Collecting water from the air

With temperatures rising, attention was concentrated on collecting water from the air, as well as harvesting rain whenever it occurs.

"Is there some special property of warm air that lets it soak up more water vapour? Not really. It’s just that, at higher temperatures, water molecules are more likely to go into the vapour phase, so there will be more water vapour in the air."

Collecting dew at every opportunity became normal activity -get water from the air and store it below the evaporation level in the soil

Power Plastics in 2011

The Forest of the Bellinger River 1912

E H F Swain was the District Forester at the Department of Forestry 1912.

He wrote an extensive report on the state of the forests under his stewardship

Page 16 of that report is reproduced below. It is a photocopy, something of historical interest in the advanced digital age of 2030.

Young people are falling out of love with cars

Community Groups

Community Groups

Discussions/Networks

Bellingen Business Divas Network http://www.dynamicbusinessdivas.com/

Intimacy Circle - Relationships and Intimacy Discussion Group - Every Thursday - Alternating Coffs and Bello - 7:00pm - 9:30pm. 

More details here: http://www.lovecoaching.com/intimacy-circle-coffs-harbour/

BLESS is a local exchange trading system (LETS)   www.community-exchange.org

Mondays  at 11.30am  2bbb - "Passionfruit and Chilli is the food program from 2bbb that highlights local, growers and producers that supports the land, the environment and the product.The tag line is "everything food - with a local twist". There is a high Bellingen content to the program as well as featuring food heroes from other areas.  It is also available as a webcast and a podcast."

The website is: passionfruitandchilli.blogspot.com

Breast Cancer Support Group click on support

Lyme Disease Support group click on  lyme disease

Environment   

Bellingen Environment Centre http://bellingenenvironmentcentre.org.au/

Bellingen Environment Centre Green Groups http://bellingenenvironmentcentre.org.au/enviro-groups/

Food

Bello Food Box - http://www.bellofoodbox.org.au/

Bellingen Seed Savers   http://bellingenseedsaversunderground.blogspot.com/ 

Coffs Coast Local Food Alliance  http://coffscoastlocalfood.ning.com/

Food Sovereignty Alliance - receive a lot of information by subscribing to http://mail.foodsovereigntyalliance.org/mailman/listinfo/chat_foodsovereigntyalliance.org

Health

Bellingen Community Acupuncture & Shiatsu  alternative health at a price people can realistically afford?  Did you know its been happening in Bellingen for over two years now.

click on http://acubello.blogspot.com.au/  to see how they can help with your ailments.     

People can enjoy the benefits of a comprehensive Acupuncture or Shiatsu treatment from as little as $25.

It happens every Wednesday in Bellingen at the CWA Hall opposite Kombu (in Church Street) from 9am to 3pm.

Community Gardens

North Bank Road Community Garden - www.northbankgarden.org.au                                

Bellingen Community Gardens Association Face Book - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bellingen-Community-Gardens-AssociationBellingen-High-School-Garden/128326590578311?ref=ts

Youth

Bellingen EYE is a group of inspired youth from the Bellingen Shire    http://www.bellingeneye.com/

Come and adopt your Community Garden on the South Side

COME AND ADOPT YOUR COMMUNITY GARDEN ON THE SOUTH SIDE

You may know about the Northbank Community Garden but not about the Community Garden at the Crown Street entrance to the High School. Or you may have heard about it and think it belongs to the School.  Well it does … in the daytime during the week … but it also belongs to us in the Community during the evenings and at weekends. We share it.

Some funding was obtained from the Environmental Trust and we engaged Charlie Brennan to project manage the construction of the garden on land the school was happy to allocate to it. Charlie has done a wonderful job, as we knew he would, and the garden is now looking quite established.

There are raised beds, strip beds, and a central circular area with paths through it. There is a shed equipped with a range of necessary tools and supplies. There is a pizza oven and a picnic table and a hydroponics shed alongside the garden. The vegetables planted are of course seasonal – a broad range of them – with plenty of herbs and also perennial vegetables, including some less known ones like cassava, amaranth, perennial squash thai eggplant and many varieties of sweet potatoes.

