A Recent Trip to the Permaculture Sydney Institute
Courses/Workshops, Presentations/Demonstrations — by David Spicer May 17, 2013
I was invited up to Bandusia, near Sydney, by Penny Pyett, to take part in International Permaculture Day and do some work on the site. The work was mainly on infrastructure, which is one of my strongest skills. Having spent some years working in the building and construction game, I developed a varied skill set and can turn my hand to most things. I also went to check out the site for some future workshops and courses we are planning there.
International Permaculture Day was a great success, with a turnout of 40 plus people who came to look and hear us talk about the little steps we can take to make a change.
Comments (0)Managing a Coppiced Eucalypt Forest
Plant Systems — by David Spicer February 13, 2013
In Australia we really need to get back to our European roots of coppiced forest systems.
As Darren Doherty states, we push out the stump after we cut the tree, when the eucalypts coppice beautifully.
Ben Law, author of The Woodland Way, also talks about the various products that come from a coppiced forest in England.
In my travels to Morocco, I have seen quite clearly the value of coppicing, where there are eucalyptus trees coppiced about every five years for firewood, simple structures and formwork props for construction, just to name a few uses.
Comments (15)Wadeye Permaculture Project Update
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Land — by David Spicer February 8, 2013
Recently I received a photolog update on the Wadeye permaculture project in the Northern Territories (see previous posts here and here), where myself and other great permaculturist were employed by Earth Ethics to install a permaculture garden system. I like to describe the earthworks as the bones of the system and the living components — pioneer species, fruit trees, cover crops and ground covers — the muscle and flesh. As you’ll see by the most recent pic at bottom, the site is getting well ‘fleshed out’.
Installing swale and level sill spillway
Talking Swales
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Land, Swales — by David Spicer December 7, 2012
While at Wadeye, Northern Territory, Australia, installing a permaculture design for Earth Ethics, this video was taken when I was explaining how to install swales and level sill spillways and what their function is, to some of the guys working on site.
So if you want to understand how to install swales and spillways, this might help.
Apologies for the unbuttoned shirt, I was not aware this was being filmed.
Further Reading:
Comments (1)Timber – We All Use It, So How Do We Get It?
Building, Courses/Workshops, Trees — by David Spicer May 24, 2012
Timber we all use it, so how do we get it? All but gone are our localized sawmills with which we could access sawn timber for construction with a reasonably low footprint. So it’s time we started to look at our timber/lumber security.
Darren Doherty, and great courses like the master tree growers and their excellent work with broad scale farm forestry, covers the regenerative side of forestry for timber use which we use in our homes and our lives in most of the world. Our ability to access building timber in an ethical way is no different from our food.
Comments (9)The Benefits of Portable Sawmilling
Courses/Workshops, Trees, Waste Systems & Recycling — by David Spicer October 7, 2011
If you want to learn much more about sustainable saw milling, take Dave Spicer’s upcoming (27 November 2011) 1-day course, where you can gain from his extensive expertise in this area.
We all need to be loggers and we all need to be greenies. We all live in timber houses. — Bill Mollison
Low tech and high tech saw milling
In 2006 I brought a portable Lucas sawmill and have been milling timber ever since. I must say it’s a great feeling turning a raw resource into a useable product on site.
“Mill to the log”
I’ve milled timber in town right in the front yard, and on farms with no hauling.
There are many types of portable sawmills, even a chainsaw used to mill timber.
Comments (4)
