Welcome to this month's "CEL Relection". We are excited to welcome many of you to our newsletter, as we have taken Transition Bellingen and the Bellingen Seed Savers under our wing (more about that below) and so have added you to our mailing list. We hope you enjoy the thoughts and ideas presented here, and are inspired to participate in some of our amazing events!
plus...Save the Dates!
Sat, 23 April Weeds as Food and Medicines with Damian Harrison
Sun, 8 May Active Hope workshop with Lisa Siegel
Sat, 28 May The Home Herbalist with Damian Harrison
Wed-Sat, 15-18 June Nature Connection Mentors gathering
CALLING ALL YOUNG NATURE LOVERS IN YEARS 5-8... This brand new offering is starting next Wednesday - time to register now! Holly is an amazing artist and a supportive and caring teacher....and is very excited to be able to share her passion for nature creativity with your young person. Register HERE.
EYE Survives! Thanks to the amazing Sophie (see her blog below) who single handedly raised $3000 for EYE, as well as a Community Events grant from Bellingen Shire Council, and a generous donation from an anonymous family who is grateful for what EYE has given their children.....we have enough funds currently for two camps this year - SO FAR! We are still looking for funds so watch this space... any ideas or help welcome. In the meantime - our first EYE camp is happening in a few weeks for the Senior EYEs (Year 9+)....registrations happening now!
REGISTER NOW - COURSE STARTS SOON! Having been involved in Permaculture for more than 30 years, faciltator Dr. Charlie Brennan wants to challenge himself and course participants to take a fresh look at Permaculture – inspirations, practical solutions, local and global applications.
In addition to basic Permaculture theory, such as site analysis, design and edible landscapes, course participants will also explore future trends, off grid living, sustainable architecture, social enterprise and cooperatives, food sovereignty, health & healing, weeds & medicinal plants, ecopsychology and spirituality. Participants will also meet and learn from Gumbaynggirr Elders and special guests including native bee expert, Tim Heard.
This course is aimed at experienced Permaculturalists and trainers but is inclusive of beginners. Materials, texts and flash drives supplied.
Last time I wrote, I had intended to finish an earlier blog in which I recount various stories featuring a motley crew of wild friends with whom I share my house, before being interrupted by the Rose Robin, that delightful little creature whose sweet, melodious call heralded the end of winter (and who thus featured instead in the last blog.) And so now, finally, sitting as I am by a quiet gurgling stream in a remote part of Chaelundi National Park on Christmas Day…it is time to get back to the story and introduce another special friend...
I want to introduce you to the Grey Shrike-thrush, or simply “Shrikey” as my children like to say. Like so many Australian birds Shrikey was named by some early 19th century European bearded git who fancied that our Aussie birds must surely be the second-rate hick cousins of their own magnificent stock of northern hemisphere songbirds. So rather than giving our birds original names they gave them hand-me-down names like shrike-thrush (because it has a hooked bill like a European shrike and a body like a European thrush…). Of course, they could have just asked the nearest Koori kid what it's name was and that would have been that. But...they didn’t. (Just as an aside, we now know that ALL 5800 species of songbirds across the planet trace their ancestral origins to the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana, and more specifically, to Australia. Suffice to say that many of Australia’s birds are among the oldest evolutionary lineages on the planet which makes THEM the originals! For Pete’s sake – we have the oldest birds, the oldest mammals, the oldest rocks and the oldest living human culture but still all we get known for are vegemite, koalas and Tony Abbott! But I digress…) Read more.....
This is our favourite bushwalker Sophie, who walked nearly 1000 km of the Bibbulman track last spring and raised over $3000 towards making EYE camps happen in 2016. What a legend! We enjoyed following her adventure via Facebook, and you can relive it too, by reading the blog below and then continuing on here.
As I left Kalamunda, the beginning of the trail like a gateway to a new life I wiped away tears and broke into a rhythm and pace with my two legs and two hiking poles.
Down the unstable and rocky hill my awareness on placing each foot just so I was excited, happy and relieved to finally just be on the track after the lengthy planning and preparations.
A sunny day, not too hot and of a good temperature for walking a short 12km. The flowers brilliant in colour, each one so delicate yet shone in strength, a contrast against hard granite boulders.
The first day brought pain to my body. Leaving the house with a pack heavier than I would have liked, maybe around 16kg including food water and fuel. This day I thought the pain was real pain and that it was not possible for it to get any more..... Read more
CELideas
Transition Bellingen started in February of 2008, as part of an international network of Transition groups that are working to create resilient and strong communities by RE-LOCALISING production of food, energy and other resources, RE-LEARNING old skills that can be used in our modern way of life, and RE-CONNECTING all sectors of the community.
