First stop was the St Clair Sustainable House with a tour by the friendly owners, Nevin and Linda. It was amazing to see just how much this couple has managed to do in their standard 1970's brick veneer home. Nevin has focussed on do-it-yourself improvements and has spent a lot of time and effort building and refining various bits and pieces.
The group seemed particularly impressed with his organic vegie patch and moving chook tractor, which was designed so that it would fit directly on top of one of the garden beds. This means he can move the tractor around the yard and over the various garden beds to allow the chooks to do their thing - fertilising the soil and giving it a thorough working over!
Nevin and Linda also have a greenhouse where they can raise the seed that they have collected from their gardens. Further proof of their ingenuity is the use of old cardboard rolls as seed raising pots. Once the seedlings are big enough these can be planted straight into the ground as the cardboard will break up over time! An excellent way to reuse waste products and compost them at the same time!
Sadly we had to keep moving along to visit the next sustainble house - this time at Rooty Hill. When we arrived there was already a large number of people gathered round and listening to the owner, Rob, talk about his solar panels - so we joined the group. It's amazing to think that most of the time Rob can generate enough electricity from his solar panels to power his own home, and now that the Federal Government has increased the rebates for installing these panels this technology is becoming more affordable. 
Rob showed us around his yard and home and pointed out the various items that he has had installed to 'green' up his home - he has the solar panels, a passive heating device called a Sun Lizard, rainwater tanks, solar hot water and more! 
It was then time to continue on our journey and so we headed out to Richmond for a picnic lunch in the grounds of the Hawkesbury EarthCare Centre. We were all desperate for a sandwich and a drink by this stage - although some of the group seemed more desperate for a caffeine hit than others!After our leisurely lunch we were lucky enough to have a guided tour of the EarthCare centre with commentary provided by one of our own bus tour participants! Andrew led us around the building, showing off the range of passive solar design principles (north facing, eaves, breezeways, thermal mass) and low energy building materials (strawbale, rammed earth and mudbrick) that were used to construct the building. The building also has a greywater reuse system and composting toilets to ensure that no resource is left untapped!
Once our tour of the building was complete we headed off to the permaculture garden, which is looked after by the Henry Doubleday Research Association. The garden has been designed using traditional permaculture principles, and provides a range of aspects within the garden so that a suitable spot for any plant can be found. It looked great and was a lot of fun to wander around! You can visit the EarthCare Centre yourself on any of its open days throughout the year - they have an EarthCare Fair coming up on Saturday 22 September. 
Next up we were back on the bus again - trusting our friendly bus driver Peter to take us home after a fun and interesting day. 
No comments:
Post a Comment