PERMA-CIRCUS PRINCIPLES

1. Observe and Interact

Learning skills from other people is an easy one to link the principle to. Passing on knowledge is as beneficial to the learner as it is to the teacher, and is common within the world of circus.  In addition to this, the world wide web is allowing the observation and interaction between people globally now, with Australian circus folk learning directly from Finland, England or Russia. 

Photo: Bill La.

2. Catch and store energy

The term ‘energy’ can be related to many different areas within our world, it can relate to the energy derived from the sun, physical force, electricity and so on. Another aspect of energy, in this image, is energy transferred as information. Our brains are capable of catching and storing energy from other people, experiences, or even making up new energy through experimentation. In this picture, Petey is teaching Poi to a group of people through a workshop at the Melbourne Juggling Convention. This is a very efficient way to broadcast energy, sending it once for multiple captures. 

Photo: Bill La

3. Obtain a yield

I think acrobalance is probably as far away as you can get from pulling carrots out of the ground! These fruitful young performers, from Slipstream Circus in Tasmania, performed this finale trick in the Creative Edge Show at the Melbourne Juggling Convention. It’s one of the yields obtainable through hard work and determination, firstly learning it (one kind of circus yield), performing it (a second yield), and later teaching it (a third yield). Photo: John Fisher 4. Apply self-regulation & accept feedback

When working out a new trick or putting together a performance, video is one of the most effective tools around. As soon as you’ve filmed a test run you can play it straight back to yourself to see how it looks and make the necessary changes instantly. Once you’ve got it looking the way you want it, you can then email it to a friend, or post it to a website like youtube. The exposure of youtube is such that your work can be viewed by people all around the world, and feedback comes from these people, bringing the tool of self regulation and feedback from micro to macro scale. Photo: John Fisher.

4. Apply self-regulation & accept feedback

When working out a new trick or putting together a performance, video is one of the most effective tools around. As soon as you’ve filmed a test run you can play it straight back to yourself to see how it looks and make the necessary changes instantly. Once you’ve got it looking the way you want it, you can then email it to a friend, or post it to a website like youtube. The exposure of youtube is such that your work can be viewed by people all around the world, and feedback comes from these people, bringing the tool of self regulation and feedback from micro to macro scale. 

5. Use and value renewable resources & services

At first, this image was meant to demonstrate that this event, the Melbourne Juggling Convention (MJC), is a renewable service that should be used and valued... but then I realised that using chalk for signage is also a renewable resource! So there are two facets of the same principle in the one picture. 

The convention is renewable because it’s run by people, and people energy is renewable. Chalk is renewable because it is biodegradable, non-polluting, temporary, and is derived from natural materials. It’s one of the best ways to make a temporary sign and not pollute the environment. 

Photo: Christian Parr

6. Produce no waste

Three guesses what this is a picture of... if you get it, you’ve probably had a go with them at some point. These are Devil Sticks, (or Flower Sticks), an ancient art form dating back to medieval times (when used with skill they looked like magic, which people thought was work of the Devil). 

The reason for them representing Principle 6 is that they are made from recycled materials. Simple in construction, they comprise of 3 pieces of recycled wood or bamboo wrapped with old bicycle inner tubes, which can be sourced from any bike shop for free. It’s clear that making equipment this way creates no waste, in fact is turns a waste into a resource, which is permaculture at its finest! 

7. Design from patterns to details

The image above (believe it or not) is a 4-person juggling pattern where the jugglers are passing objects to one another. Able to record patterns for any number of people with any number of objects, ‘Causal Diagrams’ like these are used frequently in the juggling world. The pattern pictured is called ‘Cyclone’, where two pairs of people walk in an oval shape, each pair moving in opposing direction to the other, while juggling/passing 12 objects.

The diagram on the left accompanies the causal diagram, showing the direction of movement and one moment when passes happen between people. There are 8 passes per cycle of the pattern. Can you see where this pass (Anne-Ben) happens within the causal diagram above (there’s two of them)?  

