceful places we know, the Tahune Forest Air Walk. Being about four feet tall and size 4 we had to be very careful not to break her, but there were still lots of things she helped with such as leisurely weeding around the frog pond and plaiting all the garlic we harvested.

Our most recent, and still current, guest is Joan, a carpenter from Spain. I have pleasant memories of people being very happy in Spain, and Joan has certainly solidified that memory by having us in fits of laughter quite often. He had an altercation with a rather large huntsman on day one and screamed “fark! It looks like chicken!!!” He has been such a wonderful guest, building raised beds for the mandala garden, helping to lay the slab and start constructing the potting shed, building a shed off the chicken coupe to store dry hay, a nesting box for the girls and a litter bed for the furry felines amongst other things.

Some friends were worried that I might get lonely down here, but I have to say that between the wwoofers, Peter and Jules helping out, regular visits from friendly neighbours, and helping other community members on their properties, I haven’t been surrounded by this many people since London. It’s also been great for the cats, as a few months ago all of them (except Marvin) would run and hide if someone came over, now they are very accustomed to having lots of different people around.

The wetlands system is working really well, and we managed to complete some artwork down one side of the tubs before the deadline for the article that’s going in the Feb/March Owner Builder Magazine. I painted the first few tubs freehand, but very quickly had severe neck, back, knee and ankle pain. Unfortunately I couldn’t sit down to paint because the area was riddled with bull ants, within 60 seconds of trying to sit down I was bitten on the botty and quickly grew a third cheek, so crouching for days on end it was.

Karim helped me speed up the process by making some stencils for the rest of the tubs, and Joan took some wonderful photos of the finished art for us.

There might also be a profile inside the magazine cover, featuring Atomic and I in the garden…

Well it certainly doesn’t seem like Christmas and NYE took place in the past two weeks, and no doubt next Christmas will be here before we know it. We had a lovely Christmas lunch with lots of other community members in town, and a wonderful party here on the land on New Years Eve with about 30 friends. It was a fanastic night, and we are very excited about 2011. We took the whole weekend off for once and enjoyed taking Joan and another wwoofer from a nearby farm down to Cockle Creek.

Before we sign off, just a couple of things to look out for…

A Tour of the Garden is coming soon. There is so much happening in Zone 2 that we thought it was worth a separate blog update to give some of our permaculture followers a guided tour.

Look out for the Hatsa family featuring in Tassie Mania during the England vs Australia one day cricket match in Hobart on 21^st January. There is a chance we may be televised, considering people generally don’t dress up at the cricket in Tassie and we are going dressed as characters like Captain Cook, the Mad Hatter and Dame Edna. Chin chin!

May 2011 bring each of you all the dreams and smiles you deserve, we look forward to sharing our journey with you xxx

Living on the Land

That’s right – we’re living on the land!!! It’s taken many months slowly chipping away to turn the shed into our new home, which certainly doesn’t feel like a shed inside anymore. We found out last week that we won’t have a land line or internet for at least six weeks because Telstra need to repair the cables on Jacksons Road, so it was lucky we secured Karim an office in Huonville (which he’s enjoyed cycling too along the river every day this week). The two paintings on the back wall are very special to us; the one behind the bed is a painting of cats that Paul and Tash gave us, and the one above the fridge is a favourite of Karim’s that Dan and Shirley gave us, both were our going away and engagement presents.

We’ve set the workshop side of the garage up as the laundry, space for our wardrobe and a summer kitchen with a gas camping stove. Of course in winter we’ll be able to cook on the wood stove inside the living area.

And then there is Atomic, Marvin, Cinder & Ella’s new and absolutely amazing cat cave come circus arena, made completely out of recycled materials and bush poles. All we need to do is build some tunnels, shelves and their trapeze, then fit Atomic with his ring master hat.

