November is Urban Agriculture Month and here at the Permaculture Education Institute we are celebrating the beautiful array of urban agriculture and the potential this brings to living a one-planet life, creating resilience and robustness, addressing social justice, growing new livelihood opportunities, nurturing nutritious urban gardens for community wellbeing, transitioning our cities, and sharing stories of what is possible.

The first of our urban agriculture series is this panel conversation with three Churchill Fellows focussing on Urban Agriculture in different ways - Dr Nick Rose, Gavin Hardy and Fiona Buining. We will host another masterclass at the end of November about community gardens and city farms, and each Wednesday during November, we will share a new podcast conversation as part of our special Urban Agriculture series. (check out the Institute site and the Urban Agriculture month events page for updates)

Come along and be inspired, motivated, uplifted and have a chance to join in and ask questions.

FREE SESSION - Registration for this session is totally free, but we warmly welcome you to donate if you can when you sign up. We send 100% to refugee youth-led community food and permaculture education programs.

Please share this invitation and look forward to seeing you there. We will send a recording if you cannot make the live session.

ABOUT THE MASTERCLASS SPEAKERS

Dr Nick Rose

Nick is a passionate advocate for food sovereignty and sustainable food systems in Australia, a 2013 Churchill Fellow investigating innovative models of urban and community agriculture in Argentina and USA, author, and founder & Executive Director of Sustain - the initiator and host organisation for Urban Agriculture month. Nick is the editor of Fair Food: Stories From a Movement Changing The World (2015) and the co-editor of Reclaiming The Urban Commons: The Past, Present and Future of Food Growing in Australian Towns And Cities (2018) which I contributed a chapter about citizen design in community food spaces. Nick is also a lecturer in food systems, food policy and governance and food movements for William Angliss Institute in their Bachelor of Food Studies and Master of Food Systems and Gastronomy.

Nick is dedicated to working with communities, institutions, enterprises and organisations around Australia to co-create a vision and a practice of fair food systems. These are systems that are democratically and collaboratively developed, and that prioritise human health and well-being, and eco-system integrity. These are systems in which the economy is consciously designed to serve people and the environment, not the other way round.

Gavin Hardy

Gavin will be joining us from Italy, still on his Churchill Fellowship journey exploring the potential of community food forests and orchards. For 25 years Gav has been creating, teaching and writing in the areas of permaculture, environmental design and ecological sustainability, particularly in subtropical Australia. He created Eco-flat Brisbane, a remarkable example of urban subtropical permaculture and his family’s home, and is a founder of - and regular contributor to - Northey Street City Farm. This is where Gav and I began working together, when the city farm was still largely an open paddock! Gav has planned, designed and built numerous sustainable landscapes in Brisbane and beyond. He is also the Queensland coordinator of Community Gardens Australia.

Fiona Buining

Fiona Louise Buining is passionate about growing plants, especially food plants, and is inspired to create pathways for future food growers in urban areas. She has grown vegetables wherever she has lived. Working with teenagers as a teacher she has seen first-hand the physical and mental health benefits of learning to grow food. As a grower she has observed an unmet demand for locally grown fresh food. Her question was: how do you become an urban grower in Australia? Fiona was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2020 to investigate urban farm ventures that provide vocational pathways for aspiring food growers. Fiona believes that growing good food is one of the most positive actions people can do for their own health and to heal the planet.

Fiona taught Permaculture Design Courses with David Holmgren for many years. She managed the Merici College Kitchen Garden from 2012-2019, a teaching garden that grows seasonal vegetables using organic growing methods to supply the school canteen and restaurant and she now runs Ainslie Urban Farm where she grows microgreens for local restaurants and cafes and seasonal vegetable seedlings. Fiona’s property has over 50 fruit trees, nuts, berries, vegetables, two beehives, chickens and working rabbits.

ABOUT THE HOST: MORAG GAMBLE

Morag Gamble, founder of Permaculture Education Institute & teacher of permaculture teachers, is a passionate advocate for urban permaculture and has been deeply involved in creating, supporting and networking projects and programs for 30 years on 5 continents. She is cofounder of Northey Street City Farm in Brisbane and the Australian Community Gardens Network. Her blog and youtube channel include loads of urban permaculture content and her podcast Sense-Making in a Changing World features many urban agriculture pioneers - in fact, this month the podcast is airing a special Urban Agriculture series with a new episode landing each Wednesday.

EVENT SPONSOR: PERMACULTURE EDUCATION INSTITUTE

Permaculture Education Institute, based at Crystal Waters Ecovillage on Gubbi Gubbi country, offers programs to support people around the world to become teachers of permaculture, to activate permaculture communities. The Institute hosts regular global conversations exploring one-planet living and earth restoration - through film, podcast, masterclasses and discussion forums. Permaculture Education Institute also hosts Hive - a global learning community for PDC graduates anywhere in the world.

NEW COURSE!! Starting 26 October - TEACH Permaculture - an 8-week permaculture teachers course

EVENT PARTNER: SUSTAIN AUSTRALIA

Sustain: The Australian Food Network is the initiator and host of Urban Agriculture Month - the theme for 2022 is Growing Edible Towns and Cities. With over 100 events planned across all the states and territories, including workshops, open gardens, talks, upskilling sessions and hands-on learning experiences, Sustain and it's partners are bringing people and their communities together to connect, share and learn. We're growing a sustainable edible food movement, and everyone's invited.

DONATIONS

This is a free event, but we warmly welcome your generous donation. 100% of all funds raised at this event will go towards the refugee youth permaculture programs we work closely with in East Africa - including permaculture, kitchen garden, school garden, ecoliteracy, ecological restoration programs led and designed by refugee youth.

A donation of $10 will support the planting of 3 fruit trees in a school garden.

A donation of $25 will pay for seeds and tools for one refugee family to start their permaculture kitchen garden at home.

A donation of $150 will pay for a young person to receive a full locally-adapted permaculture design certificate training in their camp led by local trainers.

We'd love you to become a regular supporter too - read more over at https://ethosfoundation.org.au

PLEASE NOTE: We have had questions about how to properly register - please make sure to put a number in the ticket box regardless of whether you choose to donate.

Contact the host of MASTERCLASS 46: URBAN AGRICULTURE PANEL - an Urban Agriculture Month event hosted by Morag Gamble