Concussed kingfishers, Microbes and Djungbung Gardens

We had a very exciting day today.  This morning as we were preparing breakfast a Kingfisher smashed itself into the kitchen window.  It lay on the ground dazed and confused until Nadia carefully picked it up and took it to a post near the damn to gather its wits again.  It was in shock for quite a while and decided it was more comfortable on Nadias hand than  anywhere else.  Australian Kingfishers are quite different to the ones I ahve seen in NZ.  They are a deep and silky Indigo Blue with long black beaks and a brown/yellow breast.  I got some great shots of it so will post them here soon.  

This afternoon Paul Taylor (Mr Compost Tea) was a guest teacher on the PDC.  We had planned to go to Djungbung Gardens to visit Robyn Francis but put off the the trip to later in the day so I could attend Pauls' session.  I have decided that microbes definitely do it for me.  Between Fungi and Bacteria we have some powerful allies in our quest to build sustainable and healthy soil systems.  Even when we are working in completely degraded ecosystems, with microbes on our side we have the power to return these damaged ecosystems to their former glory.  

Paul is very inspiring and he and his wife Judy both love New Zealand so hopefully we can get them over more often to run some workshops.  I am very excited to come home and get a brewer going.  It brings a whole new tangent to guerilla gardening.  Instead of late night public plantings that usually don't last long before they are damaged or removed I can mix up a brew of compost tea and wander the streets late at night flinging the microbial soup far and wide to nourish and support soils everywhere.  The impacts of increased soil life are astounding and this is definitely the field I am interested in pursuing.  

Later in the day Sky and I went to visit Robyn who lives in Nimbin.  Despite popular opinion neither of us were offered any drugs and while it definitely had a hippie flavor to the township we didn't encounter even a whiff of anything illegal or untoward.  It was just after 5pm how ever and the only shop still open was the organic store which was small but comprehensive.  I am amazed that small, even tiny settlements here can sustain at least one organic shop and Whanganui with a population of over 40,000 can't even support one.  At least we have a good market which does give us easy access to organic and local produce.  

Anyway, back to Djungbung Gardens.  Robyn is a very inspiring teacher who works all over the world but mostly at Djungbung gardens, her little 5 acre piece of paradise.  It was great to see her again and to quickly wander around her place (it was just getting dark) seeing incredible and innovative projects all around.  The main building is passive solar designed and built of earthbrick.  It is very beautiful.  I'll post photos (as soon as I work out how to) when we go back later in the week - we forgot our camera today.

We met some of her many students and had a fine dinner of local pizza around the fire.  It was great to have a night off working and to relax with friendly and interesting people from around the world who are all gathered to study Permaculture.  Sky loved it but couldn't quite get the gobble down with the turkeys.  I however discovered that I am quite conversant with turkeys - take from that what you will!