Author Archives: Wendy

Why bother with community engagement, anyway?

After a hard two weeks being labeled variously as a “mercenary”, “a hired gun of the developers” and a hopelessly naive optimist, Wendy asks why it’s important to engage in community participation. She remembers a man who dedicated his life to environmental causes and who died at 96, still campaigning. That was a life well lived, she concludes, and hopes for such a life herself. This realisation and a call form a sympathetic old friend — himself a developer — makes “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” a little easier to bear.

The original dream for Jarlanbah Permaculture Hamlet

Wendy is mining the Jarlanbah archive and discovering much about the guiding principles that has been lost. There is much to learn here!

(re)visioning Jarlanbah Permaculture Hamlet

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.

Trouble in Paradise: Dual Occupancy at Jarlanbah

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.

One Sleep ’til the Windows Arrive: The joys of owner building

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.

Natural Disasters and Banks: A Tale of Two Australian Banks

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 [...]

Chocolate Chip Cookies

 
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, [...]

Evaluation: Must the Messenger Always Be Shot?

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to have to write a short piece on evaluation for a consulting report. I reviewed what I had in my library, did a quick Internet search and decided it was time to bone up on the latest. So I took myself off for two blissful days in [...]

Local Wisdom about Apartment Storage

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 [...]

Stories from the Great Turning

 

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 [...]