The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia

How on earth did I get here?

Strong childhood influences in the 70s from ecologists Harry Butler and David Attenborough, developed an early love of birds, lizards, snakes and fungi. Family members instilled a great joy for fruit trees, gardening, veggies and poultry.

The 80s saw me as a teenager with an obsession for trees, animals, erosion and passive solar design. Problems with Dyslexia (spelling and maths) saw me encouraged to pursue an interest in fine art, making me both a frustrated environmentalist and an equally frustrated artist.

In the 90s I became a new mother with a great appreciation for breastfeeding (real baby food) and with my entire ¼ acre back yard devoted to veggies, I began seed saving heritage vegetable varieties. I concentrated on ‘mothering and homemaking’, concepts which are sadly neglected in our first world lives.

The early 2000s saw me begin to question every facet of the dysfunctional consumer driven society I lived in and I started looking for answers. I also tried to develop a deeper understanding of what was really going on around me, looking for root causes.

In 2007 I read Peter Andrews’s book ‘Back from the Brink’ about Natural sequence farming and it began to transform my thinking, looking at solutions and realizing there were some great answers out there. Searching the web for natural sequence farming and organics continually led me to Permaculture sites. This in turn brought me to the stark reality of Peak oil and lots of “oh my god" moments.

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In December 2009 I purchased 34 acres of land north of Beaufort in western Central Victoria, Australia, with the express plan to create a Permaculture demonstration site, education facility and low impact family home.

The property has a large dam and wetland complex which I share with my neighbor, collapsed soil on former pasture, disused gold mine shafts and alluvial quartz, 30y.o native re-growth, 10y.o native plantation.
In time I intend to run free range dairy cattle, pigs and poultry along the same lines as Joel Salatin, have a U-Pick berry garden, CSA, Food forest, and expand the Aquaculture potential my site has to offer.
The climate is Cool Temperate, wet winter and spring, occasional frost, rare snowfall, hot dry summers.
I have counted over 30 species of birds. There are kangaroo, wallaby, 2 varieties of snake, vast numbers of frogs, silver perch, and yabbies.
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I work part time as a Permaculture consultant and I am involved in several community gardens where I run workshops and courses.

I have spoken at community information sessions for the Warrnambool City Council regarding composting, waste management and Permaculture Ethics. As well as interviews on community radio about Permaculture.

I have done some Transition Towns training and I am keen to help develop a Transition Towns groups for Beaufort and Ararat, and hopefully help to apply what I learn across the Western Victoria Bio region.
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Best Permaculture wishes- Carolyn Payne-Gemmell

Email: mudlarkpermaculture@gmail.com