We have a small committee, open to anyone keen to join us.  At least one of us aims to be at the garden every Wednesday evening from 5 – 7pm to introduce anyone new to it, open the shed, do some maintenance work etc. But you’re welcome any evening or weekend to come and sticky-beak and get some produce to take home. In exchange, we just ask that you help out whenever you can with the work it takes to maintain the garden (about 10 hours a week in total). From time to time – like now, after heavy rain, or when new seasonal planting is due – we set up working bees to clear beds, make new ones, plant anew… 

We’ve set the next Working Bee date for Sunday March 17^th from 3pm.

We’ll have some food and drink and we’d love you to join us there to enjoy some digging and open air … hoping of course that it won’t rain. If it does, we’ll notify you of a new date as soon as possible afterwards. Just look for us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bellingen-Community-and-High-School-Garden/128326590578311                               

Or if you have any questions, phone 0401225654. We look forward to you joining us!

Koala Population report launch

Media Release
“Dave Scotts Report to Conserve Koala Populations of Upper Mid North Coast NSW”
For Interview: Dave Scotts:       0266 562938
                             Ashley Love:      0428699339
Inquiries:     0409996423
Presentation:  Cavanbah Centre Main Room: 11.30am Saturday 16^th March 2013    
           
On Saturday the 16^th March at the Cavanbah Centre Coffs Harbour at 11.30am the North Coast Environment Council is hosting a gathering where  the Mayor of  Bellingen,  Mark Troy and  Mayor of Coffs Harbour Denise Knight,  will receive a presentation of “Dave Scott’s Report to Conserve Koala Populations of Upper Mid North Coast NSW 2012”
This is an exciting regional project where coastal communities and Environmental groups have made a long term commitment to keep on working  with local ecologists and local Councils, sharing information  to build up a bank of knowledge about  iconic creatures our Koalas and their habitat.
The report authored by Dave Scotts, respected Fauna Ecologist,  came about in response to growing  community, government and academic concern about the long term  conservation of the Koala at all scales of consideration.   Further documented evidence came to light last year about the decline in health and welfare of Koalas (Australian Museum Study Dec 2012)There was growing anecdotal evidence from local people reporting injury and illness and from WIRES who reported that a small percentage of injured or ill Koalas were ever returned to the wild.
There are three large colonies on the Mid North East Coast and the report includes information about Koalas across our region, in the Clarence to the North and Nambucca Heads to the South. Developing coastal communities are seeing numbers of displaced, injured and ill Koalas on the fringes of their towns.   Koalas are also being displaced by large tracts of industrial logging as their numbers continue to decrease. 
The report recognises that  Koalas to do not recognise Shire boundaries or Park and Plantation boundaries, and that there was an urgent need for more detailed information aboutpopulation and welfare.  The report was funded and coordinated by the following coalition of community based, environmental organisations:  Bellingen Environment Centre, Clarence Environment Centre,  Nambucca Valley Conservation Council, the North Coast Environment Council and the National Parks Association of Coffs Harbour and Bellingen.
The Coffs Harbour and the Bellingen Shire have large sections of State and National Forested lands.  In Section 2 of the report, “The Koala: Aspects of ecology relevant to this project”reported that, “The extent to which public lands  support and foster ongoing Koala populations remains to be investigated and quantified”.
Koala Conservation is part of both the Bellingen and Coffs Harbour Council Strategic Planning.
We thank Dave Scott, for his work in the production of this report.  Appreciation expressed for the valuable input from all of the groups mentioned and sincere thanks to qualified,fauna ecologists from both of our Shires who have contributed so generously to the production of this study about Koala Population and welfare. 
Acknowledgement also for the major contribution made to this work by Bellingen Council, Coffs Harbour Council, OEH and the NPWS for their contribution and support.  Thanks to the response from local communities across the region for their strong support for the protection of the Koala.

Bellingen High School Community Garden - supervisors

Dear Gardeners - we need to establish a roster of supervisors for our new Gardening Time at the High School Garden which will be from 5-7pm Wednesdays during summer. Gardening tasks are listed below-it is up to each supervisor what they feel comfortable doing. We will advertise the new time on FB, the Transition newsletter and in a newspaper article so hopefully will get a few helpers each week.