You can clearly see design from patterns through to details with juggling in this example. Patterns here involve ovals, while other patterns use stars, arrow-heads, triangles and even zig-zags. Pictures sourced from ‘The Highgate Collection’ by Aidan Burns. 

8. Integrate rather than segregate

You could juggle on your own but finding a bunch of people to juggle with makes it that much more fun. This photo is of a monster passing line at the Melbourne Juggling Convention, where everyone is connected together by the zig-zag shaped line of passing partners. The convention strives for maximum integration, and full accessibility so that the community can grow and evolve. Photo: Bill La

9. Use small & slow solutions

‘Pure Juggling’ is the name of a small business owned by Wayne Green in Eltham, Victoria (pictured wearing the hat). He designs and lovingly creates juggling balls by hand for jugglers in Melbourne. If you buy three or more balls he’ll even sew you a bag to keep them in. He is a wonderful character loved by the community and is a perfect example of how supporting small and slow solutions is advantageous over other bigger, faster, quick-fix options you might find in the city or over the internet.  

Photo: Lily Lucent

10. Use & value diversity

A juggling tradition at conventions around the world, ‘The Big Toss Up’ is the final last gasp of energy expelled by those in attendance. It’s a great way to bring everyone together at the end to say “Yey, we did it and had a great time! Now, where did my clubs go???” 

In the picture, you can clearly see a diversity of props, and of people. The Melbourne Juggling Convention continually strives to be accessible and open for all to enjoy, for this ultimately allows more diversity to come and play!

11. Use edges & value the marginal

Clowns? What have clowns got to with Permaculture...? You’d be surprised! 

There’s a new branch of ‘Clowns without Borders’ being created in Australasia. Briar, pictured in her costume, and her fellow ‘Clownies’ are setting up the non-for-profit organisation which aims to improve the condition of life for children and communities living in crisis through laughter and humour. 

Their highly valuable work is based on the boundary between circus and marginal communities, positively affecting those who are in need of support. 

Photo: Dizika 

12. Creatively use & respond to change

Not more clowns???  Yes, it’s true, clowns are able to help us with this principle too. Creatively using improvisation and responding to changes in plot at any given moment, especially when dealing with audience participation, is where much of the humour is generated for a good clown act. 

Reuben, the clown pictured, has an audience member on a mime motorbike. He used comic timing and improvisation to turn this bizarre situation into a hilarious act full of surprises.  Photo: John Fisher.

Violet Town - David Arnold's Pc Fruit Farm - Rural VIC

Wowsers, I’m exhausted! 

Seven and a half days straight here at David Arnold’s fruit farm 'Murrnong' in Violet Town, VIC. Two hours slightly East of North out of Melbourne, David has been here around thirteen years setting up a future community, mostly on his own, with the help of wwoofers like myself. He normally plans to have weekends a bit more downtempo than weekdays but right now summer is coming and he has had less wwoofers than usual, so things are a little behind schedule. Today (day 8) is the first day my body physically started to feel tired, in need of rest and a good massage! Good job my next host runs an ecoshiatsu retreat centre! 

The most prominent issue out here in rural Victoria is fire danger. As soon as you leave the city, just an hour out in places, fire risk goes up significantly and rural VIC has immense concerns for the possibility of natural destruction on an enormous scale, especially since Black Saturday, 2008. Apparently with eucalyptus trees, the heat causes the oil to seep out of the trees as a flammable vapor.  The fire burns this vapor before it burns the trees, and is the reason why fires are able to travel 60km in 15 minutes. Very scary stuff. 

So much of the work I have been helping him with has been in preparation for the dry summer ahead.

