Congratulations to Anthony on arts award!
27/09/07 15:17 Filed in: Villager's
News
Congratulations to Anthony Steel of 19 Dianella
Walk (Lot 65) who recently received the Lifetime
Award for his work as Festival Director.
Anthony's award was highlight of the night at the
Australian Business Art Foundation Awards in
conjunction with the Ruby Awards, South
Australia's annual, pre-eminent arts and cultural
awards program.
Well done, Anthony! You are adding a shine to the "Arts" of our Arts EcoVillage.
Well done, Anthony! You are adding a shine to the "Arts" of our Arts EcoVillage.
Village Happenings
20/09/07 16:02 Filed in: Communications
News
It's been a while since we had a look at
happenings around the Village - so let's catch
up. Here are some snapshots from the farm
planting, pizza oven opening, and Sustainable
House Day events. Thanks to Lynda McCarty and Ken
Creevy for photos.
070920 VILLAGE HAPPENINGS
070920 VILLAGE HAPPENINGS
Any "affluenza" in your family?!
13/09/07 14:38 Filed in: Villager's
News
Thanks to Vanda Rounsefell for sending in this
thought-provoking snippet:
Are you trying to keep up with the Joneses? Think about it - obsessing about money and materialism is a symptom of "affluenza" and our teenagers seem particularly susceptible to this condition.
Got five minutes? Maybe you can help stop the spread of teenage ‘affluenza’ in Australia. Watch this thought-provoking video clip. With its ironic humour and powerful message, the video has quickly become a monster hit. It received more than 200,000 hits in its first four days on the web!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFZz6ICzpjI&NR=1
Are you trying to keep up with the Joneses? Think about it - obsessing about money and materialism is a symptom of "affluenza" and our teenagers seem particularly susceptible to this condition.
Got five minutes? Maybe you can help stop the spread of teenage ‘affluenza’ in Australia. Watch this thought-provoking video clip. With its ironic humour and powerful message, the video has quickly become a monster hit. It received more than 200,000 hits in its first four days on the web!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFZz6ICzpjI&NR=1
Water and fruit: creating synergy of assets?
06/09/07 14:54 Filed in: Villager's
News
As the winter has now officially ended and the
time is near that we have to start watering our
plants and trees again I would like to pass on
some information about our water situation.
Thanks to the fact that we have our own Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP), we are in fact much better of than people in the suburbs. We can water our fruit trees with recycled water and reap the benefits of this. The fruit trees have now been in the ground for several years and we saw a dividend from the investment during this last year by being able to pick peaches, nectarines, apples, olives, apricots, etc.
I am perturbed, therefore, by hearing talk about which trees should be left to die to reduce money spent on watering etc.
Currently, we have the WWTP output of treated water connected to the irrigation system in 3 orchards: one at the end of Hakea walk, one at the end of Clematis Walk, and one at the end of Dianella Way. This takes care of about 160 fruit trees out of the total of about 600 planted in all the neighbourhood orchards. The treated water from the WWTP is very suitable for use with trees as the irrigation can be done below the soil surface. (If there are concerns about using reclaimed water in particular areas, the clean water currently in the big tank in Market street could possibly be used for watering trees in areas where Village kids tend to play.)
The output of the WWTP has been 48,000 liters per week over the last month. Considering that every tree needs approximately 10 liters of water per week during the summer, we could potentially water 4800 trees. This shows that water is not the problem.
Our problem at the moment is that we need to extend the delivery system to all neighbourhood orchards. This might sound like a big issue but, in fact, could be very manageable if the job is done in-house. Having observed the installation of the storage and pumping equipment at the WWTP, and the subsequent digging of the trenches plus the laying of the pipes, I would suggest that extension to the other orchards could be done by a group of villagers. We could also include the watering of the newly planted trees at Bowering Hill Road by extending the current irrigation system for the woodlot on the farm. With all this installed we would not have to worry about paying contractors to water neighbourhood fruit trees, or about paying for an increasingly scarce and costly SA water supply.
I see the bringing together of our reclaimed water resource with our fruit-tree resource as a matter of "essential maintenance" in the face of a rapidly drying climate. What do you think? Any ideas how to do the above project quickly and within a reasonable budget? I would like to hear from you. Respond from the News Feed via the "Email the author" function, or by direct Email.
John Heij
Thanks to the fact that we have our own Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP), we are in fact much better of than people in the suburbs. We can water our fruit trees with recycled water and reap the benefits of this. The fruit trees have now been in the ground for several years and we saw a dividend from the investment during this last year by being able to pick peaches, nectarines, apples, olives, apricots, etc.
I am perturbed, therefore, by hearing talk about which trees should be left to die to reduce money spent on watering etc.
Currently, we have the WWTP output of treated water connected to the irrigation system in 3 orchards: one at the end of Hakea walk, one at the end of Clematis Walk, and one at the end of Dianella Way. This takes care of about 160 fruit trees out of the total of about 600 planted in all the neighbourhood orchards. The treated water from the WWTP is very suitable for use with trees as the irrigation can be done below the soil surface. (If there are concerns about using reclaimed water in particular areas, the clean water currently in the big tank in Market street could possibly be used for watering trees in areas where Village kids tend to play.)
The output of the WWTP has been 48,000 liters per week over the last month. Considering that every tree needs approximately 10 liters of water per week during the summer, we could potentially water 4800 trees. This shows that water is not the problem.
Our problem at the moment is that we need to extend the delivery system to all neighbourhood orchards. This might sound like a big issue but, in fact, could be very manageable if the job is done in-house. Having observed the installation of the storage and pumping equipment at the WWTP, and the subsequent digging of the trenches plus the laying of the pipes, I would suggest that extension to the other orchards could be done by a group of villagers. We could also include the watering of the newly planted trees at Bowering Hill Road by extending the current irrigation system for the woodlot on the farm. With all this installed we would not have to worry about paying contractors to water neighbourhood fruit trees, or about paying for an increasingly scarce and costly SA water supply.
I see the bringing together of our reclaimed water resource with our fruit-tree resource as a matter of "essential maintenance" in the face of a rapidly drying climate. What do you think? Any ideas how to do the above project quickly and within a reasonable budget? I would like to hear from you. Respond from the News Feed via the "Email the author" function, or by direct Email.
John Heij