Here they are making their way inside for dinner through the tunnel that connects the cat cave to the garage…

Ella favours the little house below, while Atomic has claimed the igloo (both of which we found at the tip) and Marvin has laid claim to the bush pole…

We’ve met some of our other flat mates already, the Welcome Swallows being the first, who are now settled into their nest in the carport. We also share the land with a gorgeous little Pademelon, which are similar to wallabies in many ways, with the main difference being that they are much smaller. She mostly hangs out near the caravan and doesn’t mind us being only a few metres from her now, which is just lovely.

And we have two residents inside the fence, a Bandicoot and this blue tongue lizard. They are both welcome in the garden; the Bandicoot feeds on soil invertebrates, worms and some garden pests, so apart from digging little holes in the bark mulch it doesn’t do any damage. We think it lives inside a hollow in an old tree stump that we left in the back corner of the fenced area as a reminder of what once was.The blue tongue lizard is wonderful for pest control because they love eating snails and slugs.

They also love eating strawberries, but so far it hasn’t managed to get to them before we do… and we’re harvesting a full punnet every second day.

Our neighbours, Ben & Mog, are also moving onto their land in December, so we’re having a combined house warming and NYE party on the land (hint hint Sydney & Melbourne friends).

Apart from finishing the shed fitout, we kicked off the month by manning the Permaculture stall at the local farmers market for Celia, who was convening the Permaculture Design Certificate course. We got to know some more community members, and discovered the wonderful array of local produce we have to look forward to; home made goats milk and herb soaps, chutneys, breads, as well as loads of vegie seedlings and other goodies.

The following weekend we took a few of the introduction course students on a tour of two other permaculture properties. They witnessed a great variety of techniques and ideas, and it was fantastic to see that people who attended the introduction course are fully committed to implementing permaculture design on their properties.

We did a one hour presentation at the Middleton Community Hall, and community members came to our property for a tour a few weeks later. Students of the Permaculture Design Certificate also toured the property as part of their course, with the water harvesting techniques and wetlands being a major highlight. A friend who attended the Permaculture Design Certificate course that I did in Melbourne also took an interest in the wetlands system, so we forwarded the plans over to to India, where it will hopefully benefit their village one day.

We always planned to develop a permaculture demonstration site, but thought it would take 2-3 years before it was ready for public tours. It’s just incredible that we’ve already hosted three tours, and really do have the Conservation Volunteers to thank. They had a fantastic final month; surveyed to bury a sock drain into the dam to catch even more rain water from the lower slope, did loads of mulching, planted over 40 bee and bird attracting natives in front of the fence, made “sausages” out of shade cloth and filled them with soil to place plants on the frog pond shelves (which will hold the soil in place), finished dressing the pond, planted dozens of comfrey plants and tagasaste seeds and weeded all the shrubs around the dam.

It has been such an amazing experience being project partner for the Conservation Volunteers over the past six months, but it has now come to a close. Not only have they helped develop the property enough for tours, but watching the boys take an increasing interest in permaculture and all the other creatures we share this planet with has been truly rewarding. They even save slaters from underneath timber before moving it now. It’s been a real journey, which was celebrated at their graduation ceremony on the land with family members, Conservation Volunteers staff members, Land Care, the Living Boat Trust and HuonLinc. We aired the following You Tube video to remind the boys of just how integral their role has been in laying the foundations here.

Another event that finished in November was my studies in Accredited Permaculture Certificate IV. I’m really glad I did the course, especially in unison with starting to develop the property. Some of the assignments gave me a “kick up the bum”, in particular topics like studying food miles in detail, which has really changed some of our habits to buying a much larger portion of locally grown organic produce. And I observe much more on the land now, every insect, every effect of weather events etc.

But of course with these endings come some new and exciting beginnings. We registered to become Wwoof hosts, which involves sharing knowledge with, feeding and accommodating “willing workers on organic farms”. Not expecting to start hosting until January, we browsed through the bulletin board and came across Al, who lives in Melbourne and was specifically looking for a permaculture property to work on. Al arrived last Friday and we spent our first afternoon together collecting some pavers that Des and Joan had left after their renovations, followed by collecting shells off the beach for the chicken’s shell grit. Al then helped us move house, and he moved into the caravan on the land the same day we moved into the garage. We look forward to teaching Al as much as we possibly can about permaculture, and hope he really enjoys his time with us.

