Blancards – Sustainable Living – Human Development

Welcome. Our vision is one of a truly sustainable world, both at a human level and at an environmental level. Through diversity of renewable technologies, low carbon footprint living and human development we have a positive outlook for society and mankind’s future. For many years we have offered our Residential Internship Program which combines artistic, therapeutic and holistic workshops and seminars for personal development in our wonderful old farmhouse in southern Ardèche, France and our newest center in Adelaide Australia. Our courses include diverse subjects ranging from Meditation, BioSynergy, relaxation therapy, Gestalt therapy, sustainable living, solar power implementation, bio farming, wind power generation to ‘inner growth’ workshops like improvising on cello and piano, pottery, sculpture, storytelling, voice, inner journey.

We are particularly thrilled with our new sustainable living center in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. The land we have chosen for our self sustainability centre and  community was very carefully chosen and the final decision was based on water close to the surface, elevated land at a reasonably good price, organically enhanced and fertile soil, solar power and wind power or possibly both potential and in a location that is in sympathy for our human development programs.

We run monthly workshops from this stunning solar powered, eco-friendly facility and weekly meditation, sculpture, bio-diversity and solar panel and wind energy implementation classes weekly. Our world renowned international centre in southern Ardèche, France has offered residential courses for over 12 years and continues to flourish. We have a lovely symmetry between our French and Australian centres and many of our clients have visited both centres!

Blancards Sustainable Living Center - Adelaide Australia

As of April 2012 our Blancards Consciousness Center in South French Ardèche, now provides 24 residential courses and workshops per year aiming at personal growth and sustainable living. Our course welcomes individuals and groups with up to 16 participants. Our Adelaide Hills, South Australian Center currently offers 44 courses and this number is likely to grow through 2013. We are thrilled at the ongoing support from our wonderful clients and look forward to seeing you again soon.

Blancards sustainable living centre - France
Blancards Sustainable Living - France

Our Adelaide ”Green Living Workshop” proposed for June 2012 has 40 people signed up already – thank you for this wonderful support- the course outline is around creating an energy efficient home design for truly sustainable living.All aspects of sustainability are covered from bio farming to technical issues including solar space heating panels, a “geo-thermal” heat pump discussion and tank-less water heating systems. Above all, we focus on affordable renewable energy systems, solar and wind and how to create an energy efficient home and how to choose the right appliances. Since the renewable energy workshops are always popular we suggest contact us as soon as possible if you are interested in volunteering or participating in this amazing time!
We explore features of energy efficient appliances and everything related to sustainable living and renewable energy for your home.

We will be posting details of our Ardèche and Adelaide upcoming workshops and courses over the next few weeks and months. All courses are by donation only and we maintain a strong ‘not for profit’ ethic, whilst understanding costs need to be covered to enable us to complete our work. We have been touched by the very kind support of our participants over the last 12 years from our humble beginnings in our rambling French farm house.

How We Found Our Wonderful Blancards Adelaide Hill Centre.

We purchased our Adelaide property from a lovely man, John Foster. John had been looking for a retreat or farm in Adelaide for many years and unfortunately certain areas of South Australia were under the threat from hydraulic fracturing which threatened the water table and integrity and quality of water in many areas John looked. He had hoped
to build an approximately 15 acre retreat and orchard as his partner Anne was a certified apple grower . John had a lot of green skills  such as solar panel system design, grey-water systems, natural spring protection, composting and permaculture. He was also a great builder and had extensive timber framing experience. John, looking to retire, contacted us when he heard of our search for a new location for our Australian centre. It was a match made in heaven! John is a regular contributor to our workshops and is still closely connected to the land on which our centre is built.

Sustainable Living is Happy Living!

We are constantly noticing that visitors to our centres are amazed at what we
have done with such little financial investment to create a paradise of a community with organic, nurturing food and eco friendly shelter and awe inspiring natural beauty. Without exception they are immediately inspired and always want to get hands dirty to have the same kind of lifestyle that we have enjoyed for so many years. They will never be heard
grumbling or complaining about how society controls their life when they feel active love for the land and often want to stay on indefinitely! The lifestyle and teachings offered at Blancards they say, often saved their health and they commit to a sustainable lifestyle and natural living and focus less on accumulating money and material wealth and many say they wish that they would have learned about natural living earlier on in life. Very inspiring!

