Following the Government requirements for Indoor gatherings we are very sorry that we are unable to host our planned workshops in the Blue House until further notice.
The gardens will remain open for our Volunteers and Visitors, but we kindly ask that everyone follows the social distancing principles of 1.5 m.
Lets look after ourselves and each other through these difficult times
YCG Committee, 20th March 2020
There have been huge new discoveries in soil science in recent years, and we now know that we have to look
increasingly to Regenerative techniques to bring the majority of our soils back to life, and for our crops to carry the nutrition they once did. A boost in focus on the microbiology of soils has also led to the potential to reduce our use of fertilizers while still improving the soil.
Additionally, the way we grow the things we eat, and the medium we grow them in, has an enormous impact on the nutrient density of the produce. This impacts directly on our health and well-being.
Increases in our understanding have also affected inputs into traditional compost making, and new knowledge allows us to make compost that is even more valuable in our agricultural and gardening efforts.
There are many ways to increase the fertility of our soil and improve our health while reducing the amount spent at the produce store, and we would like to share them with you.
To book for this workshop click here
About the presenter
Prior to retirement Dave was an itinerant Permaculture teacher, designer and consultant working here and overseas. Originally trained by Geoff Lawton and then Bill Mollison he did voluntary Permaculture work at projects in Uganda and South Africa and in New Guinea after the Aitape tsunami, working with survivors and local NGO’s, and in villages in the Angoram area on the Sepik River. Later he was employed by CARE Aust in Macedonia where he worked for the UN rehabilitating a 50 hectare refugee camp site after the Kosovo war. He then traveled to Israel where he taught at the Ein Gedi Field School for the Society for the Protection of Nature.
Since retirement he has become passionately interested in Regenerative Agriculture and the soil food web, and is practicing small scale Holistic grazing, pasture establishment and soil improvement through cover cropping, composting and the use of bacteria and fungi on a small acreage in Doonan.
This workshop with Tom Kendall provides an interactive platform to get an understanding of how to create systems to increase productivity on your property. It defines the value of creating your own fertility systems and gives you an understanding of what is lacking and what needs to be added to improve fertility. In the first workshop Tom will give participants an understanding of fertility systems, and the information for participants to go home and discover what may be lacking on their property. In the second week possible system implementation and /or improvements will be discussed. Tom will emphasise low outside input systems, so it is affordable and feasible for everyone.
Note this workshop takes place over 2 Saturday mornings
To book click here
Tom Kendall is a permaculture farmer with over 40 years farming experience and a broad acre agriculture background. He is co-founder 
of the PRI Sunshine Coast Inc and PRI Luganville, Vanuatu and runs PDC courses and Permaculture training for the PRI Sunshine Coast Inc. at the Kendall Permaculture Farm Education and Training Site. Tom has a talent to identify and repair damaged and eroded landscapes, focusing on soil health and transforming damaged land to highly productive land. He repaired 7000 acres of dry land farm which had been conventionally farmed for many years and which was experiencing loss of top soil and erosion, by converting it to organic / bio-dynamic practices and making it profitable again. He also repaired around 10 acres of degraded, low fertility, sub-tropical ex-banana farm land, which is now a lush, flourishing Permaculture Demonstration and Education site on the Sunshine Coast. All land improvement was done on a low budget with minimum outside inputs, and was designed to derive an income from the land. Being brought up in a remote area of Western Australia, he was taught from very young to be inventive, innovative and self reliant, a practise he still continues today and teaches to his students.
To book click here
This week you will go on a journey as you learn about coil weaving. You will learn how to begin consistently and how to add new fibre into your baskets, how to finish neatly and all about the importance of tension. You will also learn about how to bring up sides on a basket and how you can keep tension consistent by using an aid such as a metal or plastic or wooden bowl about the size and shape that you want your basket to become. Please bring something like this as weaving aid, as it will prevent you from making your basket too small. Also we can make mats if you wish. 
Choice is yours, because once you know the technique you imagination is the only limit.
Indigo has been learning all about weaving with natural fibres from various indigenous communities around Australia. She gives back to First Nations people whenever the opportunity arises , and has waited a long time for blessings to run weaving workshops here on the Sunshine Coast. Indigo is passionate about connecting people together through weaving, and connecting all people to the country in a respectful way. She uses both traditional fibre, but also she uses many things that may grow in your garden as well, helping our native environment by weaving with thing like cats claw.
To book for this workshop click here
Please note that this is a hands-on workshop and is longer than the usual workshop timing, as there is so much for you to learn and practice
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