show and tell and guess and ask....

I've been going over all the lovelies from that booky-find-of-the-century (yes I'm still pinching myself)... And we are now undertaking MAJOR changes to my small studio in order to accommodate all this gear (when that work is basically done I'll show you more of the larger booky bits in their new home)..... While the heavy duty (slow) work is going on, I've been going over the smaller things in the collection - and trying to work out (via the internet) the identity of some mystery items... gosh it's been an education! - like how HARD it is to track down quality useful information... Believe me I'm all ears and eyes (and gratitude) for any advice or leads anyone out there might like to share...

here are most of the small hand tools from the collection ....

and yes I know what some of the bits are (like that beautiful bone folder above.... and the backing hammers, awls and dividers below)

but from there it gets a bit 'interesting'. I have been scouring the internet trying to glean something, anything useful.... I was able to work out a bit via bookbinding suppliers like Faulkiners and Talas and J Hewit & Sons and Hollanders (all of these are in Europe or North America -as if I didn't need confirmation that there is a great lack of Aussie suppliers ... gosh where DOES an Aussie buy good bookbinding gear?)

Anyway back to this collection. Common sense told me that these...

.... are paring knives (for working leather in binding).... on the left, with the wooden handles, are lovely French paring knives.... and the others?... well that's where I start to get confused... does anyone know the difference between a French or English (or Swiss for that matter....) paring knife?

and talking knives does anyone know what these two would be used for?

... the serrated one is rather large and looks positively VICIOUS!


It took me all day but I finally worked out that these.....

... are sewing keys (used in conjunction with a sewing frame..... I posted a pic of the smaller of the two sewing frames from the collection last time) I THINK I can figure out how they basically work...

and this...

... I've discovered is a book plough - but I haven't been able to figure out how it works with either the lying press or finishing press (yes, you might have noticed I scored both of these in the collection too)..... I have NO IDEA what blade this beastie needs let alone where one can buy book plough blades from....

here is the underside of the lovely thing....

has anyone seen a plough like this before? .... (ps I found this site one of the most useful for tracking down info about old bookbinding gear....)

still - many more mysteries remain.... what, for example, is this?...

is it something to do with making mitred corners?

and how about this.....

I'm totally totally bamboozled!! (I THINK it has something to do with measuring.... the numbers seem to refer to fractions of millimetres... but what the heck might it be measuring?)


well I might not know all the ins-and-outs of the collection, but gosh the small tools are delightful! they are really beautifully made from quality materials. And while we are on the subject of quality materials - look at what I found inside a big garbage bag that came with the gear....

lovely book leather!

and sweet rolls of french linen thread

Don't be surprised my book-art-object friends, if some of this leather/thread stash doesn't end up coming your way in the next BAO edition!


Time to get back to cleaning/moving/re-modelling the studio (I've left that long-suffering man of mine working alone making a passionfruit support for the studio sink to sit under..... you'll have to wait for the finished pics for that vision to make sense!)




** November 5 update
thanks everyone for all your hints and help - both here as comments and as private emails - and thanks to anonymous bloggy angels for sending this out into the universe...... big thanks to jeff peachy for dropping by to add his greater wisdom to the mix..... I'll continue trying to track down further details regards all the gear.... (that book plough remains mysterious! what blades does it use? where would I find them? what press does it work with? and how? whats the best way of maintaining the wooden screw? etc etc etc!) ahhhh but learning about all this is GREAT fun!

.....

oh bestill my beating heart!

oh-my-golly-goodness my booky friends.... you are NOT going to believe the following true tale.....

Guess where I've been and what I've been up to today.... do you give up?

I've been to Moruya - township of my daddy-darling's birth, source of the Sydney Harbour Bridge granite (another true tale), home of the creepy public toilet that scared the bejezus out of me as a littlun (also true) ... yep  I headed one whole hour north of Sams Creek in a convoy (2 vehicles makes a convoy doesn't it?) as I was about to collect a bundle of booky goodness..... but I'm getting ahead of myself in the general super-duper excitement of it all... let's rewind about 6 weeks shall we...