 

Sustainable Living - Renewable Energy - Permaculture
Blancards - Sustainable Living

 

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Solar Power and Wind Energy Seminar – June 11 2013

Given the success of our previous solar energy workshops, we have now just about finalised details of a work of our Solar Power and Wind Power workshop (Course code SWW01) tentatively pencilled in for 11 June 2013.

Background and Course details:

It has been widely reported that Australia now has over 1,000,000 homes with roof-top solar panels installed as of 1 January 2013. This, in our opinion, is proof that Australian’s have and continue to embrace alternatives to fossil fuel based energy production alternatives. The likes of John Grainger (regular presenter at Blancards) and Phil Sylvester (Blancards presenter, Lecturer at Brisbane University School Of Physics and Solar Power Installation Designer in Brisbane) have been advocating solar power as a ‘clean’ and sustainable form of electricity production for many years and their seminars have continued to be widely praised and endorsed within the Australian renewable energy arena.

The Solar Power and Wind Energy Seminar will aim to explain how roof top solar power and domestic wind energy solutions can be used separately or combined to reduce your carbon footprint resulting from your domestic electricity usage usage. The course aims to Blancards solar power and wind power course June 2013 be very practical and Phil and John will give you their step by step guide to integrating solar panels into your home and discuss how Government incentives for solar and wind power can lessen the cost of implementing these measures. Wind power is less well known in Australia as an adjunct to solar power, but, depending on your location can replace up to 60 percent of grid sourced electricity. It is an excellent ‘partner’ with solar panels as wind power can operate during non daylight hours unlike solar.

Booking Information:

The couse will book out fast!! It is offered at no cost and we will serve refreshments after the talk. The course will run from 9-30am until around 5-30pm on 11 June 2013.

Please contact Elizabeth Rowley (currently doing voluntary work (much appreciated!)) at Blancards, on 0456773484. Please quote course identifier number SWW01.

Further Background Information At:

Phil Sylvesters’ Solar Power Brisbane website: http://brisbanesolarinformation.com.au/

Clean Energy Council Wind Power website: http://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/technologies/wind.html

Federal Government The Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) Incentives website: http://ret.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/About-the-Schemes/Small-scale-Renewable-Energy-Scheme–SRES-/about-sres

 

 

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Blancards 2013 Course Schedule – Amendment to Environment and Personal Values Course

26 March 2012

By now everyone should have received their Blancards 2013 Course Schedule via email. If you have not be sure to check your spam folder as some people found the email there! We are very thanksful for the overwhelming support once again and the calls and emails of encoragement – thank you!

Amendment to Environment and Personal Values Course

The above course was scheduled for April 27 2013, however Marg Cartland the course facilitator has advised that the course now needs to be moved to April 29. We have emailed course participants already enrolled, however there are still spots available on the program. If you can make April 29 you will find Marg’s course very stimulating and it certainly relects Blancard’s core values of sustainable development in harmony with our own internal values.

Contact on 0466554332 for further details

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March 16 – Adelaide Solar Power and Renewable Energy Living Seminar

7 February 2012

Our resident solar power expert John Grainger will give another interesting talk about latest developments in residential solar power and the uses of premium efficiency solar technology to totally eliminate your dependency from grid connected electricity supply. John has long been an advocate of solar power in Adelaide and is a well respected figure in the renewable energy field and has made many invaluable contributions to education at the Blancards Adelaide Hills centre. Seminar details;

March 16 2013

11am – Welcome and Discussion Outline

11.15am – Latest residential solar power developments in Adelaide, including latest Adelaide Solar Power seminar March 16 2013generation photo-voltaic panels, solar inverters and how to maximise solar electric outyput.

13.00 – Break for lunch

14.00pm – Case Study – How John eliminated a 50KW Hour per day electricity bill of family residence in Norwood, Adelaide S.A. by using the latest solar technology, in particular, high efficiency solar p.v. panels. A video of John’s intial solar panel design concept for the home, through to component selection and solar installation onto the homes roof and finally its connection to the grid. John interviews the homes’ owners (Reynolds family) to see how their electricity bill has been replaced by a quarterly credit, due to electricity being ‘fed back’ to the South Australian electricity grid.

16.00pm – Question and Answer Session. John will happily answer all your questions around solar panel installation and the implications of recent Federal and State Government changes in feed tariff and rebates.

