PASA

Farming the City: Building Sustainable Food Production in Adelaide with visionary farmer Michael Ableman

Nat — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 03:58:16 +0000

FARMING THE CITY

An exploration into building sustainable food production in Adelaide with visionary farmer Michael Ableman

BEYOND ORGANIC: FILM SCREENING AND DISCUSSION WITH MICHAEL ABLEMAN

The award-winning ‘Beyond Organic: The Vision of Fairview Gardens’ tells the story of an urban farm in the middle of some of the most expensive real estate in the US. Managed by Michael Ableman for 20 years, this 12-acre organic farm has become a model of sustainable food production and community involvement. Free entry.

7.00-9.00pm, Tuesday 17 April 2012

Woodville Town Hall, 74 Woodville Road, Woodville

URBAN AGRICULTURE: A WORKSHOP ON GROWING FOR MARKET AND COMMUNITY

Drawing on his experiences as both a rural and urban farmer, Michael Ableman will lead a free, full-day workshop and discussion on the challenges, myths, strategies, structures, and methods for creating vibrant food production enterprises in and around our cities.

9.00am-5.00pm, Wednesday 18 April 2012

Henley Town Hall, 378 Seaview Road, Henley Beach

Bookings essential, for more information contact adelaide.office@foe.org.au, 0435 631 524 or visit www.adelaide.foe.org.au

MICHAEL ABLEMAN is a farmer, author, and photographer. He is the founder and executive director emeritus of The Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens, one of the oldest and most diverse organic farms in southern California. Ableman is currently directing SOLEfood, an urban agriculture enterprise established in Vancouver, British Columbia, to provide employment to individuals experiencing poverty and addiction. He is the author and photographer of numerous books. He lives and farms at the historic 120 acre Foxglove Farm, where he also directs the Center For Arts, Ecology, and Agriculture.

Presented by Friends of the Earth Adelaide, the City of Charles Sturt, Slow Food Adelaide & Barossa, the Permaculture Association of SA, Grange Organic & Sustainable Market and Transition Adelaide West

Calling all Mt. Gambiens…

Nat — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 02:16:59 +0000

There is a new bioregional group starting in and around Mt. Gambier – if you live in the area, please see our bioregional page for more info.

PASA Winter Gathering at the Food Forest

Nat — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 10:54:05 +0000

PASA held a great day of fun food and festivities at the Food Forest, Gawler. Over 80 people came from far and wide – people from way up North, way down South, and everywhere in between! We had a great tour of the Brookman’s property, followed by a delicious shared BBQ feast, complete with wine and homemade cordial. We then held a Transition Town-style World Cafe event, where people sat in groups of 4 or 5 and discussed the question “How can we facilitate more localised permaculture action in our own neighbourhoods/communities?” Each group talked for 15 mins, with an appointed note-taker writing down people’s thoughts and ideas, and then all the groups swapped randomly ready for the next 15 mins of discussion. For the third and final 15 min discussion, we arranged the groups into local neighbourhoods/bioregions to allow people to meet each other and work out ways they could help to act in their own regions. Everyone generated a lot of energy and enthusiasm as a result of the event, and it will be great to see what evolves out of the initial discussions people had. We winded up the afternoon hearing from a handful of past PDC graduates, who had some amazing stories to tell of their adventures after the life-changing PDC at the Food Forest! After snacking on a few more delicious dried fruit and nuts and chatting with friends, the day was over – thanks everyone for helping out (especially the Brookmans for hosting the event), and for making it such a great day.

Delicious morning tea!

Starting the tour

Graham Brookman discussin olives

The productive market garden

Diversity and abundance in the market garden

Graham talks humanure

In the deep, productive jungles of The Food Forest, Gawler

Chooks and the goose that thinks it's a dog!

Graham talking humanure again!

The orchard in winter

Carobs and pistachios

A past PDCer shares her story

Autumn 2011 Journal Out Now!

Nat — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 05:31:07 +0000

The Autumn 2011 edition of the Quarterly PASA journal is out now! Packed full of stories and ideas, from discussions about food security in Australia, strategies and policies for increasing food production in urban areas, spanish agri-ecosystems, making use of surplus grasshoppers, perma-circus principles and much more! If you are a member you should receive it in the next week…if you want to join up to receive the journals, please see the Join page.

PASA Gathering November 2010

Nat — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:12:45 +0000

PASA recently held a jam-packed gathering on Sunday 7th November at Lochiel Park, Campbelltown. We heard from Sustainable Communities SA and Transition Adelaide West about the great work they are doing building re-localised communities that are resilient to peak oil and climate change, by growing food locally, supporting local businesses, sharing skills and knowledge, and reducing energy dependence. This was followed by a shared lunch and AGM at the newly established community garden at Lochiel Park, under the shade of a beautiful old red gum. We discussed the future directions for PASA, which included the possibility of hosting the Australasian Permaculture Convergence in 2014 or 2016, expanding the role and support of the bioregional permaculture groups (where the action is!), and the possibility of a new “permafest”-style annual get together of environmental groups in Adelaide. We’ll keep you posted! The newly elected members of PASA are:

Chris Day – Chair
Nat Wiseman – Secretary
Michael McMillan – Public Officer & Treasurer
Sally Knight, Atma, Eric Nicholson and Sophia as committee members.

Congratulations to all new committee members! After the AGM, we had a tour of Lochiel Park, which included some interesting sustainable urban design elements such as stormwater capture, retention and re-use, ”rain-garden”-style swales to infiltrate and clean runoff from the roads, and an integration of housing layouts to maximise solar gain.

Thanks everyone for coming along and for making the event possible!

Rod and Nicole from Transition Adelaide West

Morning tea at the Lochiel Park Sustainability Centre

Lochiel Park Sustainability Centre

Lunch at the Lochiel Park Community Garden

The newly planted beds in the Community Garden

Down to business – the AGM!

Tour of Lochiel Park – lots of open and pedestrian space for playing!

The wetlands – stormwater capture, infiltration and reuse within Lochiel Park

PASA gathering June 2010

Nat — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:28:38 +0000

The PASA winter gathering held on the 20th June 2010 at Fern Ave Community Garden was a big success, with over 30 people attending the event. Di from the Marion Grazers and Growers group gave an excellent presentation about bee-keeping, complete with bee-suits and smoking gear on display (and honey for sale!). This was followed by delicious wood-oven roasted potatoes with a multitude of toppings for lunch (see photos!), and then Ashley from the Seli-hoo household gave a hands-on workshop about solar cooking, with heaps of photos and information about various solar cooker types. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make the day possible, and we look forward to seeing more PASA members at the AGM and gathering at Lochiel Park on November 7th (more details coming soon).

Productive vegies at Fern Ave Community Garden

: Bee-keeping for beginners!

Di demonstrating the protective bee-suit

Ashley explains the finer points of solar cooking

Mmm...potatoes

Toppings galore

Lunchtime!