Planning a PermaBlitz
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in a community garden
COLLABORATING TO CREATE PRODUCTIVE COMMUNITY GARDENS Permablitz is an invention of the permaculture design system. It is as applicable in the community garden as it is in the home garden. Permablitz is a way for community gardens needing assistance in construction, garden bed preparation or maintenance by crowdsourcing it from outside the community garden membership. To conduct a permablitz, organisers: ■ find a community garden that needs work to build or remake it or a part of it ■ organise with the community garden team a date for the permablitz ■ determines who will supply the needed materials and how ■ negotiate exactly what is to be done ■ manage work during the permablitz. Alternatively, a community garden team may take the initiative to organise a permablitz to accelerate development of their garden.
mutual assistance, community garden teams can assist new community gardens to make a start, or community-based permaculture groups can offer their assistance to community gardens. Permablitz is a means of speeding-up and scaling-up the development of community gardens with a group of people, most unassociated with the community garden, doing a lot of work in a single day. This is work that would take the community garden team longer if they did it all themselves. For permaculture practitioners, permablitz is a means of helping community gardeners implements the third ethic of permaculture—the sharing of resources—in this case, resources in the form of knowledge, skills and human energy. It is also a means of implementing the permaculture
principles of returning food produciton to the cities and of cooperation rather than competition. More than this, permablitz is a convivial and fun way to spend the day in the company of others while creating something worthwhile. Another benefit is that permablitzing community gardens extands the networks of citizens engaged in creative community development to create humane and resilient cities. To be effective, permablitz requires thoughtful organisation. The diagram over the page provides ideas on the needs for organising a permablitz in a comunity garden. In planning, what matters most are the needs of the community gardeners. Permablitzers help them achieve those needs.
To succeed with a permablitz, participation in and connections to relevant networks are essential as it is through permaculture, community gardening and associated networks that news of the permablitz spreads. A means to doing this is to join the Community Gardens Australia state based Facebook discussion groups.
An established practice Permablitz is now an established practice in Australia. As a means of
Photos: Alexandria Community Garden permablitz organised by Milkwood Permaculture. Images by Russ Grayson.
IDEAS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING IN THE CITY… publication produced by Community Gardens Australia
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Community Gardens Australia PRODUCED by… Community Gardens Australia DESIGN, TEXT & PHOTOS by… Russ Grayson
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