A community at work

Winter is here again and so our attention is drawn to our homes and how comfortable they are… or aren’t.

All around our nation, home owners have been gradually insulating ceilings, windows and floors – because these are relatively easy to do. And that leaves just the walls. And we don’t know what to do! That’s because walls are so hard to get at.

When undertaking our ‘Barriers to Behaviour Change’ project the difficulty of insulating walls (that is, the walls that are already built and cladded) was identified as one of the most annoying and significant barriers to making our homes more thermally efficient.

Our ‘How to insulate the walls of your home’ guide is for those who are keen to have a go. You can download it HERE.

There’s almost no need for any text to go with the photo below, of toppled excavator. The picture says it all. This is at the “12 Magnificent Blocks for Sale!” land development at 114 Waterworks Rd.

Local residents have made a number of submissions on safety and other matters, yet it appears that Council has little protocol in place to manage steep hillside developments, and we are told the development of such protocols is still months or years away.

“How on earth did your vibrant community, with all its professionally skilled people, allow such a crude land development like this happen?” said a visiting architect last week. It’s a question many of us are wondering about.

Chris Harries

Generating our own renewable energy

Waterworks community is investigating possible options to generate our own (community based) renewable energy locally.

This work will build on the success of our bulk solar purchase, Climate Friendly Home and behaviour change project in developing a sustainable community.

Continue reading →

The campaign on solar feed-in tariffs (see below) is now being coordinated through Save Solar Tasmania – please visit that website and sign the petition to get involved.

It’s this Saturday (April 13) and there are a few tickets left.

Sustainable Living Tasmania’s Annual fundraising dinner featuring 100% Tasmanian ingredients.

Join us for a fabulous evening celebration of Tasmanian food from 6pm – a three course meal consisting entirely of locally sourced ingredients, entertainment and an auction of gourmet Tassie treats.

For bookings: http://tassievorefeast.eventbrite.com.
For info about the Tassievore program click here.

It seems that all gardeners love to grow garlic, perhaps our most valuable harvest when considering the small space it requires.

But then every Tassie gardener I know has a big problem with garlic. No matter how much we grow, it won’t last the whole year.

We harvest our crop in early summer, cook with it for the next 5 months then it sprouts on us and we have no garlic for maybe 5 or 6 months of the year… until the next crop is ready for harvest.

I used to extend our garlic harvest for several weeks by chopping it up, immersing it in olive oil and putting bottles of that in the fridge, but then, alas, found this is a serious no-no. A sure way to develop potentially fatal botulism. Don’t do it

So, we looked up safe ways to preserve garlic conveniently and found two solutions that work really well.
Continue reading →

Described as an ‘icon of the Australian conservation movement’, long time resident of Waterworks Community, Geoff Law, has been made an Order of Australia.

Anybody who knows Geoff accepts his natural leadership talents and superlative communications skills… and also his decades of commitment to the protection of natural areas.

In his other life Geoff is a well liked local identity who walks to school with the walking bus and entertains folks with his skillful racounteuring, only matched by son, Elliot.

Congratulations Geoff, well deserved.

Continue reading →

Curious?

Click here to find out what this is about.

It could be about you!

It could be about your planet!

It’s that time of year again! The bushfire season is back with us. Please be prepared.

Use this time to prepare your property! Make sure you are confident about what you will do in the event of a fire coming through the valley. Know when you might leave, and where you would go, and what you would take. Give your home and yourself the best chance of survival:

• Clean out the gutters
• Cut long grass
• Trim low trees and bushes around the house
• Be aware of water sources
• Move winter wood supplies away from the house
• Check through your fire plan
• Identify a safe place to shelter if you are caught in a fire (this could be a neighbour’s house)
• Talk to your neighbours about their plans.

Continue reading →

This is a place where community gardeners can easily update what has most recently been done …. which beds have been dug, composted, planted, watered.

Just let us know by putting a note into the comment box below the post. For easy reference the beds are all numbered as per the diagram below.

It’s locally grown and spray free

Purple garlic, just Harvested

$25 per kg or barter for equivalent in vegetables and /or fruit etc.

Call Mat on 0458 249 206 or email him to place your order or discuss further.

Waterworks Valley Landcare Group is holding a Bird Walk on Sunday, 2nd December.

To be led by local resident Don Knowler (he writes the popular ‘On the Wing’ column each week in the Mercury)

Meet 10am at main gates of Waterworks picnic reserve. Bring a drink and binoculars if you have them.

(“The bird walk was informative and enjoyable – we’re lucky to have Don living in the valley!” Trish Moran)

Have you heard?? There’s a very exciting Urban Permaculture Design Course happening in April 2013 at UTAS Sandy Bay. Just about the best x-mas present you could give yourself (or your special someone), so check it out!

It’s driven by a special line up of teachers including Nick Ritar from Milkwood Permaculture, Adam Grubb from Very Edible Gardens and Cam Wilson from Earth Integral.

So, pass this on to your networks as this will be a REALLY fantastic opportunity to learn techniques in designing sustainable human settlements in your own back/front yard.. You’re also going to walk away with at least 20-30 new friends who are just as interested in this stuff as you are – what more could you want!

This is a serious course that will leave you richer, so it’s worth the price. Please download flyer for details HERE.