*brrrring-brrrring brrrrrring brrrrring*
"Hello - Ronnie's Sams Creek silly farm.... this is Ronnie speaking"

"oh, uh, yeah are you that book-making person in the Sustain article?"

(pause as brain is engaged)
"ah YES that's me"

"HI there, you don't know me, my name is Damien..... (and about now I'm thinking - this is all going to go pear-shaped and end in heavy breathing and phone slamming.....) My aunt Therese was a book binder and I was showing her your story (so now I'm thinking this is going to be can-my-aunty-come-for-a-visit...) My aunt has got this funny old press-thingy and we wondered if you'd be interested in it?" (so now I'm thinking 'funny-old-press-thingy?' do they mean a wooden flower press?)

"welllll Damien, what sort of press does your aunt have?"

and after a long and rather fruitless phone conversation, with Damien trying to describe something that I couldn't picture, I ended up giving the poor guy an email address and mentioned maybe he might like to send me a picture ..... and I figured that would be the end of the story...

a couple of days later the most extraordinary picture arrived in my inbox ....

 swoooon!


what - the - heck - is - that - thing?


"my aunt says its a 'French-percussion-press' - she had it shipped out with her when she moved from France to Australia a couple of decades ago..... "

cue frantic google search

.... nope nothing much to be found .... except some hints and whispers... just enough to dash all hope that I could bring this beauty to the creek...

I consult my sad looking bank balance....

" dear damien... I love the look of your aunt's press - indeed I'm positively ACHING to give it a home, but I seriously don't think I can afford to pay what I suspect it may be worth...."

*sigh*


This has been our financial 'annus horribilis' - we've battled through the year surviving on less than the smell of an oily rag (sadly true.... but today I'm telling the happy true story....) I looked and FP and he looked at me.... we magicked up a figure - but is was so small and pitiful I couldn't bring myself to offer it to Therese for her lovely press

*sigh*

then came a call from Damien "look my aunt says, you sound like a nice book person and what do you think to..... (what for it..... its its its the magic figure!)"

"YESSSSSSSS-SIREEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"

but wait there's more


"of course she'd like for you to have ALL her book gear - does that sound ok?"

 OK?

*FAINT*


now I had to get Damien to ask his aunt 3 times  "are you SURE that figure is ok with you?"


fast forward to today.....

so there we were at Therese's gorgeous little home in Moruya, collecting the extraordinarily HEAVY percussion press and all her beautiful booky treasures (OK here's a tiny little peek at some of the collection - I'll do a better show and tell over the weekend)

I've just taken these shots quickly this afternoon so you could see some of the beauties - there's OODLES MORE - including a box full of small hand tools I started unpacking......

 

OMG the QUALITY of these - they are simply INCROOOODABLE

ooooh my head is getting dizzy again from all the hyperventilation


time for a lie down - as I contemplate the kindness of strangers....

French percussion press on Sams Creek verandah October 2010

 

(I truly am the luckiest girl in all this book-lovin' world)

.....

the finale....

Yesterday was the twelfth and final day of the permaculture design certificate (and yes I made it! I'm now licensed to use the word 'permaculture' in what I may do and say and join in the greater worldwide permy network)

The (almost) two weeks spent undertaking the PDC were quite frankly amongst the most demanding, exhausting, exciting and extraordinary times of my life! I met a lovely, diverse bunch of people (from young dutch and italian wwoofers, local horticulture peeps, a forensic archeologist, some familiar local faces including our blues/roots muso of renown, public servants, and another arteeest) We are all now part of the greater permaculture network.

(here's another part of 'the crossing' site..... it's an old train carriage converted into accommodation and office and mini kitchen.... where all our yummy food was prepared and offered throughout the day - during the breaks in course activities we mostly sprawled around in the chairs and lounges dotted everywhere and natted away happily... ahhhhh I'm going to miss all this.....)


Over the 12 days the course (an intense, mostly theory-laden affair I must say) we touched on permy ethics, principles, zones and ethos; basics of ecology, map reading, climate and micro climate; methods of design, soil, agroforestry, shelterbelt design,water, patterns in nature, reading the landscape; earthworks, keyline water harvesting, eco-building design; the kitchen garden, food forests, compost, broad acre farming, aquaculture; engaging community, transition towns, intentional communities, alternative economy, designing for disaster, urban/suburban gardens (and those glorious site visits),  the self and home .... and where to go to from here....

see what I mean by exhausting!

