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Announcements

We are Rezoned

Yes that is correct, many of you may not be aware but effective from the 17^th January, the Minister (of DPI) has formally advised that rezoning permission for the SomerVille land has been granted. The permission is initially for 80 lots. Once we have confirmed water and electricity self-sufficiency, after building 80 homes, the remaining 24 lots will be released. We are currently in discussion with the Minister to explore how we can be granted all 104 lots at the outset by entering into guarantees with money held in bond. Progress is now moving forward on LSIP and Subdivision approvals. We expect to start building infrastructure on site around the middle of the year, with titles for lots being available at the end of 2007 or early 2008, following which home construction can proceed.

Ecocom Email – No Longer

This is just a quick note to inform everyone that all the Ecocom email addresses have been decommissioned. Everyone who had an Ecocom email address has been informed of this and new SEV email address have been set up for those that requested one.

< Olives

Olives Ready for Harvesting

Its that time of the year again and the olive trees are heavy with fruit, so if you’re in the neighbourhood and you want some olives, help yourself.

SomerVille Ecovillage™Online Forum

This announcement is to inform and encourage everyone to use the Online Forum. It’s ready and available for you to use and share Ideas.

I would like to encourage everyone to log in and have a look, post a comment etc. This is a valuable tool we have here so let’s use it.

Congratulations

We would like to Congratulate Peter and Kath Weatherly. Not many people can boast about being married for 40 years – our sincere congratulations to you both on an amazing job. Well done!

Requests

Kitchen Assistant Required for SomerVille Sundays

It is with great sadness that we announce that Sarah has decided to hang up her gloves! I am sure you will all join me in thanking Sarah for a marvellous job over the last year or so – THANK YOU SARAH.

Sarah’s last day in the kitchen will be Sunday 11 March.

So if you enjoy having a good yarn; can tolerate Robert’s jokes and don’t mind getting your hands dirty please let Christophe know on christophe@greenedge.org or 9572 3672 that you would like to apply for the kitchen assistant job!

Cultural / Social Core Group is Looking for Members

Do you want to get more involved with SomerVille , make a difference and help create and shape the SomerVille Culture, then you might like to apply to the Cultural Social Core Group. If you are interested in joining the group please email Paul Moes on paul.m@greenedge.org.

Come and Attend a Steering Team or a Core Group Meeting

In an effort to expand the community interface and be as transparent as possible we wish to invite 2 community members (“intending residents”) to attend the meetings as observers.

So for each meeting there is a space for 2 members of the community to attend.

The parameters are that:

1. Attendees must be “intending residents”;

2. Members wishing to attend must apply to the contact person for that relevant group.

3. Consent to attend will be on a first come, first served basis;

4. Priority will be given to any member who has not attended before.

So if you are interested in attending any of these meetings then you need to contact the representative for that group and register your interest.

The contact person for this group will then be able to inform you when and where the next meeting will be, and if there is still a space available for you.

The contact people for each of the Groups are:

Cultural Social Group         paul.m@greenege.org
Enterprise Group               helmut@greenege.org
Environment Place Group   dave@greenedge.org
Steering team                  christophe@greenedge.org

Additional to the above details of the Core Groups and a list of meeting dates can be found online in the Residents only section located online at:

http://www.somervilleecovillage.com.au/members/core_groups.htm

< SomerVille Ecovillage™Life in Harmony

Have Your Say, Share Your Ideas and Submit an Article to SomerVille Scoop

The Newsletter team is putting out a request for articles, points of interest, etc. Have your say and share your knowledge.

If you are interested in making a contribution or have any queries about the structure or content please visit http://www.somervilleecovillage.com.au/newsletters and read the Newsletter Structure, Content and Submission Guidelines, then send any newsletter contributions to newsletter@sev.net.au.

Additionally if you know of any coming events that you believe other members of the community may be interested in please email the details through to newsletter@sev.net.au.

We Need Champions for 2007 Outcomes

The below list outlines what you said you would like to do in 2007 (SS 4^th Feb – outcomes for 2007). Now is your opportunity to get involved!! Support will happily be provided where required; but what we really need are some “drivers”.

If you would like to be the champion of a particular event/s please contact Paul Moes at paul.m@greenedge.org

Project Updates

< Are you living your dream poster – yellow shed

Environment / Place

Update provided by Dave Moore

Minister McTiernan has approved the rezoning of our land, and has granted us 104 lots subject to our demonstrating that SomerVille is self-sufficient in water and electrical power. We have since had a meeting with her Policy Officer to explore what specific undertakings we need to make in order that we be granted all 104 lots at the time of subdivision.

At the Shire Council meeting on 28Nov06 it was approved that our LSIP (Local Subdivision and Infrastructure Plan), with recommended variations, be allowed to proceed to be advertised. The amended LSIP was submitted during January, but has since been returned by the Shire with a request for further minor amendments.