Through much experience and self-guided learning, David has built an extensive knowledge base and is very giving of his information. Always happen to answer a question or share some insight, he is an experienced host and very good at connecting his willing worker on his organic (permaculture) farm with a job that suits them well, taking into consideration level of experience and/or area/s of interest. Of course, you have to want to learn or you won’t... he asks that only people with an interest to learn about Pc get in contact. He’s not sure if this is why he’s getting less wwoofers this year in comparison to last, but I for one have been very grateful for the exchange. My prerogative since I arrived has been to learn, learn more, experience some, learn even more, and have some fun wherever possible, in that order. I have not been disappointed.

I could write a million words about what has been happening here, but I want to be more succinct than that. I think photos are the way to do it, so below are a bunch of brief stories, anecdotes and lessons with accompanying photos. I hope it gives some insight into how much I have been learning while I have been here. With my trusty point-and-shoot camera always in my pocket just in case I saw something I needed to remember, I managed to document a fair bit of my stay here.

If you are interested to see more about David's setup, check out his youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/murrnong

The up-turned raft - built by a wwoofer, he put a roof on it which was unnecessary, and meant that when i was windy, the raft capsized, and took with it the water pump. Fire safety compromised, we needed to rescue it!

Fruit tree pollination. Bees make honey and pollinate plants to produce fruit. A recommended book is 'The Botany of Desire' by Michael Pollan. He gives insight into a different way of looking at nature, and how plants have successfully manipulated humans, rather than the other way around.  In fact I recommend ANY of his books! 

The chook shed - daily routine is to be left in until midday so they lay most of their eggs, then they are let out into the property. 9 chickens plus one rooster have access to roam the whole property - 20 acres (8 hectares). Often following us around bas we are likely to be working the earth where  grubs are to be found. Before dark they are fed the scraps from the kitchen, watered and locked in for the night. We were getting about 6 eggs each day. The yolks yellower than anything I've seen before.

Wormwood - strategically placed so that when the chickens are let out (the hatch is around the corner from this healthy wormwood bush) the chickens rub up against it. The oil transferred onto the chooks repels insects... so simple and so effective!

The design of Murrnong is such that when David sells off subdivisions of his land, the houses built will already have an established orchard around them. When they are inhabited, the existing infrastructure (pictured) becomes the 'Future Farm Centre', a communal building including a workshop, food processing area, and so on.

The 'closed carbon cycle' - grow trees, grow too many, thin them, chop for wood. The trees left standing have room to grow into the space left. Burn the wood, release carbon, the carbon is sequestered by the existing trees and stored back into the tree. Closed loop carbon cycle. 

Grapefruit in the orchard. This is the first of four passes made to maintain the orchard. First we clear the grass around the trunk and irrigation (the red stick) so it can be seen when mowing. Second is the mowing run, removing the grass from under the canopy. Third we pruned the 'suckers' and fourth we shovelled mulch to cover the root zone. They were happy trees by the time we'd finished with them! 

Preserves - oh the preserves. This is the first time I'd seen true abundance of food in a home. So many pickles, and fruit processed for times when they are less available due to the seasons. We ate olives, peaches, plums, pears... david makes yoghurt daily, there was no shortage of food and little need to go to the shops. There's a running joke that it's 'David's Town' - everything you need is there, so you never need to leave! 

David (2nd from RHS) running an Introduction to Permaculture Course in Shepparton, my first experience of the 'other side'. After being a student for the past couple of years, I am starting to see myself as a teacher of Pc. I'm a way off yet, taking heed of David's advice that you need to be prepared for questions and have an ability to answer them, in order to be an effective teacher.

Cleaning up the wood from the raft with the angle grinder. Another new skill for my tool belt! To make the farm fire safe, another raft needs to be built but we ran out of time, so while the timber is ready for reconstructing, the pump is currently sitting on the ground of the dam wall, which is not as safe as floating on the water, away from the fire's reach. 

The orchard after the fourth pass - how happy do those trees look?  The chook's getting stuck in too! 

