Saturday, May 24, 2008

Weeds are our Friends! (Thanks Bernie!)

Our Permaculture consultant Bernie came again today for a thorough look at our property and help us with our Permaculture design ideas. For anyone out there who has been considering having an expert in we say 'STOP considering it and DO IT!'. Bernie (besides being a lovely bloke) was absolutely brilliant and gave us heaps and heaps of ideas. He is obviously incredible knowledgeable but made us feel that even amateurs like us can feasibly do this easily- and that we're on the right track. His visit was inspiring and incredibly motivating because we can now clearly see tasks that can be started NOW. We don't feel so overwhelmed.

Best of all I think he changed how we feel and look at the property. I always felt people coming to visit must think it's a bit of a mess (it's a growing place - small sections starting to come together, weeds quite rampant, part paddock, part everything else) but he really loved it - and his excitement over the beauty of the little things (like an arbour I'd built out of wire and dead branches - because I don't have welding skills and it only needed to hold up a couple of sweet peas anyway) made me feel our garden was a lovely place. He could certainly see it! It's always nice to take someone through who appreciates the beauty in what you've tried to do. Oh and we learnt a very important thing. 'Weeds are our Friends!"

For anyone living in Perth who's thinking of getting some expert advice, we'd heartily recommend Bernie. You can contact him via this website.
www.sustainablealternatives.com.au

And remember to tell him your blogger friend Nathalie told you 'Weeds are our Friends'! :)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Nathalie, I had Ross Mars in last week, like you I found it extremely helpful. It is amazing how much we can do so very simply to make a vast difference to things!

Glad you enjoyed your consultancy too!

Blessings:)

Kate said...

There is a lovely way of looking at things in permaculture. I don't know how all that common sense has got lost in modern lives but it is a nice feeling to be able to look at your land that way. I love reading david Holmgren's books, especially 'Principles and Pathways beyond Permaculture'. It is heavy going but, if I had a chance, I would vote for David to be Kevin Rudd'd right-hand man.He obviously needs one!

Deb G said...

Hi! I followed a link from Elements in Time. I'm so glad to see your comment about messy garden/weeds. Sometimes I wonder what the heck I'm doing and why I didn't just plant a garden with rows. Maybe then it would be easier to keep up with all the weeds? And then I take a deep breath and remind myself there is a method to my madness!

Cwm Goch Chronicles said...

Hi Deb,
Thanks for dropping in. Yes don't be fooled by the glorious photos I pin up here - there are heaps of weeds - in fact I might just post some photos of 'the wild side of Cwm Goch' just to make you feel better! My husband and I have noted that from the blog our property looks glorious!!! Easy to do when you can frame a flower and crop out the weeds!

Cwm Goch Chronicles said...
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