Econstruct have approached a number of architects to provide a quote to produce a concept plan for the community house. Four firms have been short-listed and will be asked to prepare the concept plan for our consideration. This should be complete by late March.

Andrew Hemsley has continued coordinating the preparation of our Environmental Management Plan (EMP). Some studies in support of the EMP have been completed including surveys of flora, fauna, contamination, vegetation condition, dieback, archaeology, and heritage. The EMP should be complete by mid March.

Greenedge Projects has undertaken a number of studies to provide assurance that the project can be self-sufficient in water. These include:

• Forecast of domestic consumption - Murdoch University Environmental Technology Centre (ETC)

• Modelling of domestic rainwater harvesting, waste-water reuse and surface/groundwater supply to homes – ETC

• Monitoring of rainfall, existing dam levels, surface flow and groundwater levels at strategic locations on the site.

• Study on the harvesting of a portion of the seasonally replenished rainwater that is held in the top few metres of sands on the site (note that this does not relate to the groundwater held at depth) – Groundwater Consulting Services (GCS)

• Study into rainwater harvesting and how it can contribute to water supply in an urban environment with special reference to Integrated Urban Water Management Plans – Honours research sponsored by Greenedge Projects

• Water abstraction testing of near surface aquifers - GCS

These will be consolidated into a report that supports the project’s Subdivision application and details the system(s) that will be established to ensure that the project will be self-sufficient in water.

A key element of this report will be the creation of a substantial reservoir (about 40ML capacity) into which water that is harvested during the wet winters can be stored for use during the drier summers. Drilling in this area showed some 28 metres of silty/sandy clays (weathered granite) before intact rock was encountered.

Another feature will be the cluster-based waste-water treatment and rainwater overflow collection systems. These will service the clusters and will have to be approved by the Department of Health before titles can be granted for the land.

The Biolytix waste treatment system that was installed in October became operational during November.

The first “subdivision meeting” with all relevant parties present was held in January. The roles and inter-relationships were established and a draft timeline was discussed.

The inaugural meeting of the Agriculture Management Group was held during January. The group will be led by Michael Velders and includes Allan Werner, Anthony Quinlan, Dave Moore & Dominic Carlino. Soil samples were taken for analysis, and soil remediation work is planned for late summer through spring.

Enterprise & Economics

Update provided by Paul Antonelli

Paul has advised that the Enterprise & Economics Core Group are in the process of getting organised for the year and a full update will be provided in the next issue of SomerVille Scoop. Watch this Space.

< Water Fight – SomerVille Sunday 4^th February

Cultural / Social

SomerVille Sunday – 4 February

Karen Moore

The theme for the first SomerVille Sunday for 2007 was “Rezoning and Objectives for 2007” followed by our annual Water Fight!

The morning got off to a slow start with many members arriving later than the scheduled 10am start. Consequently we didn’t kick off until 10.30am. (One of the objectives for 2007 is to start and finish on time!)

The Super Schmooze (Speed dating SomerVille Style) was a noisy success – the slow start to the day certainly hadn’t had any impact on people’s ability to talk!! We’ll have to work on the seating arrangements to minimise the noise.

Paul Antonelli then provided an update on the rezoning – the good news is that we are rezoned; we are just negotiating the conditions of the rezoning.

After the usual delectable fare we opted to spend the afternoon discussing the Objectives for 2007 under the trees. With the ablution block now operational members are being encouraged to use the facilities – for example, camp over the night before a SomerVille Sunday (should help to get us started on time too!). Ideas of different events to be held on the land were floated – now we just need some volunteers to action them! (Please refer to “We Need Champions for 2007 outcomes” under the Requests section).

As construction moves closer, the pace will increase and members are encouraged to use the Web Forums as discussion boards for a myriad of subjects. The most recent forum put up is “Your Home Design”. A reminder that the Web Forums can be found at

http://www.somervilleecovillage.com.au/forums

If anyone has any questions or problems with the use of the forum you can email the forum administrator at:

admin@somervilleecovillage.com.au

Then came the event we had all been waiting for……..our annual Water Fight! I must say that some people don’t play fair – a 10 litre bucket versus a delicate ladies pistol is really not equitable! We may have to introduce size restrictions next year!

Cultural Social Core Group

Karen Moore

We have got off to a slow start this year. I have been working on transferring the spreadsheet accounts to MYOB (thanks again, Gabi) and Vida has been working on Greenedge Projects organisational structure and waiting to be a Grandma!! I am pleased to report the latter has now happened. Heartiest congratulations to Holly, Jason and of course Dominic and Vida on the safe arrival of baby daughter/granddaughter.