Here are the dates we need supervisors for-please let me know if you can fill a monthly spot. If you would rather just turn up as a helper when available, please do! If you would like to supervise and need shed keys for access to tools etc please let me know and i will copy them for you. Any supplies needed, contact Sid Hazell-hazells1@bigpond.com

Wednesday February 6th - Annabella

       "                           13th - Solveig

       "                           20th - Annabella

       "                           27th -

        "              March   6th - 

        "                           13th - Annabella

        "                           20th - 

        "                           27th - 

 What needs to be done over the next few months

• Frequent mowing
• Frequent whipper snipping
• Frequent hosing of concrete paths
• Nut grass weeding
• Picking veggies to keep them coming up
• Raised beds – need increased organic matter in them before replanting (they tend to get dry and under-nourished)
• Someone to support Sinclair with the hydroponics (contact Sinclair via FB to see what times he will be there)

NB **We need to do about 10 hours work a week in order to keep our garden maintained**

PS Our next BCGA committee meeting will be 23rd Feb @ 5pm.

Bellobamboo events February/March 2013

Bellobamboo

Wholistic Business Network

Bello FoodBox News

Bello FoodBox News

The following is a photograph and the links will not work

If you would like to receive this newsletter directly click on www.bellofoodbox.org.au and subscribe

Organic Farming TAFE Course 2013

"Buddha Touched the Earth" 7 to 10 Feb 2013

"Buddha touched the Earth"

Lyme Links Christmas Lunch Thursday 13 December 2012

Lyme Links Christmas Lunch Thursday 13 December


The following is a photograph of page 1 of the Lyme Links newsletter.

As it is a photograph, the links will not work. Pages 2 and 3 are links to other relevant web sites.

Our system cannot handle the size of pdf file. Please contact <lymelinks@bigpond.com> and ask them  to send you the complete newsletter.

Youth Community Forum invitation 29 November 2012

Invitation

Northbank community garden local food celebration event 24 November 2012

celebration event

Playback Theatre "Transformation" 18 November 2012

Transformation

Lost in Transformation: A Performance by Bellingen Playback Theatre

Let’s talk about change! At times the old does not do it for us any more: we open to new possibilities, without really knowing what the outcome will be. We shave our heads  (or turn blonde), we move houses or across continents, we leave our partner, enroll in a course or change careers. Other times change happens to us: the kids move out, or we find ourselves pregnant; a loved one leaves us, or finally (finally!) we meet the love of our life; we have a stroke, or a stroke of luck.

Let’s talk about being lost and finding ourselves again. What did you use as your compass when you were high at sea, the sky was overcast and no known land was in sight?

The end of 2012 is here and our collective dreaming takes us many places. Are we peeking over the Edge of Chaos, a dangerous, unstable place, full of creative potential.

 ‘Will the world end?’ some fear. ‘The Mayans did not just run out of paper! Will it be a polar reversal, a solar flare or the impact with planet Nibiru?’. Or are we accelerating towards the brink of an evolutionary leap – a time in which we will create a new, paradigm, a more harmonious and life sustaining one?

Wherever you are at and whoever you are, you are warmly invited to come along to Bellingen Playback Theatre’s next performance and listen to our community’s stories of transformation.

Playback Theatre is a theatre of storytelling. A dynamic form of spontaneous theatre where the unexpected often happens!  At a Playback performance there is no script. Audience members tell experiences, dilemmas or events from their lives to the Playback Conductor. Actors and a musician then shape and recreate these stories, bringing them to life using the power and playfulness of improvised theatre.

Bellingen Playback Theatre is a dynamic and highly respected theatre company made up of very juicy local artists. Since its beginnings in 1989, the Bellingen Playback Theatre Company has undergone numerous transformations, hence claiming expertise on the subject of this particular performance.

When: Sunday the 18^th of November, door opens at 7. Entry $18

Where: Memorial Hall

Tea & cake available for purchase

The Rainbow Fig Tree Learning Centre need a home

The Rainbow Fig Tree Learning Community  

Can you help?

We are looking for a space to use three days per week (Wed-Fri) during school terms in 2013. 

The program is influenced by Reggio Emilia, Steiner, Ecological, democratic classroom and compassionate communication theories.  

This is for a small group of K -2 (5 -7 age group) 

 

There will be 10-15 children and 2-5 adults working together.

We are hoping to find a cabin, workshop, barn, studio or similar with toilet access somewhere near Bellingen. 

We are very happy to work to clean, fix and beautify an unused space and to take out appropriate insurance. 

We can offer a little bit of money and a whole lot of love, work and appreciation.

Bronya and John: 0439 311 884

rainbowfigtree@yahoo.com.au

Information provided by  Sonya Kumar