AUGUST 2024  FEATURES: SUSTAINABLE LIVING Saving Ecuador’s Los Cedros again and again and again …  “… it is now, in the words of Bitty Roy, Professor of Ecology from the University of Oregon, ‘the best forested watershed in western Ecuador.’” – John Seed The Rainforest Information Centre and I personally […]

Saving Los Cedros | Weeds | Waste | Mylks | ...

Features Bringing Back that Good Fire: learning about indigenous burning practices -Donna Carey I recently attended an interesting and important workshop on indigenous cultural burning practices ‘Bringing back that Good Fire’, hosted by the Kariong Eco Garden. Cultural burning, also known as’ cool burning’ or the ‘right fire’, brings back […]

JUNE 2024: Right Fire, Naughty Spiders, Yummy Weeds, Day of ...

Chinese New Year dragon
Features  Pruning essentials  -Gillian Wellstead With nearly six decades of pruning experience, starting when she decimated her mother’s rambling dog rose, Gillian is well qualified to teach pruning skills. (The rose recovered and put on a spectacular show the next season.) The essential points are: Know your goals, Use correct […]

FEB 2024: Pruning tips|Death Adders|Bird babies|Strategic goals|Events|Network News

How cool is grass? -Donna Carey With a hot summer upon us, consider keeping your grass a bit longer for the next few months – unless it starts turning brown of course. Uncut grass keeps the soil at 19.5°C Grass cut at a level of 10 cm maintains the soil […]

DEC 2023: Cool grass, steep slopes, long life & caring, ...

Features Learning about Biodynamics Why is the cow so important in Biodynamics? Answer: because it is so calm and contented. -Rafaele Joudry Ten of us recently spent two days at Narara Ecovillage learning about Biodynamic compost and other wonders of Biodynamic gardening methods. Biodynamics seeks to integrate scientific understanding with […]

OCT 2023: Soap, biodynamics, resilience, events, opportunities

Features A slice of Australia’s horticultural history -Lorraine Hawdon A recent historical display highlighted the former Gosford Horticultural Research Station’s fascinating connections to the early days of the Australian wine Industry and development of Pecan Nuts in Australia. Narara Ecovillage is built on the former Gosford Horticultural Research Station, which […]

AUG 2023: History |Biodiversity |Air quality |Celebrations|Labyrinths| Network News

Network News Features Principles for Building a Healthy New Home Photo: pixabay -Mikala Dind This 4-part series provides practical information to help you build a healthy home. FEBRUARY: Design #1: Location, orientation, foundations and insulation APRIL: Design #2: Water management – drainage, eaves, gutters and roofs JUNE: Management #1: Humidity, ventilation, […]

FEB 2023 Healthy Homes|Dragonflies|Baby Possum|Smart Grid Report|Lots of Events|

The 2021-22 year was a period of consolidation for the Narara Eco Living Network (NELN). A new Aim and Domain were agreed, and procedures were streamlined for auspicing and insuring events at the Narara Ecovillage through NELN. Relationships were strengthened with NEV Education and NELN had a continued presence at […]

Narara Eco Living Network Annual Report July 1 2021 – ...

Features Our precious Dark Skies The Milky Way: John H, Narara Ecovillage A growing body of evidence has linked light pollution directly to ecological disruption and harm to human health, not to mention unnecessary energy consumption. What can you do about it? – Olga K A growing body of evidence […]

SEPT 2022: Dark Skies, Bush tucker, Events, Orchids, Ducks, Counting ...

Feature Swift Parrot habitat rehabilitation: work begins! -Lorraine Hawdon Rehabilitation Begins – BEFORE AFTER “We all know the importance of planting trees and managing weeds, but winning this grant demonstrates the value of our work and makes sure that we actually do it!” -Guy Dutson, Ecologist. Excitement is growing at […]

JULY 2022: Parrot news, frogs, weedy soup, winter solstice, Open ...

Feature Story Birdstrike! Above: Wonga pigeon at Narara -Richard Cassels Finding a beautiful bird dead below your window is awful. Even worse is the distinctive, surprisingly loud “bang” of a fast-flying bird colliding with a fixed glass window pane. There are two things you can do if you witness a […]

Birdstrike, Open Day, a Game, Swift Parrots. May 2022 Network ...

March 2022 Network News Village news Hi-tech says Hi to old-tech: 3D mud wall printing Printed MUD wall Research project & Crowdfunding Request University researchers will team up with natural builders in a trial of cutting-edge 3D printing techniques to build a modular wall using local earth materials. Narara Ecovillage […]

MARCH 2022: Sculpted house, leeches, mud printing, prosocial, bird ...

FEATURES Plotting our progress – Evaluating NEV social, environmental, and economic projects -Rosemary Leonard Narara Ecovillage (NEV) is a living experiment in how people can work together at the local level to create a thriving community. NEV members know we need to explore new ways not only of regenerating the […]

Jan 2022: Plotting progress, Screaming frogs, Finding grass, Events, NEV ...

photographing a cicada
Featured Frogging at Narara Ecovillage Above: Citizen scientists having a froggy good time  -Words and photos: Richard Cassels, Lorraine Hawdon, Guy Dutson   On a humid Saturday night (November 19 2021), five frog enthusiasts from the ecovillage set out to record the local frogs, using the wonderful free FrogID app, […]

Frogs, Building agreement, FairShares, Deep Ecology & more, Nov 2021

In the last 18 months, and especially since May 2021, NELN, like many organisations, have had to wind back our activities due to the pandemic. One highlight of the year was Sustainable House Day at Narara Ecovillage, held in Sept 2020, which was sparsely but enthusiastically attended, and included guided […]

Narara Eco Living Network Annual Report July 1 2020 – ...

Campground at Narara Ecovillage
Network News SEPTEMBER 2021 Feature The Amazing Superb Fairy-wren -Richard Cassels Bouncing around like highly energised ping-pong balls, Superb Fairy-wrens are a continuous source of fascination and entertainment! These birds are so small they can become trapped in spider webs, yet they are great survivors.  Are they really Mormons? Do […]

Amazing Wrens, Swamp Mahoganies, Eco-Experiences