September 2015

While many of us go into hibernation mode over winter, there are still many things happening in the community, as can be seen by the articles below.

“Transition” is all about building a resilient community and about finding "the answers" ourselves, rather than waiting for others to come up with them for us. So if you want to organise something in your local community which works towards this goal, be it a workshop, an event or a gathering, take the plunge and do it, and if you don’t know where to start, feel free to contact us, or ask on the Transition Gawler Chat Group on Facebook, there are many people out there willing to help, you only need to ask.

Regards,
Transition Gawler Steering Committee

Pruning and Grafting workshop at Willaston

Local Willaston residents, and Transition Gawler members, Andrew and Miriam had been wanting to learn how to prune their fruit trees and also try their hand at grafting some different varieties of stone fruit onto some young fruit trees which had grown from seed from their compost.

Ian Tooley (another Transition Gawler member, local Gawler resident and Deputy Mayor) offered to show off his “graftsman” skills, and share his self taught knowledge and skills in pruning and grafting to enable Andrew and Miriam to also learn how to undertake these tasks.

In true “Transition” fashion, Andrew and Miriam decided to turn the afternoon into a “workshop” extending the invite for others to attend and learn, and even have a go themselves.......read more

Plastic Free July inspires a Plastic Free "making bee"

Inspired by "Plastic Free July" a group of friends have got together to have a "making bee" to make some "Plastic Free" toiletries and bath and body products, and try to reduce the amount of single use plastic which comes into their households from toiletries and bath and body products......read more

In the Garden with Andrew Yip

The 3rd Dimension or Making your veggie patch 2.5 times bigger without lifting a spade

Regardless how much land you have, the vegetable garden tends to be limited to a relatively small area.

We get good at doing things in rows (x-axis), better still are grids utilising two dimensions (x-y axis). But thinking in the 3rd dimension or z-axis can be difficult. Stuff grows up and down, across and around. Read more about how to utilise all three dimensions of your vegetable garden

Andrew Yip is an active member of the Transition Gawler community, and is often the instigator of double dig workshops and garden working bees.

Gawler Garden and Produce Share Enters its 3rd year

The Gawler Garden and Produce Share is a fortnightly gathering in Apex Park, Julian Tce, Gawler (the park by the Gawler River with the big old fig trees) where people get together to share excess Garden and Produce "things".

It started in May 2013, and is now in its 3rd year, to read more about how the Gawler Garden and Produce started click here

Energy News Update

Gawler Transition to Solar Project

Through the "Gawler Transition to Solar" project Transition Gawler, in conjunction with Down to Earth Sustainable Solutions, have helped 10 houses in Gawler and surrounding areas install quality solar panels at great prices.  So far the project has seen a total of 26.23kW of solar panels installed, generating over 40 megawatt hours of electricity each year!  If you would like to find out more about this program, contact Tom (0411403257) or Rachel (0407775868), email info@dtess.com.au or check out the Gawler Transition to Solar Facebook group.

Tesla's PowerWall

Everyone is wondering – how will the recently announced PowerWall change the way we power our homes?  The PowerWall is a small off-grid battery system using lithium ion batteries (traditional off-grid systems use lead-acid batteries). Lithium ion is definitely the future of storage systems and companies like Tesla, Samsung and Bosch are leading the way and making this technology more affordable for the domestic market. Tesla/Panasonic’s battery manufacturing facility currently being built will double the world’s production capacity and hopefully drive down prices as well. 
 
It is likely to take quite some time for household Li-ion systems to obtain the necessary approvals to be installed in Australia, and with considerable demand in other parts of the world it could be a year or more before we see them here. 
 
In terms of storage capacity, a Tesla storage system would meet most residential applications. It is useful to understand the system’s limitations if you are looking to use batteries as a primary energy source. Read more

Get On Your Bike Gawler (GOYBG)

by Leigh Dalwood

I have read a fair bit lately about what other transition towns around the world have been getting up to and felt re-inspired to put some energy towards cycling activity in Gawler.

In winter it is easy to choose the comfort of the car to get from A to B but with the right clothing (and mud flaps) a ride to the shops or to the Sunday market at Gawler Train station can make you feel better all day. Get On Your Bike Gawler is a friendly gathering of people who enjoy riding for the pleasure of it and to save some carbon emissions.

Join and have a look at the Get On Your Bike Gawler Facebook group and join in the conversation and find others to ride with and keep informed about when the next event might be on.

Below is a link to and article about Transition Black Isle who had a three year plan for reducing carbon emissions due to car use in their town.

https://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2015-05-29/transition-black-isle-celebrate-success-their-million-miles-project

Bushfire Resilience Stragegy Forum

It was great to see all the people who came along to the Bushfire Resilience Strategy Forum which was held at the Hewwet centre on the 24th April 2015 

The intention of the forum was to support and educate residents on fire prevention and mitigation through a new set of design principles and to send a strong message of solidarity and show people in fire risk areas that the community at large is there to support them.

If you couldn't make it on the night Environmental and Science Media were kind enough to record the evening and the videos of the night can be seen here.

Gawler Garden and Produce Share 
A Fruit and Veg Swap by a different name, meet at the bbq tables at Apex park around midday, put produce out around 12:15pm ready to share at 12:30pm. All are welcome even if you don't have anything to share this time.
- September:12th, 26th
- October: 10th, 24th
- November: 7th, 21st
- December: 5th, 19th

"First Fridays" Catch-up at the PA
An informal gathering at the PA Hotel, from 7pm for drinks or before for a meal
- 2nd October 2015
- 6th November 2015
- 4th December 2015

Workshops and working bees:
There are often workshops and working bees organised by members of the Transition Gawler Chat Group on Facebook, so if you are interested in attending this sort of thing join the group.

Remember to check out our calendar and like our Facebook Page and join our Facebook Group to keep upto date with events and workshops which are not listed here.