In the final days of the course (when we are soooo tired that it's hard to even think), the participants undertake a simple small group design task (with a severe time limit!).. I thought I'd give you a quick show-n-tell of our trio's design experience...

Our design trio consisted of myself, Massi (a young italian guy currently staying/working at a local organic vege garden) and Gayle (whose Yass garden we attempted to redesign.) Here's our draft working design.....

its rough and ready - (you'll see I introduced the permy world to the wonders of collage as a design tool!) but gave us an idea of where we were going to against Gayle's wish list ....


 Here's our final drawing.....

(you can click either pic to see them a bit better)

All this had to be collectively designed and completed in about 6 hrs over 2 days..... talk about intense!

Then on the last day we had to give a 20 min presentation explaining our design choices.... (I almost did a nervous up-chuck waiting for our turn!) Certificates were dispensed, contacts gathered, and then it was over..... well at least the course was over.... the real journey in permaculture is now about to begin.


Prior to undertaking the course I had already considered myself amongst the enlightened converted but as the course progressed I felt myself undergoing an enormous paradigm shift. Permaculture is simultaneously practical and esoterically philosophical... it is all-encompassing, engaging all the senses and involving the micro- and macro-scale. Completing a PDC is an incredible experience. If you are interested in positive, creative solutions for a challenging future - go do a permy course.


Care for the Earth,
Care for People,
Fair Share.




(now back to the studio and house and exegesis chapter due in 2 weeks, and garden and monster farm projects, and kids stuff and..... and.... and..... phew!)


.....

sticky beaking (again)

Day eight of twelve in the permaculture design certificate and it was time to hit the road (again) and visit some inspiring permaculture gardens in Brogo and Bega (wellllll Tarraganda which is just out of Bega) .....

First up was Claude and Helene Marmaux's garden at Brogo....

 garden with valley views!

 (here's a snippet of their wonderful mudbrick house - showing the glasshouse pop-out.... it's used to help heat the house in winter - as well as grow the little plants!)

impressive bed layout don't you think? it's waxed pine (nope I've never heard of it before...) but this shot doesn't capture the sunken aspect or the sites all around.... its really delightful!

Deb hamming it up in the vege garden!

and then it was off - further down the same road to John's (all hail our leader) place....

heading down the drive at john champagne's place - (aka brogo permaculture garden)
john just doesn't talk the permy talk - he really REALLY walks the walk...

 from the hill orchard to the house area - and look at the lovely hills beyond!

 here's the house that john built - mudbrick and passive solar (with solar array on the roof) on the left is the chook area (with fruit too) straight ahead is the relaxing area (pond, cob oven, grape vine.... all good!) and down the hill is the vege garden and pome fruit covered orchard. It's a terrific set up with soooo many special touches and clever thinking everywhere

I love the little whimsical touches....

 and the froggie cob pizza oven!

 view through the alliums in the vege garden back to john's house

So after yet another great communal lunch this time at john's we got our convoy on the road again - off to Bega (about 20kms down the highway) to check out Bend (an intentional eco-village right in Bega township..... an amazing endeavour - go have a look at the link and you'll see what I mean - it's the first of it's kind in the state.... corrrrr! I feel like waving my little far south coast flag right now!) and after seeing all that's going on (building building building) we headed a few minutes out of town to Tarraganda and Anneke Van Tholen's seedy haven (it's ok - she'll be pleased I refer to her and her place as seedy - Anneke is the force behind the Bega Seedsavers Network!)

the house that Anneke built - all from recycled materials (it's got soul baby!)

view into the integrated glasshouse.... step inside and you are in the house! there's no separation at all from here it's a step and jump into the living area proper.... (there's a babaco, and passionfruit and mini pond and tomato and seedlings and so much more in this glass structure!)

garden brew.... gets the plants really growing (I think its a mix of seaweed and garden weeds...) and just look at the HUGE seedsaving garden (well I suppose this shot doesn't give you a real idea how large the seed garden is). Anneke is certainly passionate about seeds of edible plants.... (ps I've committed the sams creek crew to growing on reliable butternut pumpkins - as we are so far away from any potential cross-pollinators.... ooooo I'm feeling all seedy myself now!)

carrot flower in Anneke's seed garden.... one step away from becoming lovely seeds...

