Upcoming Sustainable Living Workshops
Spend your Saturday morning learning a new permaculture skill.
Our weekly Sustainable Living Workshops offer a huge variety of fun (and occasionally life-changing) ways to spend a Saturday. From backyard gardening tips to bee keeping to bicycle building, each session introduces a new way to make your Brisbane lifestyle a little more sustainable and interesting.
Workshops in the coming months include:
- Bamboo construction
- Establishing a vegetable garden
- Organic herbs and vegetables
- Solar cooking
FEB 25
Bamboo Construction
9am – 4pm (with Jamie Parkin)
Learn how to build with bamboo. Participants will gain the skills to build with, harvest and preserve bamboo.
Theory – introduction to bamboo – strengths and weaknesses of the various species, best time to harvest, storage, ways of preserving and examples of contemporary bamboo structures.
Practical – bamboo joinery
Participants will take home an exemplar model of many different joinery techniques
Cost: $85 full fee, $65 (conc.) plus $10 materials fee to be paid to the facilitator on the day
MAR 3
Biochar in your Garden
9am – 4pm (with Simon Ross)
9am – 12pm - What is biochar and how can you use it in your garden to improve your soil?
Biochar is a type of charcoal that is produced by cooking organic matter with limited oxygen. It is a stable soil amendment that can sequester carbon and improve your soil. It can be produced and used in your back yard. This session will introduce how to make and use biochar and practically use it.
1pm – 4pm - How to make a microgasification stove
In the afternoon session participants will make a small TLUD (Top Lit Updraft Gasifier) Stove to take home that can be used to cook food with a gas flame and produce biochar
Cost: $85 full fee, $65 (conc.) $10 materials fee paid to facilitator on the day.
MAR 10 – MAR 31
Organic Herbs & Vegies Permaculture Basics
8am – 12 noon (with Carmel Harris and Adrian Holbeck)
Series of 4 mornings Cost: $200 ($170 conc.)
This practical course focusing on autumn/winter subtropical plants will help you to understand and to enrich your soil with compost, worms and tonics: and grow healthy and delicious herbs and vegies suited to the seasons of subtropical south east Queensland.
The details of each workshop series will differ depending on the season, but a general outline of each series is:
Week 1: Introductions, soil life, make hot compost, plant families, legumes as soil food, seed propagation
Week 2: Turn compost, soil structure, testing, pH and trace elements, build and plant a no-dig garden.
Week 3: Turn compost, liquid fertilisers, seasonal plantings, cuttings, propagation, crop rotation.
Week 4: Plant ailments, cures, good bugs, bad bugs, seed saving, annuals and perennials
MAR 10
Growing Roots Food and Fibre Forest
9am – 4pm (with Anaheke Metua, Bunya Halasz and Will Bulmer)
This is the first in a series of full day introductory workshops exploring the unified philosophies and practices of Permaculture , Yoga and Weaving with natural fibres.
9am – 10am Energising morning practise of Chi Gung/Yoga exploring elements of nature – Earth, Air, Water, Fire – within and without.
10am – 12pm Introducing Permaculture Design Principles of the subtropical Food and Fibre Forest incorporating the hands-on creation of an Autumn Compost planting mound.
Lunch
1pm – 3pm Learn to weave with the incredibly versatile banana fibre using meditative weaving techniques to create a functional vessel to take home.
3pm – 4pm Restorative afternoon practice of yoga and guided shiatsu in the gardens.
Cost: $85 full fee, $65 (conc.)
MAR 17
Nonviolent Communication Skills
9am – 12pm (with Rachel Hannam)
In our increasingly stressful and complex world, it is vital to continually deepen our understanding of violence and its antidote, compassion.
As the name implies, nonviolent communication (or NVC) emphasises compassion as the motivation for our words and actions rather than fear, guilt, shame, blame, coercion, threat or justification for punishment. In other words, it is about getting what you want for reasons you will not regret later. The techniques of NVC allow you to make conscious choices about
how you will respond, whether you get what you want, or not. NVC guides us to reflect on our own daily reactions and behaviour, and to reframe how we express ourselves and how we receive others by focusing awareness on observations, feelings, need, and requests.
This half-day workshop will provide an overview of the NVC model, an introduction to the skills involved and include some personal practice. The workshop presenter is a qualified psychologist who uses NVC in her work with executives and employees, which includes training, coaching and dispute resolution.
Cost: $50, $35 (conc)
Organic Herbs & Vegies Permaculture Basics
8am – 12 noon (with Carmel Harris and Adrian Holbeck)
Session 2: Turn compost, soil structure, testing, pH and trace elements, build and plant a no-dig garden.
MAR 24
Organic Herbs & Vegies Permaculture Basics
8am – 12 noon (with Carmel Harris and Adrian Holbeck)
Session 3: Turn compost, liquid fertilisers, seasonal plantings, cuttings, propagation, crop rotation.