In between we have managed to do some work on the by laws and come up with a great action list that we just need to allocate resources to!

We have also been working on a new “induction procedure” for new members. In order to expedite new members’ integration into the community we have come up with a 2 phase induction process – the 2^nd phase being “community integration”. This is where we will enlist the help of existing members to be a “buddy” and to have the new member to dinner.

A reminder that there are 2 casual spaces at all core group and steering team meetings for community members (“intending residents”) to attend as observers.

First Forum – 21 February

Karen Moore

We did it! We had our first forum on Wednesday 21 February. There were only 10 of us, but what we lacked in numbers we made up for in enthusiasm…….and we are sure that the enthusiasm will be contagious! Discussion was lively and robust; but we only managed to talk about 2 subjects – house design groups and balancing privacy with community.

We certainly proved that this was a space for open dialogue in a creative unstructured environment. What it did highlight was that there will be a need to have a bit of structure when we have more members attending (please note the positive reinforcement here!).

Many thanks to Robin Garbutt for providing the venue and to the participants for a fun and informative evening.

< Fire twirling at End Year Celebration Saturday 9^th December 2006 (picture complements Mike Fuller)

Young Adults Group

Christophe Bouyac

The last event held by the young adults group was the End of Year Celebration & Camp over on Saturday the 9^th December.

I am pleased to advise that this was a fantastic night. I even spied a few new faces.

The DJ's (T.P. Sam and Logrythm) did a fantastic job of catering to our diverse music tastes, and they enjoyed the challenge, and are eager to DJ future events.

Overall it was a great night, although the midnight barbecue I heard was a little underdone (I don't think anyone was sober enough to tell if the sausages were cooked). But the impromptu fire twirling on the night more than made up for this.

Debbie also set up a chi tea and cake stall, which was such a success we ran out of Chi, and ate all the cakes (thank you Debbie for organising this).

Currently I am unsure of what or when the next Young Adults Group event will be. Watch this space.

If you are interested in becoming more involved with the Young Adults Group, have some ideas or just have general feedback please contact Christophe on christophe@greenedge.org.

Coming Events

Editor Note : Please be aware that I will only advertise events that community members have made me aware of, so if you know of any events coming up that other community members might be interested in please email the details to newsletter@sev.net.au.

General Events

Permaculture Education and Research Centre Esperance.

Will be presenting the following 5 workshops throughout March 2007.

(Limited places, for more information on workshops please contact : Geoff - 90 713 126 or Kymberly - 0427 821 082)

Introduction to Permaculture
Workshop 1 Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th March
Workshop 2 Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th March
8.30am - 4.00pm - Cost: $120 - Deposit $25

Sustainable Orchard Design
Workshop 3 Saturday 17th March
Workshop 4 Saturday 31st March
9.00am - 5.00pm - Cost: $75 - Deposit $20

Permaculture Design Course
Workshop 5 (72 Hour Certificate Course)
Monday 19th - Tuesday 20th - Wednesday 21st - Thursday 22nd- Friday 23^rd
Monday 26th - Tuesday 27th - Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th March
8.30am - 4.00pm - Cost: $400 - Deposit $100

Self Awareness / Personal Development Events

This is a list of courses and activities coming up that Intending SomerVille residents have experienced and believe to have been a valuable contribution to their life journey, and recommend to others. More Details about these events can be found online in the SomerVille residents section at:
http://www.somervilleecovillage.com.au/members/self_awareness.htm

Breakthrough to Success
Wealth and Power Weekend with Christopher Howard.

Friday 20th April to Sunday 22nd April, 2007 ( 3 Day workshop).

“Breakthrough to Success” gives you invaluable tools and techniques to change your behaviour using the power of your unconscious mind. The concepts presented are based on NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming)… the science of human communication. Simple yet very powerful tools for changing behaviour to produce fast & lasting success.

Paul Moes has obtained a number of free tickets to this 3 day seminar, (tickets normally cost $895) so if you are interested you need to either call or email Paul Moes on 08 9572 4550 or paul.m@greenedge.org, and he will mail out a ticket to you (for free), once you have the ticket you will need to then go online and register your seat (details on the ticket).To find out more about this event please visit: http://champions.universalevents.com.au/aust.asp

< The Super Schmooze session SomerVille Sunday 4^th February

SomerVille Calendar of Events

The SomerVille Calendar of Events can be found online at:
http://www.somervilleecovillage.com.au/calendar.htm.

NOTE: We will endeavour to keep our events to the below schedule however due to unforeseen circumstances some events may be cancelled.

If you are on our mailing list we email you in advance of events or if an event is cancelled.

If you are not already receiving our emails you can subscribe here. The locations are not specified here, they will be advertised closer to the events via email.