Jules and Peter have built a wonderful compost toilet near the caravan for guests and Wwoofers, again out of bush poles and recycled materials (except the bin).

The entrance is on ground level, with the structure set out over an embankment to catch the deposits in a chamber below, which is a wheelie bin. It’s completely airtight so no flies can get in, and even has a vent to air odours. Sawdust and hay is added to the deposits to help the composting process, then when the bin is half full we’ll swap it with an empty bin, and fill it with organic matter to set aside for a further year, after which it will be wonderful humanure for the trees.

And of course we’ve had fun… here’s Jules expressing his excitement over the loo he built, with Kyle break dancing in the background.

Lots of other exciting things took place here in Tassie Mania during the month too. We placed a strainer at the end of the suction hose to pump water out of the dam, and placed it inside half a 44 gallon drum in the dam, to avoid the pump sucking up clay and debris from the bottom. Unfortunately the hose came out of the drum when we connected it to the pump, and with Karim threatening to empty the dam in order to put it back in place, I had no choice but to test the waters. It was bloody freezing to say the least, and what felt like hypothermia resulted in an unsuccessful mission, so I’ll have to try again. At least our friend’s dog kept me company.

And our friends have started to enjoy the jetty too.

The fruit trees are looking very healthy thanks to loads of TLC, and we’re now harvesting the strawberries along with herbs, lettuce and kohlrabi.

Paul finished the quoll proof chicken McMansion, and we’ve marked out the internal fencing for their permanent run, plus two areas for forage rotation.

We’re hoping to introduce five hens this month, and after loads of research about different breeds we’ve chosen Wellsummers, which were developed in the Netherlands and introduced to Australia in the late 1920s. Each hen produces as many as 160 large eggs every year, they are beautiful birds, docile yet active, excellent forages, and are not flighty. Finding them wasn’t so easy, but we managed to track down a new breeder only 15km away. We’ve also done loads of research on their feed and other requirements (such as grit, dust bathing etc) and natural preventative treatments against common ailments such as worms, scaley mite and lice. Initially we’ll have to purchase some free range grain mix, but the plan is to produce all of their feed and other requirements on the property, including worms for protein.

And last, but definitely not least, we had a little ceremony on the jetty for Paul’s 39^th birthday last Tuesday. We feel your positive energy all the time Paul, and draw inspiration from you whenever we start having a winge about something. We aren’t disappointed that you never made it to visit us in person down in Tassie Mania, because we sense that you visit us quite often now... but I still miss our Maternity Ward texts on a Tuesday night.

Blimey... did all that happen in the last four weeks??? Have a wonderful Christmas everyone, and don’t forget to toast the Tassia Manians on NYE.

Charlotte May

Our highlight in September was attending Charlotte’s christening in Dubbo. We were so proud standing at the front of the service during the ceremony as Charlotte’s godparents, and are so excited about being a special part of her life as she grows into a little girl, a young lady and a woman. It was also truly wonderful to see our friends again, it was a really fantastic weekend.

We move onto the land in four weeks (and counting)! A sea container has been delivered ready to store most of our gear. You can’t see it at all from the top of the property, or from the garage, tucked away behind these trees…

But here it is…

The new abode is coming along beautifully. The plaster on the garage walls and ceiling was sanded…

Then we took to the paint brushes and rollers for one base coat and two top coats (low VOC paint of course)!

Our art framing training and equipment came in handy to cut and install the architraves and skirtings around the windows, doors and floor…

The electrician has hooked up all the lights and power points, and the plumber has installed all the taps and the drainage system to the wetlands, so we can now have a hot shower yipppeee!

