Hi everyone,

I’m forwarding the ATTACHMENTS in case it is of interest in the context of considering earthship type building for an education centre on the Farm at AAEV. The course and program described are to build an Earthship in a Nature Park for a similar purpose in the UK.

Deb H
Greenhead Earthship Workshop Programme
Earthship course details

The Farm Team is looking at the possibility of an “Earthship” on the Farm for use as an Environmental Education Centre, built and part-funded as a cooperative research site with Uni SA under the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Program.

Members of the Uni SA project team, in liaison with Steve Poole, made a short initial presentation to the Farm Team in the Village last Thursday. If you would like to see the slides used in the presentation, send me a request by email and I will forward the PDF to you. (It’s quite a large file, 4.2 MB.)

The project proposal flyer left with us for information is ATTACHED.
Please email any comments or queries to Brad N with copy to Steve P.

Elizabeth H - for the Farm Team
Earthship Proposal

A big thankyou to all those planters who braved a day when we really all felt like staying in bed.  There are now 750 plants in the ground which will make mincemeat of the North-westerlies that we were battling on the day.  For those who couldn’t make it see the attached photos to see the transformation.
 
A special thankyou to the Clampetts for their fabulous soup van which makes such a wonderful warm addition to our planting days, and to the soup makers Gillian, Jackie, Francois and Elizabeth.  Also, how can I say enough about those folk lugging mulch – the mulching finished at 4 pm so it was a big day. I hope our plants are grateful and reward us well.
 
And won’t we enjoy the rain this week that much more!
 
Jenni McGlennon
Farm Planting Day 2009

To all vacant lot owners,

Vacant blocks need to be slashed throughout the growing season to control vegetation height and weed growth as stated in the Village By-Laws. Lot owners are to be notified two weeks prior to cut-off dates for slashing. The procedure, as endorsed by the Community at the 2005 AGM gives several options:

1. Cut the block yourself before the cut-off date with your own equipment.
2. Employ a contractor to slash your block before the cut-off date
3. Request the Village Works Team to slash or mow your block at $50 per slash (tractor/slasher) or $35 per mow (ride-on mower)
4. Notify the NEC coordinator to have your block managed for the entire year by the Works Team. On the basis of vegetation growth and site factors, the Team will decide if this requires tractor/slasher ($150) or ride-on mower ($105)
5. If you are an experienced operator of the ride-on mower or tractor (with credentials substantiated by the NEC), and give adequate notice of desire to use the equipment, you can slash/mow your own block using Village equipment at a cost of $25.

Block slashing cut-off dates for this year are as follows:
July 27
September 14
November 2 (subject to notification of fire restriction dates)

NOW IS THE TIME TO ATTEND TO YOUR BLOCK SLASHING as it has been such a
good growth season, that if left much longer it will be too long for the ride on mower, or will
need to be done by a contractor or the Village tractor/slasher.

Currently UnitCare is looking at ways of sending out block slashing notices with the levy notices and receiving payment from those who have required the village works team or equipment to carry out block slashing work - more information soon.

See ATTACHED printable version of this Notice for details, and to keep handy as a reminder.

Queries and bookings for slashing or use of equipment to Cam Waters on 0431 922 072 or home: 8557 6281
BLOCKSLASH

Someone has already had their “thinking cap on” regarding reduction of sewage sludge. Perhaps one day we might see the application of aquatic worms in our sludge tank at the WWTP if this extract from a Dutch PhD thesis is any guide:

Municipal waste water treatment is mainly achieved by biological processes. These processes produce huge volumes of waste sludge requiring further processing. A decrease in the amount of waste sludge would be both environmentally and economically attractive. Aquatic worms can be used to reduce the amount of waste sludge. After predation by the worms, the amount of final sludge is lower. Additionally it has a distinctive granular structure with improved dewaterability characteristics. If a useful application can be found for the worms that are produced, then a valuable product would be obtained from a waste material.

Read more at: http://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/wda/lang/1908763#
[Thanks to Jane O’Connell for the link.]

