On Saturday 9 May 2026, at AweVille in Bridgetown (Geegelup), forty-five people, including twenty-six new members, attended the first event of the year for the Blackwood Valley Small Landholders Group Inc. (BVSL).
The event was hosted and facilitated by Keita Burrell and David Chick, with committee members volunteering to get people parked, signed in, and settled with a cuppa.
The weather was glorious and there were lots of happy faces, so I trust that everyone gained knowledge and connection throughout the day.
While the adults talked wicking beds in the morning, the children followed the clues of the scavenger hunt to learn the lay of the land, and bounced on the trampoline.
The design of the IBC wicking bed was altered to improve its function, based on wonderful feedback from participants. Many useful questions were asked, and many of these were answered by the participants.
A more detailed overview of what wicking beds are, and how we constructed ours, will be include in the next newsletter.
Jen https://www.jentheherbalist.com.au/ brought us two herbal plants as a gift, and shared her knowledge of these herbs when the group was discussing what to plant in the wicking bed. This included describing the difference between European dandelion and cats ear (false dandelion).
There was some delicious food brought for the shared vegetarian lunch, and the wash station was well used. People sat in the sunshine to eat and converse and start to build relationships.
Prior to the walking tour, Wayne Edwards shared information about his products which are designed to help balance the energy of the land, plants, animals and us. These included colourful fans with geometric designs, copper symbols and bracelets, and copper and aluminium antenna. In addition to this he brought along some biochar and fava beans for sale.
AweVille is an example of living with conscious awareness of the precious life-giving resources and their respectful use. The tour started by looking at the solar system that provides the energy needs of the space, followed by the water system, both of which are extremely important components of the whole.
We then moved to the hügelkultur bed in the future orchard and chicken run, plus the existing chicken run which will be the future vegetable garden.
It was then past the compost toilet, over to the newly planted garlic beds, along the syntropic agroforestry inspired tree row spiral, past the aerated compost, and finally up to the ceremonial circle and fire pit.
The group sat on an eclectic mix of chairs while Mark Tupman spoke of “Bringing Our Soils Back to Life“ . Studies have shown that the key to nutrient dense food is good soil and that the quickest way to good soil is growing a diversity of plants. Photosynthesis is what produces the majority of the energy, which feeds the microorganisms, and the dead bodies of these microbes is essentially what soil is. It was a very succinct and simple overview of a complex process with many components and relationships. Mark has some wonderful resources on his website that I highly recommend people viewing.
The schedule was slightly altered so Graham gave an impromptu talk about aquaponics prior to hearing from Wayne. There seemed to be lots of interest in this topic and many questions asked. I certainly look forward to exploring the topic further in the future.
Wayne Edwards shared his journey as he transitioned from conventional farming to organic then biodynamic faming, and finally to his own system he has named BioVeg. Bio = life force, V = vesica piscis, E = energy and G = Generator (God). One of the recuring issues that he faced in his growing journey was relying on inputs, like fertilisers, all the time. His recent growing methods are based on minimising external inputs and using the natural etheric energy and colours of light or sounds (frequencies). He also shared some information on the elements and numerology and how it is all part of the energy that grows healthy, nourishing food.
Thank you to everyone who came and participated for contributing to a wonderful day.