17.00 pm – Tea/Coffee Light refreshments

Note – there is no charge for the seminar

Please contact Catherine on (08)56774332 for further details and bookings

About John:

John Grainger (MSc.) has over 30 years experience in solar power, renewable energy and sustainable living in and around Adelaide, South Australia. He is a regular contributor at the Blancards Centre for Sustainability and is one of the most well respected people in Australia on any issue regarding renewable energy.

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April 2013 – Sustainability Workshop with Jane Goodhall (former UNRISD advisor)

8 January 2013

We are thrilled to announce that Jane Goodhall will host a one day workshop / discussion group on the Green Economy and Sustainable Development on 6 April 2012 11am -4pm. Jane has over 20 years experience and knowledge in the area of sustainability, is an Oxford University Honours graduate in Environmental Science and has consulted for more than 10 years with U.N.R.I.S.D. (http://www.unrisd.org/greeneconomy).

 

Call Jane Grainger on 0466554332 to register your place at this exciting event. There is no charge and light refreshments will be served after Ms. Goodhalls’ presentation.

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Blancards 2013 Course Schedule

2013 Blancards Schedule!

What a year its been! We have had a tremendous response to every single program we have run in 2012 and look forward to another exciting year in 2013. Jane Grainger is putting a tentative schedule together over the Christmas / New Year period and you are welcome to email ideas and submissions for consideration, however we need to finalise the schedule by 1 February 2013 so please contact Jane prior to that date. Per 2012 our focus again will be around:

  • Sustainable Living
  • Solar Power Implementation
  • Eco-Farming
  • Organic farming practices

and the ‘Human Sustainable’ Programs will centre on:

  • Meditation Practice
  • Yoga and Pilates
  • Vegan Living
  • Living by Your Personal Values

Jane can be contacted on 0466554332 if required, though email contact is preferred during this hectic time of year.

Thank You

We have been so grateful for your ongoing support. We wish all our course participants and supporters a very happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year

 

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Blancards A.G.M. and Course Schedule 2012

The annual Blancards A.G.M. will be held on 26 November 2012 at the Blancards Centre, Adelaide Hills S.A. commencing 11am and concluding 4pm.

Phil Graeme will present his ‘Blancards 2012 – Year in Review” Presentation, outlining the fantastic year we have had. Highlights include our expanded programs in Renewable Energy, Solar Power Implementaion in Adelaide, Organic and Sustainable Gardening, Solar-Roof design and construction and our personal development programs ranging from Meditation, healing through nutrition and body work.

An outline for the 2013 Course Program will be presented. Please note – this event always books out fast so please call Phil on 0466775883 to reserve your seat. As always we welcome your input. Light refreshments and a tour of the Blancards Centre will follow Phil’s presentation.

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John Grainger Adelaide Solar Power Talk – October 16 2012

John Grainger will be discussing the changing Adelaide solar feed in tariff implications Adelaide on October 16th at the Adelaide Hills Centre. Call Cath on 0656774332 to reserve your spot; Johns talk outline follows below:

The S.A. Government has reviewed the solar feed in tariff ( see http://www.sa.gov.au/subject/Water,%20energy%20and%20environment/Energy/Energy%20rebates,%20concessions%20and%20incentives/Solar%20electricity%20rebates%20and%20incentives/Solar%20feed-in%20scheme for more details). Basically the South Australian Government introduced the net feed-in-tariff in 2007 to boost update of rooftop solar in Adelaide as part of the ‘greening’ of S.A.. This feed-in-tariff was set up to ensure that homeowners of solar panel systems in S.A were to receive a credit at and ‘fair and reasonable” rate. This was to be applied to the energy bill so that when the solar panels fed back any excess electricity from their solar power system back to the S.A. grid they would receive payment at the appropriate F.I.T. rate The excess solar energy produced by the inverter is sent into  the grid when the amount of solar electricity produced in the PV panels was greater than household usage – ie a ‘solar surplus’. With the announcement that the feed in scheme was capped and due to be cut in 2014 it raises the question of whether roof top solar is now relevant in S.A.?

My talk will go through the financials of solar panel installation in S.A. and look at the so called ‘pay back’ periods applicable under a low feed tariff scheme or no feed in tariff. I have setup my website at http://solarenergyinformation.com.au/ to update the Adelaide solar power situation and offer some insights into the issues around viability, installation,incentives and issues to watch out for when installing solar. I look forward to welcoming you on the 16th October 2012 and that we have a r.bust discussion on solar power . We will serve light refreshments after the talk. Please contact Blancards for further details.

