Hi everyone,
I was thinking about various messages I've been reading in the newsletter about the lack of temporary accommodation for visitors to AAEV and those building. Two comments:

The place down by the beach my sister and I stayed last year when visiting AAEV can be booked at: http://www.aldingareefretreat.com
It's a 'quaint' '50's(?) fibro beach house but perfectly comfortable. 
 
Second, just for general info and to add to the 'melting pot', I am anticipating that for a year or two, I shall spend time in both SA and the UK so there will likely be periods of several months at least when my terrace home at 8 Tetragonia Walk, once it is finished (end of March?), would be available to people as a rental.
 
Cheers - Deb Harding (Lot 112)

Here's an interesting opinion piece with a view of our economic future quite divergent from the mainstream: http://candobetter.org/node/305
"The end of economic growth is a message of hope"

In this lecture Josh Farley tells us that we can't sell the Steady State economic model if we preach gloom and sacrifice. "Martin Luther King would have gotten no-where if he had given an "I have a Nightmare" speech! Farley demonstrates that it is we who have the positive message and that it will be the ideologues of classical economics who will have to purvey gloom and doom once it is apparent to all that there are no more cookies in the jar.

Looking for a more interesting garden shed, gazebo or utility room? Why not build your own geodesic dome. Purchase of a simple "starplate" set allows you to link the steel or wood skeleton at the correct angles. To purchase a set of starplates, contact Scotty on 8391 6524 (Adelaide number). See info attached:
080128 Build a dome

The following web site could be very useful to those villagers still in the planning process of building their houses. Loads of info on water wise products, all in one easy to use space. It includes water savings ratings as well. Also loads of products designed to be used within current houses to save water.
 
Check it out at http://www.savewater.com.au/index.php?sectionid=1
 
Vikram H

For those interested in Zero Carbon Houses and innovative developments of the ecovillage type, Hockerton Housing is a fantastic project.

By 2016 all new homes built in the UK will be expected to reach a zero carbon standard. This seems a world away from the type of houses that are being built today. If you listen to the building industry, reaching this standard will be extremely expensive, unrealistic, unfeasible or just plain impossible. These statements have been seized on by the press to forecast a future of very expensive housing (as if it wasn't expensive enough already!). However, this view is at odds with the Hockerton experience: http://www.hockertonhousingproject.org.uk/modules/News/ViewNewsItem.asp?ID=215

Thanks to Sarah West for the link and to Vanda R. for passing it on.

The concept of "water neutrality" is entering the mainstream. Adelaide is about to get its first water-neutral development, a new business park on Richmond Rd Keswick, at which black-water, grey-water and stormwater will be treated to Class A on site and Class A water will be exported to the community to offset any usage from the mains supply. Check the press release at: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23054754-5014332,00.html

Developments of this type, where water is upgraded at distributed sites, will ensure greater water-use efficiency but will no doubt raise further questions of whether the community is ready for "toilet-to-tap" recycling.

Thanks to John H. for the Link

With over 600 fruit and nut trees planted in over a dozen orchards around the village we are now starting to see some production, which is a way our levies are working for us. The beautiful organic apricots and nectarines are sensational this year and the produce is being shared around well. Most productive trees have been netted against the birds which protects the fruit, although it makes picking a bit more difficult. The current policy is pick for own use, with no strip picking unless the fruit is to be distributed to the community in some way.

There has been some confusion as to who can pick? The fruit is on Common Land and thus available to the whole Community and anyone can pick at anytime without gaining any permission as long as the policy described above is adhered too. Own use should include preserving, drying and making jams etc. If there is a glut of fruit and any excesses can be shared with neighbours. Why not get with your neighbours and have a preserving day if you notice a glut of fresh fruit. Some residents have been picking fruit and delivering it to neighbours and this is to be encouraged. The objective is to not have piles of rotting fruit under trees because it is not being harvested for any reasons. It is our resource to share and requires a community effort to ensure the best use of it is made. The effort will increase in future years as the size and variety of the crop increases.

The NEC encourages individuals and neighbourhood groups to take responsibility for managing particular orchards which could include irrigation, pruning , weeding, mulching, netting, picking and distributing etc. Some of this is being done but there are many more opportunities. If you are interested please contact the NEC. Please explore your area or the whole village to locate the orchards and what fruit is, and will in the future, be there to help ensure we minimise wastage.

After the current crop of nectarines there will be crops of apples, almonds, quinces, peaches, pomegranates, guavas and citrus in the coming months so enjoy the harvest and get involved and don't waste your hard earned $$ buying fruit from unknown origins or treatments, when we have a pure organic harvest on our doorstep.

Our thanks go to all who have assisted making this bounty possible.

Tony for NEC
Helping the environment work for you

We are very grateful to Stefan Dispain for donation of an amplifer and microphone stand to the PA / Projector project. This will mean we can get going much faster than we expected.

Please thank Stefan when you see him. What a great community gesture!

Local community activist, Mos Day, has contacted several AAEV members about setting up a community driven, all inclusive, cultural development group for the Aldinga Bay area.

While involved in the Urban Boundary issue recently, Mos realized that submitting emails to bureaucrats and politicians to try and stop more development here in Aldinga before we had the appropriate social and transport infrastructure in place, was not really getting us anywhere. After talking to others, he decided that maybe another approach was needed - hence the drive to form a 'cultural' group (as opposed to an 'ecological' or 'community' group), which in turn could represent the wider Aldinga Bay arts and culture community to help maintain the integrity of the region, and the tourism that it offers.

Anyone interested in pursuing the idea should check out the ATTACHED proposal and / or contact Mos Day (whose background is performance, writing, directing and musical theatre) directly by email.
080114 Mos Day Proposal

The graph shows unofficial monthly rainfall figures for 2006 and 2007 as taken from the rain gage at Lot 63, with totals for the two years being 241 mm and 478 mm respectively. Compare these to our official long-term average in the district of 500 mm per year.

We certainly don't want too many years like 2006 with less than half of our average rainfall! It would be nice, however, if we received a few more "tropical infeeds" of the type that gave us a significant rain event in January 2007.

Elizabeth