post-permabee thoughts

Things that weren't done:

• the chook yard roofed
• apple tree growing frame shored
• back hexagon garden cleared
• the northern wall cleared

Things to do now:

• plan the stripping of the house, asbestos removal, window replacement, insulation, wrapping, cladding
• plan the strengthening of the chicken run to something solid enough to set up sections as seating around the edges. (Future plans.)

The former bee bed needs rethinkng. The norhtern side is far too damp for the avocado, which was why it was slowly sinking. An alterantive would be to put something in there that doesn't mind exposure (west winds) and likes it warm (northern slab heating) and which also can take watering.

The area surrounding it needs thought as well: in part because the grass creeps in either way - the long runners that end up taking over the bed or sneaking in under it. When I made the compost for the bed, I didn't really dig up the grass and now I kind of regret that.

I could put in bulbs, but the grass would overrun those. Also, they make mowing the lawn edges tricky, because one doesn't wnat to whipper snip the bulbs, but one wants to get the grass. Probably the best option then, is to grow something that doesn't mind being cut down and which will bounce back.

TBH, ideally this would be comfrey edges. But I'd want them according to the layout of the Linda Woodrow chook dome (in the future, which is probably quite a way away right now).

Maybe the temp option is the bulbs and a meadow mix. Plant the bulbs now, staying back from the edging. Then plant alyssum and yarrow and other easily-mown plants along the edge, pulling back the grass wherever possible. Do marigolds repel grass, by any chance? Oh, there's the thick 'looks like violet' stuff that was growing thickly around the black sapote. That looks like it might do a decent job once transplanted: dig out a big chunk and lay it down?

Need to take a photo of that and ask people what they think it is.

Right, first half of this week is planting time for the bulbs. Also need to contact Steve-the-neighbour and ask if he's willing to help chop out chunks of the frangipani. May need to get the termite guy to look at this, too.

suburban permaculture house

One thing has become painfully clear in the last couple of years: we need to sort out the house.

I've done temporary work on it, but it's not enough - the environment inside mimics the environment outside to within a couple of degrees, no matter the weather, and that's just not viable long-term. So, this means renovations. And soon.

I used to think we'd make it to at least 2050. Now, I'm not so sure we'll all make it to 2030. Climate extremes - floods and fire, drought and gale-force winds, power going out and down, gas becoming so expensive. War in Ukraine. Entrenchment of conservatism and a refusal to do anything to improve the general quality of life for the many rather than the moneyed few. Coronaviruses and other diseases. And, of course, the eternal racial bigotry that might someday see me lose my citizenship and personhood in Australia.

Things are getting expensive - have already gotten expensive. And they'll only get more so. So, now is the time.

How long it will take and how much it will cost are the big questions in my head. Also a consideration: the logistics of getting it done in as permaculturally as possible. Reusing old hardwoods, considering the lifespan of the things we're using in the build, and how much work we can do ourselves.

List to be done:

1. strip fibro, seal gaps, insulate walls, cover with weatherboard/colourbond
2. replace tile roof with colourbond
3. expand house and redo insides
4. replace wooden fold-out windows with sealable ones

There's a part of me that heavily regrets not thinking of all this when we first moved in; even having to borrow money, we'd have been a lot better off over the last eight years. But that's in the past, can't change the decisions made then. And now we know a whole lot more about passive houses, energy ratings, and good building, as well as having people who've already done it.

We're a little hampered by the fact that we'll probably have to move out for at least some of it. And stripping the asbestos is going to be a fair piece of work. I just have to confirm that my work is going to rehire me for the year, and we can maybe look at making a start.

Some links:
Greenyflat: a fibro rebuild down in Mittagong (2014)
Fibro Cottage Deep Energy Reno - the cottage behind the fibro rebuild

Permaculture Design Course: Weekend 1

Permaculture Design Statement (draft)

Our garden is productive and abundant, a neighbourhood icon and influence, abundant and intriguing. It's a space I take pride in and enjoyment in working in. I enjoy the bounty grown in it, the animals that live there, and consider it somewhere I want to be in to read or pray or reflect. My garden is a green paradise in the midst of a straitlaced suburbia. Retrosuburbia in action. The house is comfortable in all rooms and all seasons, with sufficient space for entertaining, enterprise, and storage, as well as living areas, and a preparation area for food coming in from the garden.

Maybe needs more feeling words?

What do I want to feel in my garden? Pride and satisfaction. I want a change from my house spaces and the structures there. I'd like to have somewhere to relax a little, but mostly to produce food in-season and store it out of season, and for other people to take an example from. I want people to be able to say "maybe I can't do all of that, but I can do this one little bit". Or for neighbourhood people to be able to contribute to it or work out how to do their own.

I definitely want a smoother transition from the garden to the house - preparation spaces and storage spaces.

ETA:

Final:

Our garden is productive and abundant, a neighbourhood icon and influence, abundant to the knowing eye and intriguing to those who haven't been taught to see. It's a space I take pride in and which I enjoy working in. It provides my household bounty in a steady supply of eggs, and year-round vegies, and provides for the animals that live there. I consider it somewhere I want to be in to read or pray or reflect.

My garden is a green paradise in the midst of a straitlaced suburbia, a hub of connection in a disconnected city: retrosuburbia in action. Our house is comfortable in all seasons, using minimal energy, with sufficient space for entertaining, enterprise, and storage, as well as for resting and relaxing in the slower spaces of life and living.

HAVE
land - one sixth acre
3 br house (1960s fibro cement over wooden frame, wooden floors)
chickens
fruit trees (15)
vegetable beds (10)
compost bays (2)
contemplation chair
3500L water tank
lawn space
solar panels

NEED
solar battery
annual beds in front yard
verge garden
more water management
solid chookhouse
cold cupboard
electric bicycle
renovation and retrofit for energy management
replace gas with induction
greywater processing

WANT
front yard mandala
humanure
permie neighbours (other permies in street)
reconfiguration of driveway and garden orientations

I may have to rejig what are needs and wants

B1: wants a house that comfortable in all rooms in all seasons, with good energy management, and space