Brilliant design: community house in Violet Town. Funding came for a retrofit which was designed and implemented by David. One of the many improvements is in this courtyard - instead of shade cloth grapes have been planted (and other herbs). Eventually, the vines will grow up the chains in each corner and cover the pergola with fruit, and provide shade for the area in summer. Being deciduous, their leaves will drop in winter and allow the sun through to warm the space in winter.

Important upgrade of the water system, changing arterial above-ground pipes from plastic to steel in case of fire. 

Was fun throwing tools up to him, my juggling skills came in very handy! 

Humanure from the composting toilet. Such an amazing resource - add some sawdust to your deposit each time to balance out the carbon-nitrogen mix, and let the worms do the rest. This pile, removed from the loo when full, was stored by the house and did not smell. It was teeming with worms, and was safe to touch by hand - amazing nature doing what it does best - no chemicals required. 

View of the orchard from the water tower, facing South. Foundations of the first dwelling are in place, amongst the fruit trees - can you imagine living there?  Bliss! 

That grass really needs cutting though! The tractor will be in to do it soon.

Future Farm Centre - mud brick, solar hot water, water tank, grapes on the pergola, kitchen garden, photovoltaics, North facing for solar gain, concrete slab absorbs heat from the sun and gives off heat during the night...

And that's me having a great time operating the mower on the very first day that seems such a long time ago now.  I was full of energy and thirsty for knowledge, I gave a heap of energy and in return gained a whole lot of knowledge. Right from the start I was being shown tasks I needed to do but also why I'm doing them, what the system is for, and it all made perfect sense. I hope I can be good host myself too. 

I had no idea what was in store for the next 7 days after this photo, and what an amazing, full, inspiring time I have had. Words actually can't do it justice... I whole heartedly recommend going woofing yourself and experiencing it - who knows where it might lead you!?  

For me, since leaving, I feel like I have had a glimpse into the future, of my life in Tasmania, a simpler but more abundant life with Permaculture all around. It's absolutely possible, I am starting to grasp the concept of having my own land, perhaps an acre, having wwoofers, and abundance all around me and my community. I feel different in my body too, I feel more centered, better grounded, more in tune with nature, and less need for things like driving, town water and supermarkets.  

Irrigation design implemented at Stewart Lodge.

Here's the design I did for Stewart Lodge, Brunswick, Melbourne:

I worked at the Lodge for 6 months (April to September 2010) as a volunteer when I got back to Melbourne from my PDC. I've no idea how I found out about them needing people but as the universe has it, it found me, and it's bee a great thing.  Not only have I learned a lot through workshops, interacted with like minded people, helped the residents get into the garden and eat more healthily, but I managed to design and implement my first irrigation design.  So great! 

Matt from CERES was employed to run workshops every alternate Saturday on all sorts of topics from seed saving to irrigation to companion planting to seasons to water management.  I attended most of them, assisting the residents in their learning, and gaining a good deal of knowledge myself. 

After the irrigation workshop where we laid pipe in one of the veggie beds, Matt asked if someone could  design the rest, which I jumped at the chance of. Then, we waited until spring to put the plan into action. The funding comes from Merri Community Health, to pay for materials and 2 part-time Permies to help out each week. The result is fantastic - it's a Pc garden that gets a LOT of love from lots of people. A good way to see what you can get for your efforts.  I'll post up photos of it soon. 

So yeah, volunteering rocks, as does a smart irrigation design =:o)

Flourless Orange Cake recipe

I just sent an email to a friend with this recipe - and now I have a blog I can share it with the world!!! 

