Summer solstice gathering

Meeting Notes - Gathering - Summer Solstice 21.12.19, Kanjini, Campsite 5 Emerald Creek 

This is a quick overview of the Solstice event, it is hard to capture in words. Check out our facebook page to see the wonderful photographs by Chanel Barron who captured the event so well. In a nutshell; We gathered for 3 days and 2 nights on Kanjini land by Emerald creek. The site has 2x covered decks which were used for cooking/eating and the other for socialising. 

The general feel was that of closing the of year and acknowledging our successes; we sat in circle around the fire and shared what we were celebrating of 2019, which was followed by a massage circle, drumming and singing by the fire. 

Tropical fruits were feasted upon, the days were hot and the creek was fresh. An early morning sunrise walk to Emerald Creek falls was enjoyed by some. Sharing circles continued throughout the day and the 2nd evening was enjoyed with a didgeridoo meditation.  More fire songs closed the night with an adventure at sunrise to the highest rock on Kanjini with another didge morning meditation beneath a lemon scented gum overlooking the land with friends.  

A world cafe process was facilitated for participants to provide their input into the different aspects of ECC for 2020. After an overview from Tonielle Christensen and Kaylie Jenkins, with a brief introduction to the management team and concepts they wish to put forward for membership, some stations with butchers paper were placed around the deck area with the following bold topics written into the centre. Pens were provided for input to be added as people walked from one poster to the next.

The ideas put down are unfiltered, it reads as was noted. This was a brainstorming session for input with potential of some suggestions to be adopted by the management team and volunteers who join ECC to drive particular projects relating to the lists below (or their own). 

Read on for the list of the Earth Care Collectives 2020 visioning!

Nature Kids Club & Program 

• A space where younglings can be around and learn from conscious elders and vice a versa. 
• Appropriate structure and activities.
• Wild river sanctuary.
• Nature play ground school holiday programs art and crafts. 
• Tree climbing.
• Meditation classes.
• Mentor or elder selecting activities. 
• Fitzroy island turtle rehab centre.
• See ball figurines.
• Observing cycles of emotion. destruction/creation, love/loss, growth/death. 
• Teach them to connect with spirit - to make offerings to respect / heal the land. 
• What is good food? Nutrition eating and learning. 
• Plant identification. 
• Card reading.
• Indigenous wisdom.
• Teach girls cycles of women. 
• Nature playgrounds instead of of plastic ropes like mud play/slide etc. 
• Build shelters from natural materials like coconut leaves for roof (for older kids). 

Grant Writers

• Potential; George Crossier via Michael 
• Experienced; Lisa (sol) & Kaylie Jenkins, Tonielle Christensen. 
• Keen to learn; Samantha Jurgens

Festival Kit - to run workshops/events in any locations (tour)& use of seasonal gatherings

• Solar powered trailer with P.A sound system.
• Pop up space/dome
• Lights
• Speakers
• Musical instruments
• Board games
• Face paint
• Ecstatic dance / conscious dance & movement
• Cushions & comfy pillows for chill out zone. 
• Herbal elixir, natural/alternative highs, come down kits. 
• Dress up box
• Promo for businesses who care about the environment. 
• Firesticks (event) will have a container full of tables/chairs and other items for festivals stored on Kanjini permanently which is available for events onsite at Kanjini. 
• Live music space (solar system). 
• Mural, festival facade of permaculture visuals and projection mapping. 
• Active permaculture/sustainability interactive art (collab painting) mural in the festival event space. Open to art pictures / graphic design for future event posters. (Cam). 

Monthly Gatherings - food for thought feasts, guest speakers and movies that matter films. 

• Toast masters style of public speaking events.
• Moon cycle basis, i.e plan for full or new moon. 
• Improvisational theatre workshops.
• Kanjini hearts and minds cold be a combined event sometimes. 
• Potlucks.
• Meditations.
• Monthly cause for change ie. hosted by a local cause each month. 
• Ashlee is happy to put energy into this. 
• Kirtans/music/story/song.
• Day/night or weekends at Silver Valley.
• Friends of the Earth (Ingrid and Marge) may have space for events. 

Community communications / e-news monthly mail-out 

• Voice meetings right here, right now.
• Record and make it digital but chunking each proposal or decision making rounds. 
• Clear motions and conclusions. 
• Keep it short and simple. 
• Talking circles at events. 
• Volunteer opportunities. 
• Feature local project/s. 
• Run through other mail out lists to get a bigger subscription base (ie Permaculture Cairns, Down to Earth, Guardians of the Edge (Ingrids Mission Beach). 
• Promote events. 
• Marketing/promotions for events; 6 weeks out, 6 days out, 6 hours out.

ECC Head Quarters/ Permaculture Pad - Venue, Collaboration, Crew/volunteers space.

