Updated website and on Facebook

I've been a slack with keeping the blog up to date, my apologies. I have now set up a Permaculture Principles Facebook page that is getting stack of updates - to all sorts of permaculture items of interest. You can also subscribe (see right) and get regular updates of news from the site.
The website has been updated and now has a separate blog page. Check it out, there's now songs for each of the principles!

2013 Permaculture Calendar now available

llustrating the 12 permaculture design principles, the Permaculture Calendar is a great way to get organised and share your schedule in your home or workplace. Filled with inspirational and thought provoking images that reinforce the thinking required to create a rich and rewarding future, the calendar is sure to turn heads.

We've made a BIG effort to reduce the impact of the production on the earth and the people who made it. Not only that, but 10% of net sales from the calendar will be donated to Permafund, supporting permaculture projects internationally, further embodying the permaculture values to create a truely ethical product.

Italian and Hungarian 'Essence of Permaculture'

The 'Essence of Permaculture' by David Holmgren is a free pdf download that summaries the permaculture concept. Thanks to the work of dedicated permies in Italy and Hungary we now have two more translations available, adding to our Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, French and recently updated English versions.

International Permaculture Day - May 6th 2012

National Permaculture Day has gone international! There are a range of permaculture events across Australia and the globe. We are even hosting one here at Abdallah House in Seymour.

Visit www.permacultureday.info to find out more.

Want exposure for your project and FIVE 2013 Permaculture Calendars?

Submissions for next years Permaculture Calendar are now being sought. If you have a brilliant photo (or want to take one) that can represent one of more of the permaculture design principles, then send it along with a brief background to the photo so we can see how to relate it to a principle.

The selected submissions, one for each month, will receive 5 x 2013 Permaculture Calendars along with their project / image featured for a month in the calendar. Photo credits and web links are also supplied on the back page of the calendar to help provide exposure.

If your submission is not selected then it may still be featured in the photolog on the permaculture principles website - which is a great place to get some ideas of what we would like to see in the calendar. If you don't already have a copy, you can also download sample of the calendar to see the high standards that we set.

Email your high resolution photos (6 mega pixel +) and text to the new calendar co-ordinator, Richard Telford - richard (at) permacultureprinciples.com

Change Song

Another great track from yardoidoroony taking a lighter look at the big changes that face us in the world, illustrating the principle creatively use and respond to change.

The Chikukwa Project

This project in Zimbabwe has totally tranformed the lives of 7,000 villagers over a period of twenty years. It has been wonderfully successful with food security, land degradation and social development – where almost all projects in Africa have failed. It is an incredible example of the relevance of Permaculture to solve the problems of the world today.

Funding is currently being sought for the completion of a longer 50 minute film. See 'Permaculture Successes in a Zimbabwean Community' for an in depth article written by Monika Goforth and Terry Leahy.

Permaculture Diary 2009-2012, end of an era

Gardening Australia host Costa Geordiadis celebrates four years of the Permaculture Diary with creator Michele Margolis.

Unfortunately for us the diary will not continue next year, but Micheles enthusiasm for permaculture continues. Her food forest and gardens will feature as one of Costas first stories for the new season and she will be running urban permaculture workshops in Sydneys inner west.

You can read Michele's message of thanks about the diary here. Gardening Australia resumes on ABC1 from Saturday March 24 at 6.30pm AEST. It can also be watched online on ABC's iview.

New Year Challenge: 'Binimum' - minimise your waste

During 2011 Richard Telford with his partner Kunie and two young boys decided to take the challenge of only using one rubbish bin and one recycle bin for the whole year, what they call 'binimum'. In their newly established home they thought that this mission would be next to impossible, but it wasn't. By applying the permaculture principles THEY DID IT, and believe that you can too! Find out more at abdallahhouse.com

If the task sounds a little too far fetched for your household then try putting your bins out when they are full, and keep track of how many you get emptied over the year in your calendar or diary. See if you can improve upon your total in the following year as you discover more creative ways to refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle waste - or grow and make your own and turn your left overs into compost!