---
(Off the top of my head)
250g almonds / almond meal
250g sugar
2 ts baking power
2 large oranges.
6 eggs
Method:
Boil oranges for 2 hours, let cool.
Grind up almonds in good quality blender to make fresh almondmeal. You can do it is a bad quality blender but it's nowhere near as satisfying or economic! 
Combine almondmeal, baking powder and sugar, mix with your favourite implement in a bowl .
Cut oranges into large chunks, remove pips. 
Blend eggs and oranges into a beautiful orangy-syrupy goo.
Mix the goo with the almond-sugar mixture to make an even more yummy looking gooey goo. 
Pour mixture, after sampling with your finger, into a buttered and floured cake tin.
Bake in oven at a fairly high heat for a while (I've no idea about how hot for how long - somewhere in the mid-range for about 45-60mins - just be careful not to burn the top).
Additional options of awesomeness:
1) Melt a heap of dark chocolate and add to the yummy looking gooey goo before baking.  This makes a chocolately-yummy looking chocolate gooey goo.  Yum!!!!!!
2) Replace oranges with equivalent weight in peeled bananas, mash with a fork instead of blending.
Have fun with that! 
C xxx

Blog goes up...

So I decided to put up a blog.  It's a place where I can log my new and exciting journey in the world of Permaculture, and it's as much for you, as it is for me.  
I'm a little pessimistic about whether people actually read blogs (I know a handful of of my friends do), so if there was no use for it myself, I wouldn't bother.  But I figure I'd more likely write a blog than a book, as I can add in photos, videos and other snippets from around the web.  It's predominantly an outlet for, and a record of, all the awesomeness that has come into my life through a wonderful, amazing and incredibly clever design system, which they say changes your eyes... changes the way you see the world.  
I have to admit that it has done exactly that to me.  
Since embarking on a 72-hr Permaculture Design Course with Robyn Francis in Nimbin (Jan 2010), is has connected me to my true heart, and made me realise that I cannot live the life I seek within the city of Melbourne, and instead to seek a new place to embark on the rest of my life... I have chosen Tasmania. 

I'd love to go deep into the story of my life right now but I am time poor. I have to pack my bags here at Digger Street Intentional Community, Cairns, to move on to the next location. 

In the meantime I am going to post up all the group emails I have sent to people near and dear to me inthe past, and in due course photos... photos of things that I can see now much more clearly than ever before. 

So welcome to my world, to my journey.  Thanks for joining me, feel free to post a comment! 

'From little things, big things grow...'

1st October 2010 "Permaculture Parr"

Group email 7:

Permaculture Parr reporting. 

Preempting a fairly long email I will cut to the chase, because that’s the juicy part, and the part I want you to read the most. No point having it at the bottom when a lot of you are too busy to read and take in it all.  So here it is:

I arrived a week ago here in Cairns for the 10th biennial Australasian Permaculture Convergence, held at Candlenut Steiner School, Kuranda. Permaculture (Pc) is a design system that can be related to pretty much any facet of life in a way that helps us live a more sustainable life, wherever and however we are currently living it.  That is to use the earth’s resources and our own energy as sustainably as possible. The three core ethics behind permaculture are Care for Earth, Care for People and Fair Share. Beyond these ethics are twelve principles that encompass the design system, but for the duration of APC10, we were mainly grounded in the ethics. 

If you put 350 people in a beautiful place who all share the same core ethics innate to life, you get love. There was an air of love all over the place, apparent as soon as I stepped off the bus. The chefs, the speakers, the kids, the adults, the hippies, the farmers, the elders, the people beamed in on Skype, all emanated love.  Love for each other, the planet and for the amazing work that Pc is doing for humanity. I hope that sets the scene. 

Four long days of ‘converging’ (I believe a convergence has an emphasis on ‘open’ discussion around a topic than say a conference) were at times intense, but mostly rich with conversation, debate, connections and inspiration. I experienced about 10 times more than I was expecting. I came wanting to be immersed in Pc once again (I did my Pc Design Course in Jan), meet some like-minded folk, see what happened. I left in awe of the movement, and in awe of the breadth of all the possibilities ahead. I feel like I now have my mission in life. Permaculture all the way.