• Close to the city (accessibility for wider region)
• ‘Hot desk’ working space.
• Nature therapy gardens.
• Open space ‘outdoor classrooms/yoga space.
• Hammock city (place to hand many hammocks - chill space).
• Vehicle access and area to store raw materials and donated items. 
• Pizza Oven/Cinema Space for film events.
• Accommodation for Volunteers.
• car/bike parking.
• Roster for the venue of events etc.
• Sponsored by members. 
• Good place to do fun fundraisers. Music, food/drinks to bring community together - doco movies nights, dances, etc. 
• Run social impact accelerator programs. 
• ‘The Space’ at the TAFE just went up for sale (can’t live there thought). 
• Demonstration of Permaculture Site 
• Seek Philanthropist support - financial or building donation.
• Swimming pond/natural pool. 
• Margaret Pertrolious (off Anderson St. Nico’s residence) a potential space. 
• Check out “Conscious Ground” in Northern Rivers for inspiration.
• Think outside the box.
• Ask; Who would run the space? Would you seek funding for staff too? Or volunteers? How would you meet running costs? How could the space generate money? Could it sell something? Food/fruit grown by members/local growers? Cafe? Hot desk/rooms for rent? Venue space rent? Open days?
• Potentially Jay Jackson from Organic Motion lives in/manages HQ. 

Projects

Community Tree Planting

• Roaming locations Volunteer Tree Planting

• Weekend of learning and planting seeds. 
• Working and learning at each others properties. 

Permaculture Art Visions - Cam

• Collaborated art painting of permaculture mural for public wall / moveable art to take to events or festivals or built in nature - merging permaculture practice and art visions together. 

Friends of the Farmers / Regenerative Agriculture (annual event) 

• Daintree fruit party supply fruit, trees and seeds
• Social media outreach team. 
• New Friends of the Farmers (rename) align with Northern Gulf & other organisations.
• Needs marketing. Who is the Avitar? Farmers, hobby farmers/lifestyle block owners, sustainability consumers?
• March Equinox, potential new date. 
• Lisa currently runs it. What does she want to do and what does she want to outsource?

Kevin’s Rainbow Valley Farm - Kevin Azz

• Eco gardens & workshops for ‘Transition to land with technological support’. 

Johanna Kloots Property - Nico’s Nursery

• Nico; large scale fruit planting project on land at Bramston Beach. 
• Education workshops on nursery design / innovation.
• Implementing Syntropic agroforestry techniques
• Potential place to skill share / working bees. 
• Potential for indigenous food/culture workshops, giving indigenous space to share wisdom which is available to the general public.  
• Supply of exceptional selected fruit trees and plants to projects. 

Wild River Sanctuary - Sol and Lisa

• Natural building projects/ workshops
• Permaculture Camp outs
• Children’s activities in school holidays
• Mens and womens camps
• Building projects
• Retreats; yoga and dance.
• Large shed for art projects and decor making, can be used for “Rootbound” Festival Base. 
• Build Nature Playground.
• Childrens’ gardening.
• Skill sharing and bush skills. 

Reefology - Igor Pershin 

• Restoring the Reef through Farmer Transition to Agroforestry. 

Rural Town Community Tour

• Permaculture workshops.
• Art murals of sustainable visions.
• Project arts/mapping.
• Bus to tour. 

Seasonal Gatherings - Solstices & Equinoxes, 4 events.

• Kanjini has yearly gathering at September equinox, please join. 
• Mens/womens circle
• Kids activities
• Music & dance
• Members meetings incorporated into these, or the monthly meeting (depending on how often you want to hold). 
• Mimic (solstice 3 day camping event) for away gatherings (to other properties) for members benefits, small scale. 
• I am doing didge meditation at sunset anyway, happy to do whenever gathering is - Svargo. 
• Garden based (related activities). 
• Include skill sharing workshops into these events.
• Kanjini campsite 2a & 2b. 
• Celebrate earth elements
• Cacao ceremony and dance ritual. 
• Manifestation blessing for the collective to bring the dreams into fruition. 
• Archetypal journeys
• Members retreat - to develop closer relationships with the community. Intentional gatherings to help facilitate the co-creation of ECC
• Ceremony and ritual.
• Natural building workshops
• Daintree/Bloomfield site. 
• Garden blitzes.
• Womens and mens camps.
• Family gatherings. 
• Manifestation camps. 

Skills for Sustainability - training and education, skill sharing facilitators in the collective promoting their gifts/talents/offerings to share with others.

• Free 1 day workshops
• How to; permaculture design.
• Gatherings as workshop weekends.
• Syntropics
• Focus on regenerative lifestyle
• ‘How to run a workshop’ workshop: for people/members with skills that could benefit from how to structure running a workshop. T his could provide a qualified assistant roles and consistency / standard for ECC professionalism.
• Earth building workshops.
• Retreat style gatherings with large main project plus yoga, food, nature, yumminess. 
• How to make offerings to heal the land and connect to spirit.
• Alternative power/energy
• Compost making
• Rubbish clean ups/highways
• Beeswax workshop
• Beach clean up with Parley and Tangaroa Blue. 
• Medicine
• Skills for moving off grid - how do we do it?
• Learning to draw/paint (creative visioning art)
• Native plants
• All ages
• Connect, nourish, learn, create, share. 
• Dreaming/visioning. 
• Date and night. 

Mike Gaia 

• Biochar; background, history, production, application. 
• Agroforestry; alley cropping, legumes & nitrogen fixing, swales, syntropic farming. 
• Soil science; soil food web, mycorrhiza, soil structure. 

Earthed Electrics, Steve 

• Energy efficient power solutions

Nico

• Innovative nursery design
• Fruit tree propagation and care
• Cyclone resilient planting strategies.
  
  ​Fin. 

If you would like to be involved as a member to enjoy the fruits of this collective, please do so! Otherwise join our free mailing list to be kept in the loop of evolution. 

Image Credits: Kaylie Jenkins