Adelaide Solar Power Discussion 16 October 2012

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Rheostats and Solaroof

John Grainger, our solar guru, as we like to call him has forwarded his course outline for his follow up Solaroof Program, scheduled for 15.10.2012. Please contact John, directly on 0466986775 for bookings and further information. Background and Course Details: Thanks for everyones interest and participation in the first SolaRoof courseand i am looking forward to the follow up in October. I have posted a source for the rheostats, that so many of you have asked about, below. About Solarroof – Solaroof is not about collecting “hot water” our liquid thermal mass system is large and typically cool and has no danger of scalding. With Liquid Bubble Insulation we do not need to collect energy at hot temperature. No “plate” collectors are required and yet the SolaRoof itself captures substantially all of the available, surplus thermal gain (that would tend to overheat and call for ventilation). In fact the SolaRoof method, which is non-ventilated, uses water flowing in a thin film which is at the due point temperature to remove heat through condensation of the plant transpired moisture on the inner side of the inner glazing because it is cooled with the flow of the “cooling liquid”. This is a collector that is transparent to the PAR radiation and therefore we can both grow at maximum light and still capture and store the thermal energy gain. I understand that nearly all members here have not actually tried the SolaRoof liquid cooled inner glazing method and that many of you are much more experienced with the old “hot plate collectors” and such but these methods are not necessary with the efficiency of our thermal energy capture. And with the super insulation value of the Liquid Bubble Insulation and its dynamic capacity to utilize low-grade (low temperature, i.e. 50F to 70F) thermal energy from storage at low temperature by filling the bubble cavity space. SolaRoof offers a simple low tech solution that can maintain an excellent temperature in the SolaRoof structure/greenhouse for best plant growth in any season. I anticipate more members of this forum will be trying and testing for themselves the new, dynamic solar processes that we are discussing at this forum – perhaps you will consider building a “POD” project similar to the one currently under construction at Blancards. My SolaRoof forum and Blancards will be posting much information, plans, drawings, photos and video – so that, in the Open Source environment, we share these experiences with the community of SolaRoof project builders. On October 15th we will host a second all day workshop and an internet conference for groups at international sites who are planning POD projects. This initiative is still in an early startup stage and people who would like to attend by coming to Adelaide or who would like to join the webinar can get in touch with myself or Lynne at Blancards (1800667554).

Rheostats – Australian Resistors- Course 1 Addendum

Several attendees from the first solaroof forum asked about a source for the rheostats used to control power in the solaroof project. Australian Resistors manufacture 25 watt to 100 watt rheostats and variable resistors and have done so for many years. We have used them successfully and found them to be robust and well made. The Australian resistors rheostats are made on a ceramic former, have a toroidally wound element and have a copper graphite bush that means long wear and reliability. The APR100 model is rated at 100 watts and has an overall diameter of around 55mm and height of 80mm. The smaller 25 watt version of the rheostat has a diameter of  40mm and a height of around 60mm. You can contact the manufacturer of the rheostats via their website at http://www.australianresistors.com.au/Product/H/h.html . We updated the link so you can go directly to the rheostats page – 26 September 2012. Call John if any questions.

rheostats

 

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State Government Solar Feed In Tariff – Solar Power Brisbane and Safe Climate Debate

Brisbane Solar Industry Shake-Up

(Update 20 September 2012 – Call John on 0456778554 for details of his solar insights talk scheduled for 22 October 2012). In the solar industry you often see the term ‘safe climate’ used to try and cover many environmental and ‘green’ or green energy and renewable energy topics and the term has become incorrectly used we suspect. The solar industry in Brisbane employs over 12,000 people and the reduction in the 44 cent feed in tariff means that many of these ‘green’ jobs will now be lost. The renewable energy outlook in Brisbane, Queensland is looking dubious now and a we need a discussion around the Newman Governments solar panels strategy, in particular with electricity prices set to rise 8 percent in 2012 and 12 percent in 2013. The term “safe climate” has been used in Australia and other parts of the world since 2006.  But about a year ago we asked members of our groups and at a talks that we were giving, what their definition of safe climate was.  In the short amount of time available, nobody offered a definition!

Would you be able to do a little research project for us?

Could you ask one or more people in the climate movement (individually) the following questions?  (It’s best if respondents don’t hear other people’s answers to the questions if they haven’t answered the questions yet.)