MAR 24
Natural Fibre Baskets
9am – 4pm (with with Anaheke Metua)
Weaving within the natural world allows us to reconnect to the earth, the seasons and time and feel empowered with skills to create something practical, aesthetic and creative. This workshop is designed to introduce you to artful and woven forms using sustainable arts practises. It offers participants the opportunity to weave and take home their own Natural Fibre Basket.
During the workshop we will learn the technique called RANDOM WEAVE working with the textured, flexible and sinewy branches of the commonpalm tree and make a waterbottle carrier from natural fibres found in your own backyard. We will also discuss and explore topics such as art, craft, environment and culture as we weave our stories and baskets together. Places are limited – don’t miss out!
Cost: $85 full fee, $65 (conc.)
MAR 24
Bamboo Construction
9am – 4pm (with Jamie Parkin)
Learn how to build with bamboo. Participants will gain the skills to build with, harvest and preserve bamboo.
Theory – introduction to bamboo – strengths and weaknesses of the various species, best time to harvest, storage, ways of preserving and examples of contemporary bamboo structures.
Practical – bamboo joinery
Participants will take home an exemplar model of many different joinery techniques
Cost: $85 full fee, $65 (conc.) plus $10 materials fee to be paid to the facilitator on the day
MAR 31
Organic Herbs & Vegies Permaculture Basics
8am – 12 noon (with Carmel Harris and Adrian Holbeck)
Session 4: Plant ailments, cures, good bugs, bad bugs, seed saving, annuals and perennials
Solar Cooking
9am – 12pm (with Simon Ross)
Learn how to cook with free power from the sun. See different designs
and materials for solar cookers. Make your own cooker and take it home
with you.
Cost: $50, $35 (conc)
MAR 31
Bamboo Construction
9am – 4pm (with Jamie Parkin)
Learn how to build with bamboo. Participants will gain the skills to build with, harvest and preserve bamboo.
Theory – introduction to bamboo – strengths and weaknesses of the various species, best time to harvest, storage, ways of preserving and examples of contemporary bamboo structures.
Practical – bamboo joinery
Participants will take home an exemplar model of many different joinery techniques
Cost: $85 full fee, $65 (conc.) plus $10 materials fee to be paid to the facilitator on the day
APRIL 7
(Easter)
APRIL 14
Introduction to Permaculture
9am – 4pm (with Tom Campbell and Emma Maltby)
2 days Cost: $200 full fee $170 conc.
This two day workshop will introduce you to the basics of permaculture principles and practices and how you can apply them to your daily life. It is also a great way to decide whether you’d like to go further with your studies in Permaculture by completing the Permaculture Design Course scheduled for 28th April – 4th August.
You will receive a $100 full fee and $70 conc. discount off your PDC on completion of an Intro to Permaculture.
APRIL 21
Nonviolent Communication Skills
9am – 12pm (with Rachel Hannam)
In our increasingly stressful and complex world, it is vital to continually deepen our understanding of violence and its antidote, compassion.
As the name implies, nonviolent communication (or NVC) emphasises compassion as the motivation for our words and actions rather than fear, guilt, shame, blame, coercion, threat or justification for punishment. In other words, it is about getting what you want for reasons you will not regret later. The techniques of NVC allow you to make conscious choices about
how you will respond, whether you get what you want, or not. NVC guides us to reflect on our own daily reactions and behaviour, and to reframe how we express ourselves and how we receive others by focusing awareness on observations, feelings, need, and requests.
This half-day workshop will provide an overview of the NVC model, an introduction to the skills involved and include some personal practice. The workshop presenter is a qualified psychologist who uses NVC in her work with executives and employees, which includes training, coaching and dispute resolution.
Cost: $50, $35 (conc)
Introduction to Permaculture
9am – 4pm (with Tom Campbell and Emma Maltby)
2 days – $200 full fee $170 conc.
This two day workshop will introduce you to the basics of permaculture principles and practices and how you can apply them to your daily life. It is also a great way to decide whether you’d like to go further with your studies in Permaculture by completing the Permaculture Design Course scheduled for 28th April – 4th August. You will receive a $100 full fee and $70 conc. discount off your PDC on completion of an Intro to Permaculture.
APRIL 28
Establishing and Maintaining a Vegetable Garden
9am – 12pm (with Simon Ross)
Learn how to build no dig and other vegetable gardens,
plant them out and maintain them. Full day fee if booked together with Growing Healthy Vegetables workshop on the same day.
Cost: $50, $35 (conc)
Growing Healthy Vegetables
1pm – 4pm (with Simon Ross)
Seasonal selection, crop rotation, companion planting and other ways to get the best out of
your edible garden. Full day fee if booked together with Establishing
and Maintaining a Vegetable Garden workshop on the same day.
Cost: $50, $35 (conc)