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Earthcare News

May 2000

I do what I can, where I am.

 

Landscape Guide to go ahead.
Meyer and Rob have received a grant from Parks Victoria to produce a landscape guide on the local flora of the region. For more details contact Meyer 9690 9584,
Rob robscott@ naturelinks.com.au or Skinc 9645 2477
 
 
COME AND PLANT FOR THE PENGUINS!
(Or for any reason you like, just come!)
We have over 1200 plants in several different species,
including grasses, succulents and salt marsh.
Please bring your own hat, gloves and tools although some will be provided.
Please slip slop slap
Refreshments provided. As well as expert instruction.
Contact Jo-Anne for confirmation or more information 9533 8707
Saturday 3rd June 11am-2pm
ST KILDA BREAKWATER
 
 
Born To Be Wild: Childhood and Nature
 
Guest speaker, Sylvie Shaw, from the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, and Graduate School of Environmental Science, Monash University, will present part of her research at the Earthcare Meeting, 25 May, 7.30pm, The Eco Centre.
 
Sylvie’s field is ecopsychology and nature religion, and the overlaps and connections between them. Sylvie will discuss the childhood nature connection. In particular, she will look at aspects of childhood trauma, where nature is a protector for children who are physically and sexually abused and at one group of people in Melbourne who reported having almost no nature connection in their childhoods.
 
A long term Elwood resident with a ‘mad native garden’, Sylvie did a lot of early planting along the foreshore. Later this year Sylvie will travel to Canada to join an international community of ecopyschologists and activists, to have fun in the sun.
The EcoCentre, Thursday 25th May, 730pm
 
 
 
To Celebrate World Environment Day
The EcoCentre is having an
EcoFair
Sunday June 4th (Why wait until June the Fifth)
11am - 3pm
In a cosy village and garden environment there will be:
Competition and prizes
Organic food and drink, A worm farm display, A talking Bin,
An Airwatch display, SKINC will have a plant stall, A composting display
And Much more
City of Port Phillip environmental service will have a display
and give away 200 native plants
 
Earthcare will have a stall
 
At 2.30pm Pygmy perch will be released into the pond
At 3pm The Eco house master plan will be presented to the Mayor
Contact Emma at the EcoCentre for details (Mon, Tues, Wed)
9209 6491
Or ecocentr@portphillip.vic.gov.au
The EcoCentre is at the corner of
Blessington and Herbert St St Kilda
 

Whats on
18th May, Friends of Sandy Rail Reserve Meeting, The EcoCentre, 7.30pm
21st May, Planting at Westgate Park, 11am Todd Rd entrance. Naomie Sunner Ph: 9387 9041
25th May, Earthcare Meeting, Featuring Anthropologist Sylvie Shaw, Born To Be Wild Childhood And Nature. 730pm The EcoCentre.
27th May, Greening Australia Training Program, Remnant Vegetation Management. $30. Contact Kay Stothers 9457 3024
3rd June, Breakwater planting, 11am-2pm St Kilda Breakwater Contact Jo-Anne 9533 8707
4th June, Water Quality Testing, 2pm Cowderoy Creek, West Beach, corner Pier Rd and Beaconsfield Parade
4th June World Environment Day Ecofair at the Eco Centre
4th June Green House and Climate Change: Global To Local Perspectives Forum. 330pm to 6.00pm Cora Graves Centre, Blessington Street, St Kilda (opposite the EcoCentre)
4th June, Penguin Research, St Kilda Breakwater at 7.00pm
18th June, Friends of Sandy Rail Reserve Planting day. Riddell Pde & Oak Ave Footbridge Elsternwick. Details Rob 9537 2599
 
The EcoCentre corner Blessigton St and Herbert St, St Kilda
Earthcare Phone 0500832 784. Postal PO Box 287 Elwood 3184
email zoemh@bigpond or alisonr@dolphinonline.com.au
 
The wisdom surrounding bamboo Part Two
 
Uses for Bamboo Charcoal in Everyday Life
There are a number of uses for bamboo charcoal based on the properties mentioned above.
 
Deodorising the refrigerator and keeping vegetables fresh
Place pieces of charcoal in well-ventilated paper or in nets, and place these in 3-4 areas of your vegetable compartment or other areas of your refrigerator. Replace these pieces after approximately a month, wash them well and then dry them in the shade so that they can be re-used.
 
Place in kettles or jugs of cold water
Place 1 or 2 pieces of bamboo charcoal the size of the mouth of the pot, and you will find that the water will have a milder taste, as will coffee and tea.
 
Use when cooking rice
Put 2-3 pieces of bamboo charcoal into the rice cooker when you are cooking rice. Once the rice has been cooked, remove the charcoal and wash it well, leaving it to dry so that it is ready to be re-used. Rice that has been cooked with charcoal is delicious due to its puffy texture.
 