All we need to do in the next few weeks is attach the skirtings then puddy, sand and paint them; install the blinds; fix and fit the kitchen doors; lay the splashback tiles; have the wood stove installed; erect the shelving and wall cabinets; install the door to the carport; install the cat flaps and tunnel; connect the phone and internet; have the floor coverings laid and install the compost toilet. Damn, that actually sounds like quite a lot! Oh, and the internet speed isn’t up to scratch for Karim’s work, so we’ve decided to look for an office in Huonville. It’ll be a much better work life balance for him too, not working in the same room he’s sleeping in, and will give him the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful 9km cycle along the Huon River. And let’s not forget the biggest benefit, I won’t have to listen to IT jargon :o)

We’re not the only ones building our nest in the shed either. Some Welcome Swallows started visiting a few weeks ago, and are the tamest birds we have ever come across. They fly into the carport when we are in there, and have been building their nest right in front of our eyes under one of the overhead beams.

Jules is back from holiday and has started building the cat cave with Peter and the volunteers. We’ll have an excellent view of it from the garage, and the cats have quite lovely views of the dam, forest and river. These posts outline the perimeter of the cat cave, which were taken off the property and cemented into 1m deep holes. Once the main structure is finished we’ll attach a door and build a tunnel to connect it to a cat flap in the garage wall.

The main project we completed with the volunteers in the past few weeks was the frog pond. It took two coats of render, as well as a lot of skin off my fingers, but has turned out absolutely beautiful. Frogs are extremely sensitive (they breathe through their skin) and cement is very alkaline, so we lined the pond with leaf mulch to release tannins and create a more neutral balance.

The shelves offer three levels in the pond, creating environments for emergent, submergent and fringe plants, as well as extra edge habitat for tadpoles and frogs. Speaking of which, I noticed dozens of tadpoles and sensitive invertebrates in the dam the other day, an excellent sign of a healthy environment. A neighbour from down the road visited and couldn’t believe it, saying “I have never had frogs or tadpoles in my dam”, then said “oh well, I’m off to spray the orchard”. And he wonders why he doesn’t have frogs… I’m confident we will see them in this pond in no time.

Quite a bit of silt was still entering the dam with the water run off, so the volunteers have also built a much deeper silt trap. This will prevent the dam from becoming shallower over time as silt enters it and sinks to the bottom.

We burnt a large pile of Blackberry and Spanish Heath after eradicating it from the forest, and the intensity of even this small fire really bought home the need for us to develop our bush fire plan before we move onto the land.

Here’s hoping that we post the next blog update to you directly from the garage!

Wacky Wetlands

The Council granted us a plumbing permit and we have installed the wetlands system! An important principle in permaculture design is Energy Cycling, and a wonderful demonstration of this is the treatment of domestic wastewater through a hybrid constructed wetland, which can then be reused for irrigation. Many commercial treatment systems are expensive, and councils can be cautious in approving any alternative and innovative concepts that bypass the installation of septic tanks. So as you know, we took on the challenge to develop an affordable and effective solution…

Why Bother To Re-Use Greywater?

Greywater re-use for garden irrigation provides several beneficial results. It utilises a valuable on-site resource, which is otherwise wasted, it conserves fresh water, which can remain in natural ecosystems, and it reduces the load on wastewater disposal systems (both on-site and centralised). This last point is important as many on-site septic tank systems in Australia are failing, resulting in effluent surfacing in the leach field area. This presents a significant health and environmental pollution risk for occupants and the local catchment. Direct greywater re-use for garden irrigation diverts much of the low-pollutant water load from a septic tank system, allowing the system to function under far less stress.

The Design

We found the key to satisfying the local Council was to engage a reputatable designer, Nigel Jones, who has designed environmentally responsible homes for Tasmania since 1980, as well as large scale wetlands for organisations such as wineries. Nigel calculated the total fixture load for the building, allowed for gains and losses through rainfall and evaporation, and designed the wetlands to provide a minimum retention time of 4.2 days.

Rainwater is collected from the roof to supply the kitchen, shower and laundry (all with standard water saving fixtures), with water from the kitchen sink passing through a grease trap. A waterless composting toilet is installed, with the excess liquid drain connected directly to the waste water line.

