Stories from our intentional community
Narara Ecovillage’s John Talbott to speak at housing forum – 1st Nov Our project director John Talbott will share our experiences and challenges attempting to create affordable and sustainable housing options at Narara Ecovillage, at an upcoming forum in Newcastle. See Community Forum on Housing Cooperatives for more details and tickets.
–Elizabeth Crichton It has finally happened! Exciting news! The first two Development Applications have been lodged with council! Yes, Tuesday Deb & Dan, and Libby successfully submitted their DAs with the help of JT and Art…thanks to you both! There were a couple of minor glitches but those hurdles were quickly crossed and there we were paying our lodgement fees and it was done!!
-Linda, Dan, Majella Last Friday evening’s talk by our Project Director, John Talbott (known as JT as owing to a surfeit of John’s in our community), was warmly welcomed by over 30 members and friends. JT, a registered Professional Engineer, has dedicated much of his life to developing viable practical solutions for sustainable living. He was destined to be part of Narara Ecovillage when …
End of year celebrations – Joy Mozzi What a weekend to finish another year as part of our village and community. Three days of intense fun, socialising, eating, dancing, meeting time, laughing, working bees, the list goes on. Friday night – JT gave a talk to about 40 of us about his experiences building at Findhorn. Saturday morning – working bees chipping …
At the last Land Team meeting, Tony Hester appraised the group about the threat of Bushfire to our village. Tony said: ‘Of all the risks, bushfire remains the number 1 threat to this property.’ He added: ‘Under the section 88b instrument, the Co-op and all private land owners have an ongoing obligation to maintain the whole of stage 1 as …
NARARA, NSW – In a first for a community enterprise in NSW, the Narara Ecovillage Co-operative (NEV) announced today that it has secured permission to operate its own fully integrated water system. Granted by NSW Minister for Energy and Utilities Don Harwin on the recommendation of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), the licences allow NEV to provide residents …
At our November 2016 Open Day, we researched straw and other natural building materials. So what better time for the kids to figure out how to make scarecrows from a big straw bale? Oh, and then there were PUPPIES. Here are a few snapshots from the day: Thank you to all you kids for coming along. It’s probably fair to …
Over the October Labour day long weekend, Vanessa and I (along with kids and grandparents) visited Ganmain to attend the Huff ‘n’ Puff #160 strawbale workshop. You can find out more from their website below. http://glassford.com.au/main/ Can’t wait to build our own strawbale house at Narara in the coming months!! – John
“never before seen! – Planet NEV “ – Julian
Quote for the week “One minute you look and think ‘well that’s never going to happen’ and then a couple of hours later with really BIG equipment the landscape changes before your eyes.” – Joy
28 August 2016
…with the sound of microbats 24 August 2016 New Wildlife Refuges An Environmental Survey by ecologist Robert Payne revealed a remarkable feature of the ecology of the Narara Ecovilage: the site is home to no less than 13 species of insectivorous microbat (and one Flying Fox / “Macrobat” species). In preparation for site works, members have already installed microbat roosting …
Photos of the site on 21st Aug 2016
22 August 2016 This Open Day on Sunday 28 August the kids activities are going to be all about spring blossoms, native seed bombs, and of course planting the Permaculture way. With all sorts of seeds, bulbs, and blooming flowers in our big garden bed. And lead by our Permaculture practitioner John Seed. When? Sunday, 28 August from 10:30 AM …
18 August 2016 Hang in there: we are truly going to be the world-class demonstration Ecovillage we have been talking about. Walkways in landscaped gullies, meandering pathways through our common gardens, a diversity of unique housing styles, edible fruit trees and climbing vines, quiet spaces by the dam and over the creek, and so much more. Look past the mountains …
Photo taken 31st July 2016
This is NEV’s first crop planted this week! It is special grass called Gahnia which is to be transplanted when we start landscaping in 6 months or so why pay for plants when you can grow them!