Place in vases to ensure that the flowers last a long time
The effectiveness of bamboo charcoal is particularly noticeable in summer. By placing a chip of bamboo charcoal in the vase of flowers you will notice that the water takes longer to go off and that this is an effective way of ensuring that flowers last longer.
 
Using as a deodoriser in rooms and toilets
Placing longish pieces of bamboo charcoal in vases or other plants to freshen up rooms and to get rid of smells.
 
Placing it in your baths
Purify bath water by placing bamboo charcoal into fine nets and then placing these nets in the water. When you think that the effect of the charcoal has been lost, rinse the charcoal well and leave it to dry. Once the charcoal has dried it is ready for re-use.
 
 
 
 
Purifying ponds and rivers
Although a considerable amount of bamboo charcoal is required for this, there is a possibility that the charcoal is effective in purifying ponds and rivers. There are various methods that can be adopted, but before deciding on a method it is advised that you investigate the various characteristics of bamboo charcoal.
 
Making the bamboo charcoal
Using a drum can as a kiln is an effective way of creating bamboo charcoal.
Choose an open area or your garden, somewhere that will not cause a disturbance
to residents. Please look at the diagrams as a reference for constructing a similar
kiln.
 
 
Reference: Mr. Ikejima Making and Using Bamboo Charcoal and Bamboo Sap
 
 
The Position of Secretary
Unfortunately, due to pressure of work our Secretary has been unable to continue. The position involves:
1)Take minutes at every meeting;
2) Collect the mail from the Elwood Post Office at least once a week;
3) Forward all cheques/finance related correspondence to Graeme Randall, Treasurer
4) Forward all new membership/renewal info to Barry Hart, then email the details to Alison so she can get the newsletter to those people.
5) Read all other correspondence to Earthcare and decide whether:
it is of interest/relevance to the Earthcare group in general; it should be included for discussion at a meeting; it should be included in the newsletter; and it should be forwarded on to the particular individual/s within Earthcare who have a special interest in it.

The position of secretary is primarily administrative, but as you are the first point of contact for all the mail it also enables you to get to know all about Earthcare and its various projects very quickly. We are looking for someone who is responsible and reliable and would like the opportunity to help us keep Earthcare running smoothly!
 
 
 
Friends of Sandy Rail Reserve by Paul Webb
An enthusiastic group of volunteers gathered along the Elsternwick section of the Sandy Railway Line recently to remove various exotic weeds and trees. We saw many skinks and native birds, including silver eyes and white plumes honey eaters, while we spent a busy morning removing prickly pear, desert ash some succulents and numerous other weeds. The flowering plant of the day was the yellow star lily.
Our next working bee will be on the 18.6.00 and concentrate on weed removal, flora surveying and planning for planting in the winter months. Come and join us for a fun morning. This is a great opportunity to meet people from the local community and participate in a long term revegatation project and learn about or local flora and fauna. This is an area where frogs have been heard in the winter months so a keen observation will be kept. Our planning meeting is on the third Thursday of the month (May 18th, June 15th at the EcoCentre). For our action days will be meeting at the Riddell Parade footbridge near Oak Avenue, Elsternwick,
Sunday 18th of June at 10 am-12noon
 

Seirei (Dragonfly)

Seirei no Kai. Bulletin no. 20000320

General Meeting: March

¬ "Let’s talk on a Global Scale" was a huge success. Participating in this forum

was definitely a worthwhile activity for Seirei no Kai. In particular, the connections

that we made with people from Nihon Fukushi Daigaku (Japan Welfare University)

will be important in the future.

­ Making of the bamboo charcoal will start from 7am on the 12th of March. We would

appreciate your cooperation.

® We hope to decide this year’s activities by consensus. In particular, I would like to

draw attention to the following:

(1) Increasing the number of activities which have a recreational feel

(2) Ideas for the "Odorikomi" Competition

(3) Means for increasing the connections between administration and Seirei no Kai.

¯ We are making pamphlets about Seirei no Kai and would appreciate any opinions

you have regarding the contents.

° At the end of this year (in October or November) we hope to hold a lecture. It is

undecided whether this will be held in cooperation with other groups or not.

± We hope to create ties with other local volunteer groups.

² 　Altering Seirei no Kai's constitution. Proposals will be accepted at the Annual

General Meeting.

Activities in March

Making of the bamboo charcoal: For some reason the bamboo burnt very quickly which is of some worry to us. However, there should not be any problems with moisture absorption and purification properties. The reasons that the bamboo burnt quickly are likely to be that the kiln was very dry and that the opening to the fire was a little too large. We hope to improve the process.

Deciding a location for the water wheel: By raising the water level we investigated whether the water wheel could be placed in the proposed location. Inspection proved that this was a suitable location. As some of the fundamentals are difficult for amateurs, discussions are now underway with the Agricultural Division of the Obu City Hall and the Hanai Group. Regardless of the outcome of these discussions, activities related to the water wheel will begin from April. We would greatly appreciate your assistance in completing this project.