From 2008-2012, Transition Bellingen was very active in the community, holding educational events, creating a Shire wide visioning process that was included in Bellingen Shire Council's 2030 Strategic Plan, and supporting many initiatives to flower and grow, such as the Bellingen Seed Savers, the Free Market, and the Bellingen River Festival.
In the past few years, the members of the core group of Transition Bellingen have had a bit of a rest from facilitating major TB events (while at the same time continuing to pursue many other amazing activities), although there were a few wonderful events such as the "Economics of Happiness" workshops. But how to proceed from there was the question! After quite a bit of processing, it seemed a logical decision that Transition Bellingen fold its "incorporated not for profit" status and become a project of the Centre for Ecological Learning.The Bellingen Seed Savers, who were a project of Transition Bellingen, have also become a project of CEL. A win-win situation for all - less paperwork, but the same opportunity to bring the Transition Bellingen tradition of forums and re-skilling workshops, and the amazing services of the Seed Savers, to the community.
So welcome, Transition Bellingen and Bellingen Seed Savers, we are thrilled you are with us! Watch out for more info about both groups on our website soon.
With heartfelt thanks and huge appreciation to all the Transition Bellingen members, past and present - you continue to be inspirational. - Lisa Siegel
For many years Irene Wallin has tirelessly and pretty much single-handedly organised our events and activities and has built the BSS into a happy and sizeable group of gardening and seed saving enthusiasts. A massive thank you to Irene and also to her husband David for their hard work. Irene is now looking forward to being "just a Seed Saver" and we look forward to showing our gratitude to her with a big working bee in her garden! We love you Irene, you're awesome!
A committee of 8 (!) has taken over the operations of the BSS and it's "business as usual" and then some: We've just had our monthly garden visit at John and Carol Vernon's luscious food-forest in Fernmount, we've been busy packing seeds in a very productive working bee in preparation for the Bellingen Autumn Plant fair on March 12th. Speaking of which, we would love to have you join us there for some seeds/plants/raffle/education and socialising. We're also planning a visit to Jodie and Michael's inspirational "Cloudy Cauldron" permaculture farm in Dorrigo in April and to Shelley's Bellingen hill-side vegetable and garden oasis in May.
We continue to be a welcoming happy group of gardening enthusiasts that deeply care about food security by saving seeds and plant material for all of us and for posterity: ensuring we can all share natural, locally adapted, open-pollinated, (non-hybrid, non-GMO), seeds and plant materials. And having fun while doing it. We're still looking for some extra committee volunteers, and we're always looking to welcome new members. Sign up for our newsletter at bellingenseedsavers@gmail.com, come visit us at the plant fair and keep on Saving Seeds for the Future!
Andrew Turbill (Local field naturalist, National Parks education ranger, Bellingen EYE Mentor, and Chrysalis parent) is starting a Bello Young Naturalists Club for budding young nature-lovers in Years 5-8. The group would meet one Sunday morning per month for a couple of hours to explore a variety of local environments and engage in birdwatching, animal tracking and other naturalist observations. We will also take field notes on our discoveries. Andrew will lead and provide mentoring for the group, but participants should be self-motivated and be willing to mix easily with a smallish group of like-minded students.
Participants will need to move quietly and patiently through the bush in order to observe wildlife. This is imperative to the success of the outings.
Parents will need to arrange transport to each location. A small charge of $10 per session will cover the cost of administration. Andrew is volunteering his time to make this group accessible to all interested young people.
Please email Andrew on theagitator@bigpond.com for expressions of interest to join the Bello Young Naturalists Club and to receive further details on dates, locations and other relevant info.
Andrew Turbill reports that he has finally received a small shipment of stock of charcoal cooker stoves. He has the standard size (24cm diameter) and a very cute smaller sized (20cm) cooker available. The cookers cost $35 and $26 respectively. Andrew also has hand forged steel trivets available (for balancing smaller pots on the cooker) for $15 and bags of charcoal made from local sustainably harvested hardwood scrap timber.
Also, for those lucky enough to have attended the charcoal making and cooking workshop which Andrew and Bruce Teakle ran in the Northside Community Gardens last year, it would be GREAT to hear some stories about cooking with charcoal on your new stoves! Please email us with your experiences and if possible send a photo too and we’ll put it on the CEL website to encourage others to join our growing community of sustainable charcoal users!!
The Centre for Ecological LearningInc is listed on the Register of Environmental Organisations and maintains Deductible Gift Recipient status with the ATO through its Ecological Learning Fund trust fund. CEL is a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission.
That all means that you can get a TAX DEDUCTION for any donation you make to our trust fund! And rest assured that your donation will go to continue our amazing work connecting young people and adults to our beautiful planet.
The Centre for Ecological Learning gives young people and adults the chance to experience connection....through interactive and meaningful experiences with and about the natural world.
