PHR

Permaculture Hunter Region joined forces with Transition Town newcastle on 29/5/09 to combine resources more effectively

Permaculture Hunter Region was originally incorporated in 1995; is concerned with permanent agriculture and sustainable culture in the Hunter Region; and is now a Branch of Transition Town Newcastle, Inc. Permaculture has the ethics of caring for the earth, people and sharing surplus goods.

Permaculture design is "a system of assembling conceptual, material, and strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms. It seeks to provide a sustainable and secure place for living things on this earth." - Permaculture - A Designers Manual p 36, Bill Mollison. Permaculture is not limited to efficient, sustainable food cultivation, but includes building energy-efficient structures, and sustainable social, cooperative and financial systems.

Its current projects include:

. Permaculture Blitzes (see description), where we design a permaculture garden over a few weeks, and build it with volunteers in 1 day. The volunteers who are members are eligble to have their garden Blitzed when they have about 6 days of help accrued, and pay for the materials etc. It includes lunch and some Permaculture workshop(s), and we are collaborating with NCC. We completed 2 in our first year (2009), although it took 2 sessions to finish each one, and hope to go to one every 2 months next year (contact John on jafshiel @ tpg.com.au - remove spaces - for information.
. Farmers markets stall each 4th Sunday of month, and stalls at local events.
. Sustaining our Suburbs project where we design and/or establish permalculture gardens for those disadvantaged in the community, under a grant from Uniting Care Ageing- Hunter, Central Coast and New England Region.
. Community Gardens eg. Warners Bay and Webb Park Mayfield (assisting with design and building community etc)
. Permaculture gardens in Schools - Adamstown Public, Cardiff North Public, (previously designed The Junction Public)
. EcoVillage - PHR is part-owner of Newcastle Urban EcoVillage Pty Limited, which has designed 21 sustainable units and obtained a DA on a 1.5 acre block near Hunter Wetlands.

See subtopics under this heading for Food Blitz details.