  • Have you ever come across a person or a group using the expression “safe climate”?
  • Have you ever used the expression “safe climate” yourself?
  • What does “safe climate” mean to you?  How would you define it?
  • How would we achieve a safe climate technically? That is, what changes would need to be made to the global climate system to create a safe climate?

We don’t want to know the names of your respondents.  But could you email me the answers to the questions for each individual?

You could answer the question yourself too if you feel like it. Please contact Roz at Blancards at roz@blancards.com.au for a pre populated survey form. We appreciate your input.

Does the Brisbane solar Power Feed In Cut Have Wider Implications?

Get ready?  There is a stronger chance, I believe, that we were at such a fork 5 years ago, took the road to a solar panel based renewable energy city in Brisbane and hit a major roundabout.  There most went full circle and took the “road most travelled” and that “has made the difference”.  Having decided to drive backwards, most people look to the future by staring intently into the rear vision mirror.

We are more than a quarter of the way through the “critical decade” (at least for those who thought we hadn’t already lived it, perhaps twice) and have spent most of the three years of “getting to yes” without building a commitment to moving onto to a path of necessary mass/social political change in the solar industry in Brisbane.

Despite it being encouraging that more people are joining the dots in the appalling Australian summer and there being a dim awareness that something bad is going on where the we live, we still have much less support for and commitment to climate action than at most times in the last 25 years.  And it’s raining outside so Australia is fine until at least year two of the next dry spell.

Next year we will almost certainly have a government that won’t even give token support to palliative climate care or alternative, clean energy production like solar power and wind power.  Instead it will almost certainly march into the emergency room, pull out the plugs and sell the equipment for use by fee-paying patients or for scrap.

The first, necessary and totally inadequate step is to define the problem with reasonable accuracy – in both the physical and socio-political dimensions.  There remains an unsurprising, quite human reluctance to avoid this.  When the paddock is on fire, we don’t save the horses by calming them and saying we have a long-term vision of fertile fields.

In the overwhelming main the climate movement, to the extent that it exists these days, has chosen not to scare people by accurately reporting the scale and immediacy of the problem  - or admitted that solutions do not lie in even highly-modified forms of business as usual.  Mostly, the techniques of 1950s medicos have been followed – “don’t tell them how bad it is, they’ll only worry and that will be bad for them”. Maybe State Governments like the Newman Government elected this year (2012) should think about this?

Just because we may not provide a dying person with a long life does not mean that very useful and important things cannot be done – many of us have some experience of that.

I should be too old to find anything much that is extraordinary enough to be surprising.  But almost 5 years after introduction of roof top solar power in Brisbane provided us with such clear and compelling evidence of the benefits of small scale renewable energy installations in Brisbane, we still find it extraordinary and surprising that we continue having such conversations about the benefits of solar power in Queensland.  It’s as if we really want contented sleep until the next really bad record wakes us in fright.  As such our behaviour sometimes seems very like that of the book burners of the Murray-Darling Basin and how climate change cries out for us to switch to solar and renewable energy alternatives..

Author: Elizabeth Gardner Phd. – Blancards Sustainability Centre – Australia

Contact: egarner@blancards.com.au

 

 

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John Graingers Letter To Adelaide Advertiser

John Grainger, Blancards course leader extraordinaire forwarded us the following letter published in the Adelaide Advertiser – he responds to Bobby Fuhler’s excellent ‘EcoStructure for Third World” project widely discussed at Blancards. John’s solar panels Brisbanewebsite and contributions to the Ecoversity sustainability program are testament to John’s extensive knowledge in sustainable development and solar technology.

John Grainger’s Letter 17 May 2012:

“Bobby, I agree with the direction of your thinking. In fact our projects for sustainable living in Africa and the sustainable reconstruction of Tsunami effected areas are also related. In addition to the portable structure that Harvey and I are working on, there is

also a low cost Pole Structure that Ed has been helping me to develop.
It does have a double skin, but is very simple and much more like a
tent or umbrella in concept. Yes, it would be suitable to work with the
PolyFabric tarp materials (these are woven ribbons that are coated both
sides) which are actually a most advanced materials technology for
sheeting that is strong, durable and translucent.

You are right that all the resources are there and the missing factor
is the plant leaf canopy which can do the job of cooling and shading
and produce the transpiration that we can condense and collect a pure
drinking water. It is difficult to get these things established in the
midst of tragedy, when we often just fall back on proven methods rather
then taking the opportunity to innovate and thus evolve to solutions
that are more sustainable. People become dependent on handouts of
bottled water rather than knowing how to be self reliant. Food is not
grown by the vicitims of disaster and they learn dependency; rather
than rebuilding their lives and moving on with confidence and self
respect – this is the problem with Tsunami reconstruction – many
temporary shelter situations become long term environments where people
are stuck for years. This will not happen so much in the USA – but even
there we have homeless and the poor who now have less hope than ever
for a happy and productive life.

I would therefore add my appeal to Willard’s and request any members
who could reply to this challenge to team up at the SolaRoof Wiki where
we can establish a group for this goal of creating and testing an
EcoShelter that will provide cool, productive living and working
environments, where people can get started on rebuilding their lives
and also be responsible for providing their own food and water (even
energy might be possible soon with the oil from algae system) and thus
taking this disaster and turning it to a positive out come that can
also be a benefit to other communities around the world that are
struggling to find clean water and food in very difficult
circumstances.

This is the kind of leadership that would win hearts and aleviate
suffering around the world. Why not act now?

Regards,

John Grainger – Blancards Sustainability Centre Adelaide

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Blancards Climate Change Impacts Workshop – Adelaide November 2012

Some of you may have attended our fortnightly Green Forum, launched by the Bill Grainger of the Energy and Renewable Resources Centre, on 11 May 2011 at the Blancards Hill’s Centre. The subject of the Forum was “Climate Change Impacts, Vulnerabilities and Adaptations”, and was enthusiastically received by all that attended .It constituted a key
component of a research program between CSIRO and the Department of Natural Global Warming ImpactsResources and Environment.  The research program will run for 3 years, and will seek to improve on previous climate change modelling for Victoria. You may recall that previous work done by CSIRO indicated such changes as higher minimum temperatures across much of the State, and decreased rainfall south of the divide for most seasons of the year.
The new research will seek to improve on the detail and accuracy of these scenarios by employing data from more recent global climate models. Having achieved more robust and detailed climate change predictions, the research will then aim to identify vulnerabilities by
sector. These might include such things as heat stress in dairy cattle, the ability of storm water drains to cope with more frequent storm surges, or the sensitivity of particular species or ecological communities to habitat change. A key method for identifying and
quantifying vulnerabilities will be determining thresholds or tolerances for different activities or areas.

The final component of the research will be to identify suitable adaptive measures or mechanisms which could be employed to mitigate these vulnerabilities. The identification of vulnerabilities and adaptive measures is a process which depends upon informed input from stakeholders, researchers and decision makers in various sectors. For this
reason, we would greatly appreciate your participation in the forthcoming Monday 28 May 2001 workshop, which will focus on biodiversity. Previous workshops have focussed on catchments and water, and agriculture. The remaining workshop, scheduled for
8 June, will focus on coastal environments.

We are thinking around the 28 November for the workshop. The venue will be Blancards Centre, Adelaide Hills. Morning Tea, lunch and Afternoon Tea will be provided. In addition, if you are aware of others who you believe should attend the workshop, please feel free to extend the invitation to them or provide their details to us. Contact Gill Rwloey on 0456448776 for tentative bookings or further details

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Eco – Living. Proposed Course For July 2012

John Grainger – solar guru and sustainability advocate has outlined his Eco Living 2012 course, with preliminary schedule for 14-16 July 2012. John has 30 years experience in alternative living , green energy, solar power installation and Blancards trainer. John runs a solar power installation company with branches around the country. His knowledge will give you an understanding of the installation of solar power in Adelaide, the current Government incentives and solar rebates. Renewable energy has been John’s passion for the last 15 years particularly solar , but John’s background is very interesting:

John here, hailing from Ireland. I enjoy working with Blancards and have recognized the importance of fundamental change in lifestyle, particularly to sustainable energy practices
for many years, with a focus on solar power and solar panels installation. I relocated from a rented shared house in Melbourne to ‘buy’ a 5 acre property in Adelaide 4 years ago, in order to live in a sustainable way. Many years ago i learned about the benefits of eco-living, bio farming and renewable ‘green’ energy production when i  I lived on a few ‘Kibbutzim’ outside Jerusalem in Israel. A ‘kibbutz’, for those who are not familiar (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibbutz ), is a collective agricultural eco friendly community,
many of which utilize solar energy, wind power and use this in a small industry base.
This experience gave me a strong desire to live in an environment that is in sympathy with our natural environment. This means correct land care, renewable energy production, including my love – solar power in Adelaide, maintaining the bio-diversity and water supply. The Blancards Hills centre is a great example of this where the centre is powered by 20 kilowatts of solar panels mounted on the huge auditorium roof and the building is naturally heated and cooled. The centre  is elegant and beautifully moulded  into the surrounding landscape. The properties natural water supply where food is being grown issafe from harmful chemicals, and waste is managed for productivity. A place where the neighbors, young and old, routinely help one another. There is less traffic in the Adelaide Hills, less pollution and lots of gorgeous open spaces.

If you are interested in exploring and helping to a create a sustainable energy future , i would love you to join our course. The fears of global warming caused by global dependence on finite resources can be mitigated through implementation of solar panels installation, wind turbines , bio-mass energy and energy efficiency measures. For an inspiring view of sustainable living watch this:

Again , contact Gail Grainger, John’s wife on 0454433798 for further information about renewable energy / solar power in Adelaide. We look forward to welcoming you.

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Blancards Meditation Schedule – Sustainable Living

Jane Singer , our lovely meditaion teacher has put together the following schedule for the sustainable living for allAdelaide Hills centre. Please call Jane on 0456773887 to book your spot.

Jane’s focus in meditation is on learning how to have greater mindfulness, awareness, presence, fulfilment,joy and calm in your daily life, at work and at home

The Teachings by Jane will cover

  •  Posture in Meditation
  • Practices to meditate easily
  • The benefits of meditation and its rewards
  • The latest scientific research confirms the benefits of 20 minutes of deep meditation, both at a physical and mental level
  • How meditation works with your mind & body
  • Techniques to focus and calm your mind and relax your body
  • How to live a more mindful, calm and self-aware life
  • How to deal with life’s stresses, emotions and worries
  • Learn to relax your body
  • Experience a new practice every week

Jane has 20 years of meditation and sustainable living experience

Posted in Sustainable Human Development | Comments Off

Permaculture and Organic Farming Workshop August 2012

We have penciled in the first weekend of August 2012 for our Permaculture and Organic Farming Workshop – very exciting! The Course will be run by our dear friend Christine Briggs who kindly introduces herself here:

My name is Christine, I live in Melbourne, Australia, with my husband and two children. We have a 2-acre suburban block (this is bigger than average!), and I grow lots of fruit and veg, organically. I try to follow Permaculture principals, but I don’t always succeed, and
sometimes succumb to the temptations of less-organic methods and products.
Other hobbies include sewing, patchwork, painting and avoiding the ironing. In my spare time (of which I have little!) I run an natural food and permaculture business.
I hope to impart my knowledge over the weekend and am adding more topics for this list, and hope to meet lots of interesting people. I hope to include cooking with organics, more herbs, more fruit from real trees! . A section on  companion plantings beneath trees, and to expand your knowledge of the range of perennial food plants, rather than concentrating on annuals.

I have a section about my favorite subject – guava. I have a big guava tree on my front lawn, suppose I never really thought it unusual as we harvest it each year to make guava jelly. The guava’s are about 1/4 the size of a golf ball, not the tropical ones that are really
big. My kids stand under the tree and eat their fill each year, just like eating candies. They really are delicious. The fruit gets woody when we get too heavy a frost and the young trees are frost tender, but the birds love the guava’s that much and they excrete the
seed so we have guava seedlings coming up everywhere. If anyone is planting these let me know I’ll tell you what I can. I also have about 40 Feijoa trees hedged to protect my orchard. We eat an enormous amount, give mountains away and feed the pigs on the rest. Another delicious fruit and more frost tolerant that guava’s.

 

Guava!
The Wonderful Guava

I am showing my age but everyone who grew up in the 40s and 50s is like your nursery growers. I grew up on Gardening Victoria magazine, for instance. I do remember beginning to use chemicals, but it was not known then…the consequences. There were also other consequences then causing some problems because plants were stressed. The soil for farmers then was recovering, or trying from the Dust Bowl era….and more drought arrived in the early 50s. But there have been many years since then. No need to panic anymore and grab for the nearest new ‘saving’ thing. These guys are the buggy whip makers who won’t grab onto the ‘new’ technology that would make a difference. I doubt anything will change with them until one of them has a severe illness in their family from the chemicals…if a dr will tell them….or they start losing money to a large organic nursery business. I can tell you that side by side in many cases plants grown organically areobviously larger and healthier than the chemical ones. If you doubt this, go to two places that you are certain are either organic or chemical. Buy two plants, one each, at the organic, and the chemical nurseries. Side by side may, or may not be obvious, but once planted it becomes unreal how much difference there is….if you plant them organically. I can’t say for sure about planting them chemically because I haven’t done that for so long and don’t want to do so just to experiment.

More information at http://permaculture.org.au/

I look forward to seeing you all soon at this wonderful workshop – It should be wonderful!

Contact Chris on 0455665442 for more details.

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Tentative Program Q2 2012 – Sustainability – Solar Power Adelaide – Organic Farming

The Adelaide Blancards Centre announces a tentative Q2 2012 schedule. Please contact John or Janice on 0455334887 to confirm places and for any assistance. We’ve been searching the Adelaide Hills area for new, qualified trainers and are very excited to introduce some wonderful new people into our program for Q2 2012.

John Grainger – Solar Power Adelaide Guru!

Hello, im John – I’ve always applied to all cooperative living situations, hoping for a
rent-to-own buy-in option to the community I fall in love with. My degrees
are in Solar Power Technology, Sustainable Ecology and Conservation of Natural Resources I often speak at renewable energy conferences around Adelaide. I have installed solar panels on hundreds of Adelaide roofs and have an extensive knowledge of solar power technologies. My solar power web business has been running for several years as there is a need for impartial solar power and solar panel information in Adelaide and South Australia. My training at Blancards will focus on solar panels installation for your Adelaide home , why install solar in Adelaide and what solar rebates, both Federal and State Government are available. I have been thrilled to find that the Blancards community is promoting ways to live sustainably in Adelaide-we all want to live with strong sustainable communities and my solar power and green tech background should provide an enlightening workshop.

About Me: I live in Norwood, Adelaide with my dog Sheba-  She is most happy living with other dogs to play with on her breaks. I spend my days by installing solar panels on Adelaide homes, advising on price of Adelaide solar installation and the rest of my day spent on the inevitable  bookkeeping, computers, IT, database keeping, hospitality and cooking for visiting friends. I have a healthy lifestyle and I’m a lifelong vegetarian, only vegan if I can’t find free-range eggs and truly happy dairy cows (still looking for them in S.A. despite the ads!) I enjoy exchanging info and ideas with other careful consumers, perhaps buying groceries together for bulk savings. I can cook a big veggie meal and clean up a kitchen pretty well! I enjoy an occasional good bottle of wine with friends.

The Course, specifically discusses solar rebates S.A. and how the feed in tariff arrangement works, Adelaide solar panels installers – which ones are good and which ones are not!

solar power adelaide
Typical Solar Installation In Adelaide

I am also here to learn from you and the group – i do not know everything about solar power and am happy to learn from others.I really look forward to meeting you and to be of assistance and contribute where I can. I am also interested in off grid Adelaide solar panel systems. I decided to go off grid  because electrical services in Adelaide are expected to go up by 20 percent per annum until 2018! Get that! In the Hill’s are where power is not always available in the rural areas there are many people choosing to install solar power systems. We show you how a good Adelaide solar installer can put a solar P.V. (photovoltaic) system on your roof for less than $2000 – hopefully, after completing our course you will have the confidence to truely assess solar power installtion for your home and the upside and downside.

Cheers – John Grainger

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Blancards – Adelaide Centre

The Blancards Adelaide centre is an off-the-grid, 90 percent self sufficient facility in the Adelaide Hills  near the middle of the Barossa Valley wine country. We run on nothing but Solar Power, and a joyous heart!

We  have 15 acres of secluded land in a beautiful forested area, which we gather together on and enjoy our learning and training.

Our Land is not too far from Glen Haven, which is a very lovely example of small town in South Australia, set in a very beautiful area, with lots of Gum Trees and where Three Creeks Converge. Our philosophy is  Sustainability and Grace that we all deserve, in our opinion.

Our Community was created to build a natural non toxic centre on, with Solar Energy and organically grown food and above all to offer skills and learning. If people need a place to do some experimental  farming, where the land is good and the water is clean they have come to the right place.We are planning on maintaining a maximum group of 17 people and the community will be based on sustainability and living and learning together, on just 15 acres of land.

Eco Permaculture Structure - Adelaide Hills centre
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