I have gained numerous contacts in Tasmania, not least Bill Mollison, co-founder of the permaculture movement, who I had lunch with on several occasions and is up for me wwoofing with him in January (having people stay at your house is a part of Fair Share, or distributing the surplus).  Mollison walked into the main hall on Saturday afternoon and received an immediate and most deserving standing ovation. At 82, he’s not young but sure can make a room full of people chuckle at his humble anecdotes.  A truly remarkable man. David Holmgren (the other co-founder) joined us for the Gala Dinner via Skype. Setting the example for the rest of us that you don’t always need to spend oil to attend an event. I for one managed to attend workshops at the European Juggling Convention in Finland this year without leaving my bedroom. 

Holmgren presented “Applying Design Principles for Activism” using a photo slideshow and one-liners.  Here’s the first principle, and Holmgren’s one liners, to give you an idea:

1. Observe and interact.

• Network for inspiration and information but don’t get mesmerized by greener or distant pastures
• Read the social landscape to understand the constantly changing context for our actions
• Talk to others doing similar and related stuff, no matter what the label or the looks
• Find out who’s done this before, where it worked and where it didn’t
• Failure is a gift, so long as we learn
• We have a lineage and a history, make it a story to tell

After hearing all twelve of these, I was swimming with respect and awe. David Holmgren IS permaculture! The photo attached sums it up beautifully - I did laugh when he put his face in the middle of all the principles! 

Of course the co-originators are great to spend time with, but so many of the other speakers were just as incredible. The pick of the bunch for me is definitely Cecilia. Until recently she lived in North Melbourne (she had to move out of her house this year due to the landlord selling it, so all her stuff is currently in storage) but spends most of her time working as a Pc designer in Japan. Her design is all about balconies and share houses. She was so inspiring because she found her passion in Pc and is doing just that. She says she’s “slave to her heart,” only ever doing what feels right, and for her it’s balconies and share houses. I could write ten essays on the talks she did. She was written down for one, but by popular demand she ran three. I’ll give you an example: 

It’s cold in the house, you want to put the heating on, you feel that you shouldn’t use the heater but flicking a switch is much easier than finding a jumper to put on... “Whenever you are not doing what you first decided you were going to do, then you have a design problem, which can be fixed using Pc.” Cecilia fixed this problem by putting a warm jumper next to the heating switch. When you go to put on the heating, you see the jumper and it’s right there waiting for you. Of course the solutions can be different for each person, depending on the house, or the person, but the way she absolutely uses Pc to solve everyday life riddles is just fascinating. She uses Pc to make sure all the dishes are washed and put away, uses fish to ensure plants are looked after, organises the inside of the house with zones 1-5 (typically zoning is for outdoor food production). She’s so awesome. 

For me, through the myriad of interactions, I have come across the rather intriguing phrase “Social Permaculture”. I know that when Cecilia says she has companion planted people in her house like you would plants in the garden, that that is a form of Social Permaculture. But I think it goes deeper than that, and I am now on a quest to explore what it means, and whether there is a crossover point somewhere where it meets Social Circus, something I have ben teaching in Melbourne for the last 3 years through Westside Circus. It doesn’t take much word-smithing to get to the notion of “Social PermaCircus”. This is the latest coined phrase and I am real keen to see if I can make it happen. That’s what happens when you go to a Pc Convergence! New concepts, ideas and inspirations. 

There’s so much more I want to tell you... (in short) on day 5 we went on a day bus tour of the Tablelands visiting various Pc properties... A 2-acre family home set up on old dairy pastures (after 20 years is now an abundance of food production for the family and neighbours), a 20-acre polyculture farm, a humble but very productive 0.5-acre suburban plot, and then absolute epitome of awesome - The Botanical Ark - Alan has dedicated his life to preserving plant species from around the world and has several thousand species.  The photo of the fruit on the table... all that fruit was picked that morning within 100m of the house. We ate a selection for lunch. It’s hard to comprehend but if you know how to use nature to your advantage, anything is possible.  