Water for Good – a Plan to ensure South Australia’s water future to 2050
 
Water for Good, South Australia’s 40-year Plan to guarantee South Australia’s future water security until 2050, was released on Monday June 29, by the Premier Mike Rann and the Minister for Water Security, Karlene Maywald. More than 200 guests attended the launch.
 
Water for Good outlines more than 90 strategies to secure water supplies with more than 60 new actions such as:

• Substantially increasing our current stormwater capture and reuse across South Australia, with a target to recycle up to 75 billion litres a year in the long term.
• New rebates for water saving devices to further encourage water efficiency.
• A state-wide desalination policy to guide future plant proposals.
• Appointing an independent regulator to oversee service standards and pricing for monopoly water and wastewater suppliers while retaining government ownership of water infrastructure.
• Introducing legislation to foster a competitive water industry and allowing third-party access to government water infrastructure.

For more information visit  http://www.waterforgood.sa.gov.au

[Thanks to Tricia O’D for the alert.]
 

Dear Friends who do not live close to Hong Kong ...

FYI below is the invitation to the next ‘Conversation Places Matter’ (CPM) event. While you may not be able to attend in Hong Kong, the idea may be of use. This is essentially a facilitated social gathering in public space, of people who may not know each other, for an evening of lively experiencing of conversation, fun, friendship, and possible take-home ideas. It is not 'traditional' networking.


I am now also engaged in activities to do with the 'Awakening the Dreamer' Symposium, also known as 'The work’. Its purpose is to bring about - as a matter of urgency - an environmentally sustainable, socially just and spiritually fulfilling human presence on our little spaceship home. Many people are aware of the issues around our sickly planet earth. The Symposium – with its video and other materials which are wonderfully done educational tools - can change attitudes and bring about transformation in people within 2- 3 hours …

I wonder if you see links between the Symposium and ‘CPM’? Could it be that creating contexts – in many nooks world wide - in which people are passionately engaged participants rather than spectators is integral to ‘the work?’

Let me know if you would wish to learn more one or both of these. I wish you well and look forward to receiving any thoughts you wish to send.

Alan Stewart - alan@multimindsolutions.com

[Thanks to Vanda for passing this interesting idea on.]

A few numbers about water and sludge:

It was July 2003 when the first house in the Village was completed and the owner moved in.
On 30 June 2009, we had 56 houses completed and occupied. This means that approximately a third of the homes are now built.

In 2003, we were told that it would take approximately 10 years before we needed to get the 60kL sludge tank in the Waste Water Treatment Plant emptied. We have, however, managed to fill this tank in 6 years, and emptying it this week has cost us nearly $5,000.00

As the number of completed houses is increasing rapidly, including the 24 Cottages due for completion in Aug/Sept, it is likely to be a lot sooner than another 6 years before the sludge tank next needs emptying - probably around 2 – 2.5 years. Once all the houses are built, we could maybe be looking at sludge removal once yearly.

With the associated costs of this process in mind, should we be looking at encouraging something like composting toilets, which would take pressure off the WWTP and keep the waste on site for possible use. We will still need the WWTP but it would be cheaper to run with less sludge in the system.

Should we be asking the BDC to strongly encourage composting toilets in all newly submitted plans?

Would anyone like to put their thinking cap on and do some outside-the-square thinking about dealing with sludge and its costs?

And to finish with - a big statistic: In the six-year period July 2003 to 30 June 2009, we have collectively pushed 10,300,000 (ten million three hundred thousand) liters of water through the WWTP (10,300 kL).

John Heij - for the WWTP Team

The NEW prices for the 2009-10 financial year are:
Reduced annual residential supply charge of $137.60
$0.97/kL for water use from 0-120 kL
$1.88/kL for water use from 120-520 kL
$2.26/kL for water use above 520 kL

The current 2008-09 water supply and usage charges are:
Annual residential supply charge of $157.40
$0.71/kL for water use from 0-120 kL
$1.38/kL for water use from 120-520 kL
$1.65/kL for water use above 520 kL

Because the Village has only two SA Water mains connections and many water users, our usage is charged (and charged back to Villagers) at the highest rate (above 520 kL). In the coming year, therefore, water used in the Village will cost us 61 cents more for every kL - a good reason to save water wherever we can.

[Thanks to John Heij for the data.]