Playground Design Group report
25/05/09 16:23 Filed in: Arts News
The playground design meeting last Saturday
produced some great ideas towards developing a
whole of village playspace design to be presented
to villagers soon.
During the meeting Justin led a workshop with the kids and parents, and together they built a temporary humpy (see photos ATTACHED) as an example of a natural playspace. The humpy will be reviewed in 3 months to decide if it is to be maintained or removed.
If you would like to know more about the playground progress, please contact me.
Kat W - 8556 5855
Stick Humpy
During the meeting Justin led a workshop with the kids and parents, and together they built a temporary humpy (see photos ATTACHED) as an example of a natural playspace. The humpy will be reviewed in 3 months to decide if it is to be maintained or removed.
If you would like to know more about the playground progress, please contact me.
Kat W - 8556 5855
Stick Humpy
Please don't pickle our wastewater
14/05/09 15:32 Filed in: Villager's
News
Because it is the season for salting and
preserving olives, it is a good time for a
reminder about not putting spent brine
into our wastewater system or onto our
land. Here are the relevant portions of
text from our Welcome Pack instructions about
wastewater:
“You are probably aware of problems that can be caused by high levels of salt and phosphates in treated wastewater that is returned back into the environment. These substances come primarily from detergents and other cleaning aids, and some food preserving and pickling processes also produce large amounts of waste salt. Salt can build up over time in soil that is irrigated with wastewater, and blue-green algal blooms can be caused by high levels of phosphates in waste water discharged into rivers and waterways. In our Village system, where the discharge is onto land, phosphate is less of a problem as it can be taken up as a ‘fertiliser’ by plants. Salt, however, will potentially lower the fertility of the land over time, especially in our low rainfall zone where there is barely enough rain to wash salt through the soil, so it is best to minimize the salt level in our AAEV wastewater.”
“And please, if you are dehydrating or pickling with salt (e.g., olives, cucumbers, egg plant, etc) never dispose of the waste salty water down the drain or on to land. If you absolutely have to pickle with salt, consider taking the spent pickling solution down to the sea where a bit more salt is not a problem! We ask that you try to find low-salt and salt-free ways to dehydrate, pickle, and preserve food. Our land will thank you for it in the future.”
“You are probably aware of problems that can be caused by high levels of salt and phosphates in treated wastewater that is returned back into the environment. These substances come primarily from detergents and other cleaning aids, and some food preserving and pickling processes also produce large amounts of waste salt. Salt can build up over time in soil that is irrigated with wastewater, and blue-green algal blooms can be caused by high levels of phosphates in waste water discharged into rivers and waterways. In our Village system, where the discharge is onto land, phosphate is less of a problem as it can be taken up as a ‘fertiliser’ by plants. Salt, however, will potentially lower the fertility of the land over time, especially in our low rainfall zone where there is barely enough rain to wash salt through the soil, so it is best to minimize the salt level in our AAEV wastewater.”
“And please, if you are dehydrating or pickling with salt (e.g., olives, cucumbers, egg plant, etc) never dispose of the waste salty water down the drain or on to land. If you absolutely have to pickle with salt, consider taking the spent pickling solution down to the sea where a bit more salt is not a problem! We ask that you try to find low-salt and salt-free ways to dehydrate, pickle, and preserve food. Our land will thank you for it in the future.”
New Sharing Shed sign
07/05/09 15:05 Filed in: Villager's
News
Check out the west
wall of the Sharing Shed near the main entrance -
it now has a fabulous new mosaic sign.
What a classy contribution to Village life and facilities - thanks mainly to Vi Carpenter, who led the mosaic team and did the lion’s share of the work.
Well done - it looks great!
What a classy contribution to Village life and facilities - thanks mainly to Vi Carpenter, who led the mosaic team and did the lion’s share of the work.
Well done - it looks great!