The waste water line enters the first stage of the hybrid-wetland, being a series of six second-hand fish bins that were reclaimed from a local fish processing plant, and form the Sub Surface Flow [SSF] wetlands. These bins are full of gravel and have no free water at the surface. As Nigel points out, “Introducing native reeds in the gravel draws oxygen into their root zones providing opportunities for aerobic bacteria and other organisms to feed on suspended organic material and prey on pathogens.” The effluent moves through the system via sections of slotted PVC pipe, which is positioned over HDPE pipe welded in place to the opposite top and bottom corners of each bin.


The outflow from the first stage is directed to the second stage wetland, being two fish bins that form the Free Water Surface [FWS] wetlands, or ponds. Nigel states that “Here the effluent is exposed to high levels of ultra-violet light in a varied environment possessing a greater range of plant and animal species and a high surface to volume ratio, facilitating higher levels of dissolved oxygen. The second pond enables further settlement, UV exposure, storage and ultimately re-use through a sub-soil irrigation system.

Constructing the Wetlands

We purchased the bins second hand from a local fish farm, Tassal, making sure there were no large cracks or holes that were not able to be repaired by a plastic welder. The site was surveyed and a trench dug with a small excavator to create four level areas, each area housing two bins, with the next pair of bins at least 20mm lower than the previous pair. Here is the constructed system awaiting plastic welding.


A 5cm bed of 7mm gravel was laid before positioning the bins, and then the HDPE fittings were welded to the bins.


Slotted PVC pipes were then placed over the lower HDPE fittings in the first stage wetland and surrounded with 20mm gravel before the remainder of the first stage bins were filled with 7mm gravel, allowing enough space to position the slotted PVC pipes over the top HDPE fittings. We used a level to make sure the slotted PVC pipes were level before surrounding them with 20mm gravel.


The first stage wetlands were then planted with reeds and plants such as Phragmites australis, Juncus sp, Dianella tasmanica and Diplarenna latifolia. Tassel Cord Rush in pots were supported inside the final two bins (second stage wetland), to ensure that they remained 150mm below the water surface. The slotted PVC pipes were not required in these two bins.


Once the waste water line was connected, we commissioned the wetlands by adding some worm tea and flooded the system to test for leaks, as well as to give the plants time to establish a deep root system prior to the introduction of the waste water. The completed wetlands are nicely tucked away in the landscape. All we want to do now is paint some wildlife inspired patterns on the bins :o)


Maintenance

The wetlands require some regular maintenance to; ensure that the water and gravel levels are maintained, check for signs of a healthy system, remove weeds and dead plant material, check for leaks or cracks, remove and compost dry canes from the previous year, and ensure that water plants do not take up the entire surface of the second stage wetland.

Because the effluent is light, it may not contain enough nutrients to support the reeds. A weak solution of fertiliser in spring, such as worm tea, should continue to support healthy plant life. Eventually the reeds may become too established and require partial removal or replacement; however it is anticipated that this will take many years.

Summary of Benefits

· Rain water is captured for domestic use, then treated for re-use in irrigation

· Used fish bins are diverted from landfill

· Habitat is created for many species of aquatic invertebrates

· Fish may be introduced to the second stage wetland once the water is shown to be of adequate quality

· Mature reeds can be harvested annually for compost and basket weaving

· Because the tubs are above ground, no storm water enters the system

· All maintenance is managed by the owner, no external contractors are involved

· The modular nature of the system permits the addition of separate units to accept additional loads in the future, without compromising the established wetland

· Low embodied energy through using second hand materials

· Council approved (in fact, they look forward to seeing more of these in the future!)

Costings

Design and implementation of the wetlands was much more affordable than many commercial greywater treatment systems (Biolytix systems are $10-12,000 fully installed):

· Design $600

· Permit application $200

· 8 fish bins & delivery $330

· Plants $146

· Blue metal $342

· Earthworks $595

· HDPE fittings $50

· Plastic welding $300

· PVC slotted pipes $89

· Total $2,652

NB: A soil test was required for the Special Plumbing Permit; however this was already done as part of the site assessment for the house building permit application

Thanks again for all your visualising so we could get the permit to install this system, it’s a real milestone and hopefully many others can benefit from the design, as well as Councils be educated by it.