On day 6 one of the APC participants wanted more so he organised a local aborigine elder, Willie, to take us out to a sacred and historical site. His knowledge of the land, fauna and flora is extensive. To think that aborigines were themselves classed as fauna until early 1900’s is unfathomable. They are more connected to nature, more understanding of the earth, more considerate to each other than us from the western world. Then we decided to invade, manipulate and slaughter...

Willie took us out to a place where his ancestors were based. They were forcibly removed in 1918. His tribe specialised in making axes, which were traded at the borders for plants, food, and other tools.  He showed us a place on the river where the stone axes were carved using the rocks. The site is unprotected, unsigned and is rich in history. We also went to a sacred women’s birthing site, and a mens initiation ‘waiting room’. Along the way Willie pointed out 2000yr-old trees, bush tucker, trees that make good didgeridoos, uses for termite mounds, and medicinal plants and trees, including a bloodwood, literally bleeding sap. The sap is good for stomach ache (diluted in water), an anesthetic and can be applied directly as a toothache remedy. 

Right now I’m sat at 107 Digger Street, Cairns. It’s an intentional community of 4 houses on a suburban block. I’ve only arrived today from the backpackers and feel so much more at home. For the $22 to pitch a tent in the garden, I will get everything included, that is internet, 3 meals a day, power and water.  We will cook together and on sunday is “Sunday Sessions” which I believe means DJs and dancing.  Every Sunday is a Sunday Session! 

Until next time, be well. 

Much love,

Christian. 

PS Trouble uploading photos, sorry this email might be a bit big for your inbox. Maybe I need to start blogging. Hmmm.... 

5th September 2010

Group email 6:

Hello lovelies! 

Some of you may already know about my plans for the rest of the year, others not.  Its been an amazing 6-months full of inspiration, insight and wonder, which culminates with the decision to move on from Melbourne to a more rural life in a lush place not too far away... to the island of Tasmania.  I am joining forces with Slipstream Circus, a youth circus based in Ulverstone on the north coast, to help them deliver social circus programs throughout the island, and also to be closer to nature, living a full life close to my heart.

For those of you in Melbourne, I am having TWO send off parties. The first is next weekend Sat 11th September at More Fire! (dancehall reggae gig near the Queen Vic markets) - you are invited to join me for an epic dance-your-legs-off occasion:

More Fire (Reggae Dancehall) - at the Mercat Cross Hotel (near Queen Vic Markets), 10pm til late.  

I know it's short notice and not everyone will be able to come, hence planning another large gathering in December... I'm not exactly sure of what will happen just yet... I'm joining forces with my good friend Briar (she is going back home to New Zealand around the same time) and we plan to throw a party of all parties!  Will let you know what we come up with later in the year.

So after the convention in a mere 12 days, I put all my belongings on the ferry, and pack my car for the road. WWOOFing (willing workers on organic farms) Victoria is the main task on the agenda for 3 months, with other exciting trips along the way including the Australian Permaculture Convergence (Cairns), International Intentional Communities Conference (Cairns) and Circulation circus festival (NZ). I'm incredibly excited to go travelling again, on another journey of discovery and intrepidation. If anyone knows of a good wwoof host in Victoria, properties with permaculture principles are at the top of my list, please send any suggestions through to me.  I have plenty to choose from in the wwoof book but recommendations are always great.

As before I will send updates to keep you in the loop with the latest discoveries during my travels.  Feel free to do the same back!  

While I'm here I may as well mention that if you've got nothing better to do between Friday 17th and Monday 20th Sept, here's some stuff you might like to come watch: 

The Couch Show, a fun open-stage show starts 8pm Friday 17th. 

Saturday 18th we're hosting the Public Show ($20) - 2pm and 8pm shows.

On Sunday there are more free shows from 6.30pm. 

Monday 11am-1pm we are running the Juggling Games, free event with a BBQ. 

There's also a semi-secret MJC after-party happening on the Monday night... I can't say much right now but if you want to come and join us, let me know! 

I hope this email finds you well and brimming with excitement for Spring. 

Love and hugs to you all, 

Christian.