Silvereyes, Batteries, Events, Comings and Goings, June 2021

In this issue

Eco Living

CLaN -Collaborative Living at Narara

-Tanya Mottl

Formed initially as Shared Equity in 2017, this small group of collaborative or co-housing enthusiasts evolved into CLaN in 2019 when architect Graham Hunt of DHW first presented some ideas.

Interest is growing, and we have found that regular Zoom meetings is an excellent way to get to know each other and the process of collaborating better, building community as we go.

Our vision: A housing sector in Australia where more inclusive and affordable options are available and neighbourhood members actively collaborate with one another

Our mission: To demonstrate this vision of collaborative living both socially and spatially in Stage 2 at Narara Ecovillage

What CLaN has been doing

As part of Stage 2 of the Narara Ecovillage development, 5 larger Lots have been allocated for Collaborative or Co-housing, and there will soon be an Expression of Interest process for those Lots.

We have been examining a variety of options, including dual occupancy/multiple dwellings, a large shared house with common area, and boarding house style.

One group have engaged DHW to develop a feasibility study for one of the 5 allocated lots. DHW has drafted several possible design solutions, which we plan to present at the CLaN gathering at the Ecovillage on Sunday June 27

We hope to also have some indicative pricing from Craig Riddell of Living Green Designer Homes , who have built a number of homes at the village.

Invitation

We invite anyone interested in eco-living and co-housing and curious about Narara to join us any time as we continue to explore our values and get to know each other, including 2 events this coming weekend at Narara Ecovillage. Email tmottl2012@gmail.com to find out how to join.

Upcoming dates

Saturday 26
- A building standards workshop 1-3pm John Shiel
- Afternoon/evening – potluck meal (bring a plate) with anyone around
Sunday 27
- 1-2pmpotluck lunch
- 2-3.30pm
- Community Building using the Global Ecovillage Network design cards facilitated by Tanya Mottl, Ambassador
- Exploring the designs to suit your preferences
- Ongoing “play” might continue.
Monday 28: Zoom – debrief weekend learnings – dots on lots, design and more …
Tues 29: A useful workshop – Accessible Design Workshop by Accessible Homes Australia & SDA Australia
Mid-July: Collective KnowHow (CKH) and Joanne Hunt are co-ordinating a really informative workshop. Stay tuned for more details.
August 7-8: A potential immersive weekend

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What is Collaborative Living?

Here’s an example from Denmark video. An Australian example is Nightingale in Brunswick, Melbourne. video. And a trailer for movie about co-housing “The best of both worlds”

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Silvereyes visiting the Privet

Silvereye at Narara Ecovillage, photo by Richard Cassels, June 2021

-Richard Cassels

You have got to love these little Silvereyes bingeing out on privet berries at the ecovillage. The valley is full of their trilling calls.

This one posed for me in the pecan orchard at the ecovillage on Tuesday afternoon last week. He/she looks full to bursting with berries! The brown flanks shows that it belongs to the subspecies that visits NSW in winter from Tasmania.

The white eye ring provides a very easy way to identity this species. Amazingly these small birds (specifically the Tasmanian subspecies) managed to cross the Tasman Sea in the 1820-50’s and establish themselves in New Zealand. You wonder how many drowned on the way?

Silvereyes live in a complex ecological relationship with humans.

As small fruit eaters that can slip through nets, they are not always popular with orchardists, but as insect eaters they are highly beneficial.

As spreaders of privet, a highly invasive, non-native weed (together with other spreaders like currawongs and rosellas and even mistletoebirds), their presence is not always a welcome sign. However you also could see them as heroes of “rewilding”, as they populate cleared land with their favourite shrubbery!

In a country where small birds are vanishing (for many reasons that include predation by bigger birds like currawongs), I am delighted to see them!

Who says ecology is simple?

Notes

For more on privet see: http://www.clarencelandcare.au/wp-content/Brochures/privet.pdf.
The ecovillage aims to steadily eliminate privet and to replace it with native plants.

Silvereye at Narara Ecovillage, July 2019, Sum Leong, Central Coast Birders

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Coming soon: a Community Battery

Narara Ecovillage is awaiting the arrival of BESS … our Battery Energy Storage Solution from Hitachi/ABB, a global company specialising in energy technology.

Factory tests are scheduled in Melbourne this week and we are well prepared for her arrival next month, with a slab, conduits and cabling in place. BESS will join Priscilla, our grid transformer, and become a key part of our Smart Grid.

With news last week of a storm east of Melbourne, leaving people without power for 3 weeks during this rainy, cold winter, we are excited about our new community battery, to say the least!

BESS will provide the village with:

Sustainability – to reduce our reliance on grid-supplied electricity, which will continue to have a high element of fossil-fuel-generated power for the next 10 years
Power Security in the event of grid power interruption – although power will need to be rationed
Flexibility –to use stored solar energy at peak demand times
ARENA (The Australian Renewable Energy Agency) funding – to install a battery is part of our grant commitment to them

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Events

Open Day at Narara Ecovillage with Biggest Morning Tea! Sun June 27

The Open Day shows what Narara Ecovillage is all about, and how we are putting our ideas around ecological, social and economic potential into action, including:

shared food growing, natural retreats and Permaculture spaces
shared community and work places
examples of highly efficient low-carbon homes now and in the next stage

The event this month will also include fund-raising for the Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea (last month we raised $110)

Donated cakes will be sold, so come along, buy some cake and grab a coffee, hot chocolate or chai at the Coffee Cart as well.

When: Sun June 27 June 10:00am – 1:00pm
Where: Narara Ecovillage 33 Gugandi Rd Narara 2250
Bookings essential: here

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A Taste of Sociocracy – Friday evening,July 23

-Rafaele Joudry

Narara Ecovillage is going from strength to strength, year by year – and it is wonderful to witness their journey. They are definitely at the forefront of Sociocracy in practice in Australia.

-Gina Price, Australia’s leading Sociocratic Consultant

How do you get your family, business team or, in our case, 150 people to make decisions, resolve conflicts and feel that they have been heard?

Narara Ecovillage is using Sociocracy. This is a decision-making and governance system that:

Is inclusive, transparent and equitable, including all voices
Promotes a better use of resources, and coordination of activities
Leads to care, respect and cooperation
Ensures results of decisions are reviewed to determine their ongoing usefulness

This system has relevance for communities, businesses, non-profits, families and more.

Come and have a ‘taste’ of this methodology in a presentation by ecovillage founder Lyndall Parris

WHEN: Friday 23 July, 7:00 – 9:00 pm. Zoomers: Entry at 7.15pm
WHERE: Narara Ecovillage Village Hall or on Zoom
COST: $20 into Ecovillage bank account (details on registration) or cash on the night
RSVP: Lyndall@nararaecovillage.com

Come in person for some extra joy, or join on Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6048362412?pwd=dXM4KzVuSjh2U1lRck0rQVNpVDBuZz09
Meeting ID: 604 836 2412
Passcode: 2250

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Foundations of Sociocracy Online Course, from June 31

-Gina Price

Connect with us

Gina Price price@sociocracyconsulting.com
Erin Young young@sociocracyconsulting.com

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Picnic Fun Date for your Diary: Sunday July 4

We would love you, your family and friends to visit Narara Ecovillage for a shared Picnic Under the Oak Trees

Dust down your ole picnic rug and bring all you need for a picnic. Meet some Nararians, learn more about the ecovillage and enjoy some time on this magnificent property.

Hope you can join in. Sunday 4 July from 12 – 3pm
RSVP: Lyndall@nararaecovillage.com

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Narara Ecovillage news

John Talbott completes his position as Project Director at Narara Ecovillage

-Lyndall Parris

Let me tell you about this man: Among so many other things, JT is gentle, intelligent, broad thinking, and funny. I couldn’t believe my luck when I found that after 26 years in Findhorn (ecovillage in Scotland) he had married an Aussie gal and was living in Bondi.

Although he didn’t know it 9 years ago, he was looking for the Narara Ecovillage project. That’s one story, the other is that I hounded him so much to join our team that he finally relented. Either way, we would not be here today, without his steady guidance and work.

Now he is off to his other love Findhorn for a while, leaving a home in Narara Ecovillage, so the good news is that we’ll get to see him again soon.

NEV member, resident and project manager, Grant Rickey, is leading the development project for Stage 2.

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Narara Valley High School visit

-Lyndall Parris

On a glorious day after rain in early June, we had the pleasure of a visit from students & teachers from Narara Valley High School wanting to see and experience the ecovillage. Three Nararians warmly welcomed them and put them to work in one of our gardening areas, until they were starving for morning tea. One boy had never seen a real fire before, and everybody enjoyed toasting marshmallows on long sticks in the small fire we lit in their honour.

We walked back via the creek track, where at one point, Liz (channeling our resident bird tour guide, Richard Cassels) halted the group so we could silently listen to nature – possibly never done before!

Lastly, just to counterbalance things, they were invited to let loose their vocal chords in the area below the Village Hall, creating a terrific cacophony – great job boys!

This visit is part of the heart and soul of the ecovillage – that we have the honour to share our land, friendliness and joy as the current custodians of this amazing place.

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Do a Thing a Day

Build your vegie-growing soil now, to be ready for spring

This is a good time of year to set up your garden or planter box for spring planting.

Here’s a soil improver recipe from the ABC’s Tino Carnevale for creating soil for a vegie patch bed about 2m x 1.5m.

source https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/making-perfect-vegie-soil/9432374

2 barrow loads of fresh compost
50 litres of cow manure
50 litres of chicken manure
75 litres of mushroom compost

Mix these all together

Half fill the first trench with soil improver and scatter a couple of handfuls of worm castings on top.
Dig your second trench, next to the first, back filling the rest of your first trench with the soil from this second trench.
Half fill the second trench with soil improver and couple of handfuls of worm castings on top.
Continue this with the third, fourth, fifth and etc until the whole bed is done.

This should be left for a couple of days at minimum or a couple of weeks if possible. Let it settle in and then dig the soil over once more with a spade.

Recipe & video here

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Reusable tips and tricks

Drop in on Melbourne-based Reusable Nation’s website here to discover more about the 6Rs:

Refuse capitalism, Reduce fossil fuels, Reuse not single use, Resilient communities, Recognise sovereignty, Rebel for life.

While there, you might check out these 3 interactive maps:

Contact the Network News

Liz Bassett Editor network.news@neln.org.au

About the Network and the Village

The Network

The Narara Eco Living Network is a not-for-profit educational and outreach body established by members of Narara Ecovillage to foster more sustainable living in all its forms and promote the vision of the village.

We publish the Network News and run networking & educational events and community projects.

Become a supporter of the Network – 12 months membership is only $20 an individual or $40 a family. Networkers are offered discounts to a variety of events at the village, and free entrance to Open Days. Click here to check out upcoming events. The network is 100% run by volunteers so we really appreciate your support!