See You on the Other Side

On the 7^th September we said goodbye (for now) to our good friend Paul Doran. Paul was a true inspiration to so many people, he never complained, never stopped smiling or having fun… he really did make the most of the life he lived and brought smiles to hundreds of faces. Our sincerest sympathy goes to his family, beautiful wife Tash and daughter Gemma (may the dimple live on). Though Paul has left this life, his energy is still felt all around us. The jetty is surrounded by rain forest, birds and frogs, and is a magnificent place to remember all the great times we shared with Paul. We’ve attached a plaque at the end of the board walk that reads:

"Grieve not too long, but look around, in nature’s gifts he can be found, a falling leaf, a growing tree, in every breeze, flying free.”

It was somewhat difficult to “carry on as normal” after Paul passed, but in his honour we did, and a few days later we taught our first Introduction to Permaculture course in Tassie Mania. Twenty students came along for the weekend and it was a very positive and rewarding experience. We’ve since been asked to do a presentation at the Woodbridge Community Hall in November, followed by a tour of our property, and to teach another course through the Department of Education early next year, so we are thrilled.

Our friend Jay arrived in Tassie the day after the course and we spent a wonderful week relaxing and seeing some of the sights. The highlights were a visit to Bonorong Wildlife Park, where we saw some of the animals that we’ve found evidence of on our property (but have never sighted), such as wombats, quolls and sugar gliders (oh my gosh they are too cute to be real!). We also got to see a white possum, owls, the Tasmanian Devils feeding and pat a koala, as well as loads of wallabies with joeys. We did a fantastic walk around the sea cliffs at Waterfall Bay…

And visited the southern most point you can drive in Australia, Cockle Creek.

It was a magical place full of beauty…

But unfortunately we also witnessed several areas of destruction along the way….

Jay also had the privilege of witnessing our first harvest on the land, only the biggest mushroom we’ve ever seen!

Following a few heavy rains the creek is flowing with full force, and since witnessing the local micro-hydro set up, we can’t help but see and feel an immense amount of energy when we visit the creek…

The property is looking great; we’ve planted reeds along all the drains to prevent erosion, completed the first coat of render on the fish pond and eradicated a lot of weeds from the forest before they take hold. The gardens are looking great, veges are growing well and the fruit trees have started blossoming.

The garage has been plastered and is now ready for painting. We’ve progressed amazingly well with the biggest challenge, being the wetlands system. We engaged the designer of our next door neighbour’s house, who has also designed large scale wetlands systems, to turn our idea into a technical document that could be submitted to council. The design is based on using large fish tubs as the reed beds, which we bought second hand from a fish farm for $30 each. The plans went into council, and the Health and Environment Officer is very impressed with the innovation and hopes to see more of this in the future :o) Now we just have to receive the permission to plumb the garage, considering it’s not for occupancy. If they give us any grief I plan to invite them to the land, show them how much we’ve been working there (without living there), show them Dean’s bush dunny and put the “perceived” health risks of all the Conservation Volunteers using that facility straight back at them. I have no doubt they’ll then give us the permit to install adequate facilities.

We had the first Franklin Permablitz in September, which involves community members coming together on each others properties to create or maintain edible gardens, share skills related to permaculture and have fun. It is envisaged that this project will enable us to gauge how much interest, commitment and momentum we have in Franklin toward food gardening. We will then be better informed to make a decision on whether creating and maintaining a community garden in Franklin is feasible. The ultimate aim is to make Franklin edible enough such that should food become unaffordable or inaccessible, we won’t even notice. Here’s Karim satisfying the main aim of the Permablitz… to have fun!

We’ll sign off this month from Tassie Mania with the real reason why the chicken crossed the road: