Wendy is mining the Jarlanbah archive and discovering much about the guiding principles that has been lost. There is much to learn here!
Wendy introduces a new blog that will eventually become a dedicated website: about her eco-community, the Jarlanbah Permaculture Hamlet, a brilliant dream of social and ecological harmony that is still to be fully realised. She outlines some of the current problems, some of the founding principles and suggests that there is still much to do to realise the original dream. Confronting bullying is one important step.
Wendy asks how it can be that some of her neighbours in a low-density eco-village want to ban dual occupancy (or accessory dwelling units ADUs) because they think it’ll wear out the infrastructure and turn the place into a slum and a ghetto.
Wendy bemoans the endless delays (often caused by inesperienc in owner building) in finishing the guest room so that she and Karl and welcome guests to stay in their bush abode.
While we have not been as badly hit as many flooded communities in Queensland and New South Wales in recent weeks, things have been messy here. Roof iron blew off the shed roof, the python got in, as well as rats and mice. And many things were damaged. Paper did particularly poorly.
Up a ladder and [...]
I was visiting a city friend recently.
We have no oven in our shed in the bush, so the sight of someone preparing to bake was deeply satisfying.
“What are you baking?” I asked Bill, as he patted the lumpy, brown blobs. Knowing he was a vegetarian, I was prepared for lentil burgers.
“Chocolate chip cookies,” he replied, [...]
When I lived in Vancouver in 2007, teaching and managing a housing research project at the University of British Columbia, I had several interesting accommodation experiences. The first one was terrible: a chronically ill middle-aged couple with a dog who was dying of cancer. They slept with the dog and spent all day in their [...]
This story was prepared in response to the Durham University Colloquium/Workshop, FAITH & SPIRITUALITY IN THE CITY: Towards a Post-Secular Urbanism?, in March, 2007. The event was convened by Philip Sheldrake. As far as I know, no report has been made of that event.
It forms chapter 14 of my forthcoming book (with Dianna Hurford and Christine Wenman), Creative [...]