Sunday 11 March 2007

• SomerVille Sunday

• 10am Sharp to 2pm please bring along a plate of food to share.

Monday 19 March 2007 (date changed from Wed 21)

• The Coffee Shop (SomerVille Forum)

Sunday 1 April 2007

• SomerVille Sunday

• 10am Sharp to 2pm please bring along a plate of food to share.

Saturday 28 April 2007

• SomerVille Soft Skills Training

Sunday 6 May 2007

• SomerVille Sunday

• 10am Sharp to 2pm please bring along a plate of food to share.

Wednesday 16 May 2007

• The Coffee Shop (SomerVille Forum)

Sunday 10 June 2007

• SomerVille Sunday

• 10am Sharp to 2pm please bring along a plate of food to share.

Wednesday 20 June 2007

• The Coffee Shop (SomerVille Forum)

Sunday 1 July 2007

• SomerVille Sunday

• 10am Sharp to 2pm please bring along a plate of food to share.

Wednesday 18 July 2007

• The Coffee Shop (SomerVille Forum)

Sunday 5 August 2007

• SomerVille Sunday

• 10am Sharp to 2pm please bring along a plate of food to share.

Wednesday 22 August 2007

• The Coffee Shop (SomerVille Forum)

Sunday 9 September 2007

• SomerVille Sunday

• 10am Sharp to 2pm please bring along a plate of food to share.

Wednesday 19 September 2007

• The Coffee Shop (SomerVille Forum)

Sunday 7 October 2007

• SomerVille Sunday

• 10am Sharp to 2pm please bring along a plate of food to share.

Wednesday 17 October 2007

• The Coffee Shop (SomerVille Forum)

Sunday 4 November 2007

• SomerVille Sunday

• 10am Sharp to 2pm please bring along a plate of food to share.

Wednesday 21 November 2007

• The Coffee Shop (SomerVille Forum)

Sunday 2 December 2007

• SomerVille Sunday

• 10am Sharp to 2pm please bring along a plate of food to share.

My Story

< Di Lesley

My Story

Di Lesley

The beginning is not quite lost in the mists of time, but nearly. I don’t remember much about it. I was the second daughter of a soldier Dad away in New Guinea; my mother was a resourceful, stoic, determined individual then, and remained so for the rest of her life. Both were excellent role models … I made a good choice!

As a farmer’s daughter, I grew up milking cows, rounding up sheep, picking apples and a range of stone fruit, shooting parrots and pigeons (in those days, this was okay: my father’s rifles were part of the furniture, and brought meat to our table on a regular basis), climbing trees, driving the tractor (after the draught-horses had been superseded), making jam and preserved fruit etc etc. All without electricity, at least until I was in my teens. Pets included sheepdogs of course, lambs, poddy calves, kangaroos, a mopoke, a possum, a crow, a pink-and-grey galah … other wildlife were foxes, dingoes (the traps were something to have bad dreams about), snakes, blue-tongue lizards, and according to my paternal grandmother, a bunyip which lived in ‘the black hole’, a murky swamp which we were strictly warned to stay well away from!

Just as well the town of Mt Barker was not too far away – I was able to encounter the civilizing influence of not only school, but of Brownies and later Guides, dancing classes, learning piano (those patient nuns at the local convent, in their long black habits and clicking wooden rosary beads hanging from their waists…), Saturday afternoon tennis and netball.

Fast forward – out of Mt Barker to finish schooling in Albany, boarding at a CWA Hostel overlooking King George Sound – a view that tourists now pay serious dollars for. It was fun, even if the food was pretty horrible (there is no other sort of boarding school food, is there?). Then to Perth, and UWA (the only tertiary institution in WA at this time), completing an Arts degree, followed by a teaching qualification. It was the career I had been headed for since I was about 12, not so much that I felt born to it, but that the options available for girls, especially in the professions, were so few. Fortunately, I like d it, I was quite good at it, and except for a few years when child-bearing and raising took precedence, it has been an important source of identity, income and self-esteem up to and including the present time.

I’ve been lucky to see quite a bit of the world along the way, having lived and worked in every Australian state except South Australia, ditto in the UK, travelled through many European countries and several Asian ones, and currently flit back and forth to England and Switzerland, where two of my children live and are into the reproducing phase of their lives (it took them a while to get there) and so I now have a grandmother’s hat to wear, as well as the others.

I’m looking forward to the next stage of my life as a member of the SomerVille Ecovillage™ – in the country, on the land, lots of bush around, but not too far from the metropolis and its various delights: theatre, galleries, the odd coffee shop. An opportunity to belong to a community of people who are embarked on a singular adventure in search of living out some singular ideals … how lucky I am!

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The SomerVille Vision:
"A vibrant village where community flourishes, in which every person is supported and contributes
in balance with a sustainable ecological ethic."

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