'I believe that seeds are our future... feed them well and let them lead the way'......  (hee hee hee move over whitney - this is how it shoulda been sung)



tomorrow its back to 'The Crossing' for me - Day Nine


....

perma what?

Soooooo for the past week and more, instead of books and artyness, here I've been rabbiting on about permaculture.... and then it dawned on me (or rather a booky friend made me aware) that I've not explained what this perma-thingy is......

so let's call this post - 'permaculture in a few pics and sentences' (yep - a brief and nowhere near comprehesive or conclusive introduction to the basics of permaculture...)

(making compost at 'the crossing' earlier in the week - we'll be turning this when we go back this week...) 

Permaculture derives from a combination of the words 'permanent' and 'agriculture' and originated in Australia (aussie, aussie, aussie - oi! oi! oi!) in the later 1970s when young uni student David Holmgren met up with Bill Mollision (known as 'the father of permaculture') in a uni course in Tasmania. Over an intense few months Holmgren and Mollison developed a system of wholistic, integrated living and working with land in a sustainable way that became the basis of the book 'Permaculture One' (essentially Holmgren's thesis)..... and a whole new (now internationally renown) way of thinking about farming, gardening and living on the land was born!

 If you ask a hundred permaculture advocates what permaculture is you'll get a hundred different answers - but with 3 core ethics in common: 'care for the earth, care for people, fair share'. Now it will come as no surprise to most that with these as core ethics, permaculture was initially adopted by the 'alternate' or 'back-to-the-land' folk (and it still suffers from the whiff of 'hippie' about it - especially in these parts)... when it did enter more mainstream consciousness (into the 1990s) it became synonymous with organic gardening and sheet-mulching... but permaculture has always been much, much more than this and if I give you a quick listing of different topics covered in my 72hr Permaculture Design Certificate it will give you a bit more of an idea of the scope: climate, ecology, map reading, methods of design, soil, trees, agroforestry, shelterbelts, patterns in nature, microclimate design, compost, water, keyline, earthworks, eco-house design, aquaculture, food forests, kitchen gardens, broadacre farming, transition towns, urban planning, community design, intentional communities, designing for disaster.... (little wonder that my brain is hurting right now!)

 (reading the landscape at 'the crossing'.... who can see the white ant in this pic?
and who can tell me if this is the nasty 'eat your house down' termite? - or one of the benign forest dwellers?)

Aside from the three guiding ethics, most permy advocates also either consciously or unconsciously acknowledge the 12 guiding principles of permaculture:

1. observe and interact
2. catch and store energy
3. obtain a yield
4. apply self-regulation and accept feedback
5. use and value natural resources and services
6. produce no waste
7. design from patterns to detail
8. integrate rather than segregate
9. use small and slow solutions
10. use and value diversity
11. use edge and value the marginal
12. use and respond to change creatively

(these are spectacularly explained and elaborated upon in Holmgren's text 'Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability')

(monitor lizard at 'the crossing'....
we observed! we interacted!.... so that's principle one sorted eh!)

Perhaps the other main thing that permy creatures mostly agree on is that permaculture designs are based on an understanding and use of zones..... so that things used daily (or more often) are placed close to the house - with things used/ needing less attention placed increasingly further away. Given that I'm undertaking a course that leans towards Holmgren's view of permaculture, zones are defined as follows:

Zone 0 = the house and the people living in it

Zone 1 = the vegetable garden, compost/worm area, small livestock (eg chooks, ducks)... this is the area that will be visited everyday (or many times each day)

Zone 2 = the food forest orchard, poultry area... (the chicken shed is often sited between zone 1 & 2), ducks, geese grazing area

Zone 3 = cropping or commercial area (maybe fruit trees, corn, potatoes, etc... whatever grows well in the region), larger animals (goats, sheep, cattle, alpaca)

Zone 4 = forest cropping (woodlot, furniture trees), shelterbelt, windbreaks, fire retardant hedges, fodder crops (for animals), other useful plants (eg dye plants, fungi)

Zone 5 = natural systems or areas left untouched to protect wildlife, waterways and land

learning the principles of keyline.... ok so it's just a great excuse for adults to go play in the sand!

Righto - so that's the very brief, generally uncontroversial version of permaculture... but what all this may mean or meld into is almost limitless (well you saw the overview of this course - and one could devote a lifetime to understanding each little area). 

But some of you may still be scratching your head wondering why I'm so excited by it all, and why I've posted all this here - in a place that most of my blogging friends have come to expect arty things (and not on my sams creek farm blog)..... wellllllllllll it's not just that I'm a gardening/ farming girlie from waaaaaaay back.... what if I told you that I'm attempting to meld booky/arty/crafty makings with permaculture/sustainability/site/ pragmatic philosophy (yeah! sounds like a heap of fun eh?) ..... well yes it's a challenge, but I have high, if somewhat vague hopes that I might just get there yet....

stay tuned!

......

sticky beaking...

Day four permaculture design certificate and we were out and about taking in the local (permy) sites. that meant a visit to four places, in various stages of permaculture implementation - from old timers like Chris and Bev... to stalwarts Bill and Carol....  the legendary Harry Black and then off to a new venture in Tilba Tilba....


Chris and Bev Frank's place (just up the road from 'the crossing')...

Chris and Bev have been pioneers in the district in numerous fields - mohair, meat rabbits, free range meat chickens... but perhaps this doggie is their greatest legacy - Chris and Bev are noted maremma sheepdog breeders (here's one helping out the group now...)

It was so lovely to visit the farm - I have been here years ago (waaaaaay back in the 1990s) and have known the Franks family since the 1970s. Chris speaks with great passion for the land and life on the farm... he's the real deal and a real character!


After a nice cuppa it was time to get the group on the road again....

 

Into Bermagui township and Bill and Carol Broadhead's 'urban' permaculture vegie garden....

 

Bill is another tremendous character... and another face from the past - waaaaaay back in the early 1980s, when Bill moved to the area with his family, he was my judo instructor (during my brief flirtation with the sport). Gosh this was turning out to be a trip down memory lane!

Bill is passionate about growing your own food free of icky stuff (pesticides, herbicides), and creatively responding to climate change and all the challenges ahead. His garden was an absolute inspiration (and I scored an invitation to return anytime to gather some seeds/cuttings/grand tales)

 

(ps that's our intrepid permy course leader - John Champagne.... )

At Fairhaven (just a few kms out of Bermagui) Harry Black, a retired scientist and explorer (for lack of a better way of describing this extraordinary man), established a sub-tropical orchard in the 1980s.... Harry's garden is a thing of wonder - with custard apples, bananas, sapotes, and many other subtropical species that it's thought impossible to grow on the far south coast of NSW....

I meet Harry in the early 1990s - he was a constant at little markets around the area - I always seemed to be heading home with fruits of all types (he also grew amazing heritage-variety tomatoes). And the tales he told of some of his adventures (Harry ventured to the Antartic twice and led expeditions to the Himalayas) made every trip to the tiny markets he frequented an adventure....

Harry passed away in July.... so I found the sight of his hats on their pegs really quite poignant....

Harry's house and garden will be sold sometime in the next year and his amazing orchard may be lost forever (already many of the stone fruit in the orchard have died in the extended dry period.... and without supervision and loving attention its survival is on the line) Harry's family has given permission for folk (like the local permaculture peeps) to collect matter from the orchard to graft/strike new stock to at least keep some of his genetics in the area should the orchard be 'dozed under...


 ahhhh me


Last stop for the day was a new and developing garden beside the highway at Tilba Tilba....

(don't you just love the view to Najanuga - the rock formation in the background there..... you'll have to remind me to tell you the tale of Najanuga in another post sometime soon... this has already turned out to be an emotionally draining day....)


I'm beat!




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