Hi There.. My name is Brett. My wife and I have started a permaculture project on our 1.125 ac block in Central Qld, Australia. We're approaching this project as "novices" and haven't done a course.. however, we're not new to the ideas of permaculture, and have dabbled a bit in the past. We've mapped out the bones of our Plan (drawn on our lounge room wall 1m=1cm), and while we have locked in some features/ideas, and have already started on some, we have a lot of decisions to make, questions to ask and ideas to pinch..
Hi Brett and welcome, Plenty of good Permaculture getting done without a PDC. Lots of ideas here for the taking, and maybe some answers too! Hope to see photos of your projects.
Hi Brett. Best of luck. Best thing I find is to let your fingers do the walking, and spend a lot of time on research before you start putting in the permanent features. Researching appropriate plant species is a mission on its own. Seems like water storage and delivery would be high on your list judging by your tags.
Thanks Guys, I'm super excited about this project and feel that I'm in exactly the right place, here on this forum. I'm in the throws of organising photos, and a graphic of my "Plan"... can't wait to get some feedback on that. Water definitely is the number 1 thing I'm concerned with getting "right".. (and sourcing the right plants, coming up with some suitable guilds). We've lived here for 20+ yrs, so we've had a good chance to observe water movement and the seasons. Currently I'm mapping contour lines on the block plan. I've done the first one and have dug a 40 m swale along it.. about 1' deep X 2' wide. Stand by for some visuals.
Hmm.. ok, I guess I should change "Tropical" We're just below the Tropic of Capricorn on the east coast of Australia.. definitely dry, not humid, but quite hot most of the year.. high 20's/low 30's (with very mild and brief winters). In all honesty, I'm not sure what "Low Rainfall" is either. BOM rainfall data has us receiving between 450 mm and 1550 mm per year, averaging of about 850 mm. It doesn't feel like enough.. (although we do have town water)
Darren Doherty's stuff is fun to read. While it's aimed at larger farms, you will pick up some great tips: https://www.regrarians.org/category/off-the-contour/