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vic 2016 WORKSHOPS and EVENTS

With over 40 featured workshops and special events Red and Blue 2016 is an event not to be missed.

Special Events

 - nightly movies featuring permaculture and transition themes
 - a night time acoustic jam session including the Utopian Singalong*. BYO instrument, band etc
 - host farm tours running Saturday, Sunday, Monday

 - introduction to prepping course running over Monday and Tuesday
- farm blitz's everyday
* Utopian Singalong - facilitated by Theo Kitchner and Suse Scholem, come together to sing joyful and inspiring songs about co-creating a happy and fair society. All singing abilities encouraged, and everyone is welcome! Print out the words to your favourite inspiring songs and bring them along. 

FARM TOURS

Alex and Kali will show you around their wonderful Permaculture designed farm. The farm is at the perfect stage for anyone looking to establish their own food growing property.
You will see:
  • Commercial free range egg system
  • Complex water system including streams, swales, dams, springs, pipes, pumps, and tanks
  • Intensive zone 1-2 orchard and garden
  • Reveg
  • Composting toilets

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

We are running a number of panel discussion over the event.
  • Exploring the fundamentals of Nutrition
  • Where did we go wrong, and what have we got to do to save the world and create something better
 

VIC 2016 FEATURED WORKSHOPS

Check out the range of featured workshops under the following themes..
  • Growing Food / Permaculture
  • Community and Self
  • Tranisition
  • Practical Skills
  • Zombie Apocalypse
  • Introduction to Prepping for Collapse
GROWING FOOD / PEMACULTURE
AT HOME OR ON THE FARM
  1. Permaculture Design Basics
  2. Growing Food Plants
  3. Making garden beds and sheet mulching
  4. Forest Gardening
  5. Fruit for Everyone: Creating a Surplus
  6. Ducks
  7. Retrofit and re-design your house and home life on the cheap
  8. Making compost
  9. Small scale earthworks and soil restoration
  10. My Bio-Dynamic Story
  11. I want to be Farmer, do I need a gun?
  12. Agro-foresty: Trees in Permaculture
  13. Nutrition 102: Food and Health, Food and Survival
  14. Introduction to Preserving with Fowlers Jars

Permaculture Design Basics - with special guest Tamara Griffiths
Permaculture is a design system originally designed to establish permanent systems but can be applied to any human endeavour. This workshop is for people seeking an understanding of permaculture for the first time. We will cover the history, ethics and principles and how you would used these to design a food growing at home or in your garden.
Presenter - Tamara Griffiths
Type  - Walking workshop through Abundance Farm zone 1 and 2 gardens and beyond
Duration -  1 hour
Scheduled at - Sunday 1 pm 
​
Growing Food Plants
This session will look at the families and types of vegetables and plants you would use in your zone 1 or 2 gardens, their life cycles and how to best support them. Very useful for people who wish to start growing their own annuals.
Presenter - Bryony Edwards
Type  - Walking workshop through Abundance Farm zone 1 and 2 gardens
Duration -  1 to 1.5 hours
Scheduled at - Monday 11 am

Making garden beds, sheet mulching etc - Host Farm Workshop
This is hands on sessions where you will learn how to make garden beds using techniques such as sheet mulching, popular in permaculture and organic gardening.
Presenter - Alex and Kali from Abundance Farm
Type  - hands on
Duration -  2 hours
Scheduled at - Monday 10 am

Forest Gardening - with special guest Tamara Griffiths
Food forests are one of the key elements of premculture we are most un familiar with. Tamara will walk you through the skills you need to grow food in a forest context. 
Presenter - Tamara Griffiths
Type  - Theory and walking workshop through Abundance Farm zone 1 and 2 gardens and beyond
Duration -  1 hour
Scheduled at - Sunday 3 pm 

Fruit for Everyone: Creating a Surplus
Statistics show that we can be self sufficient in vegetables but not in fruit, lets change that. From propagation and grafting, to planning and designing, through to harvesting and preserving. Lets have fruit covered in every direction.
Presenter - Carolyn Gemmell
Type  - workshop
Duration -  1 to 1.5 hours
Scheduled at - Monday 3 pm

Ducks - with special guest Tamara Griffiths
All about Ducks. 
Presenter - Tamara Griffiths
Type  - Theory of ducks.
Duration -  1 hour
Scheduled at - Sunday 11 am
​
Retrofit and re-design your house and home life on the cheap
Everything you can do to reduce your life impact will save you $ as well as the planet. Learn how to love being frugal, embrace your budget with zeal and zest. How to enjoy yourself on your life journey. The best Urban gardening and compact animal keeping tips and hints from someone who lives it.  For homeowners and renters alike.
Presenter - Carolyn Gemmell
Type  - workshop
Duration -  1 to 1.5 hours
Scheduled at - Sunday 2 pm

Making compost - Host Farm Workshop
This is hands on sessions where you will learn how to make compost.
Presenter - Alex and Kali from Abundance Farm
Type  - hands on
Duration -  2 hours
Scheduled at - Sunday 10 am Tuesday 10 am

Small scale earthworks and soil restoration - Host Farm Workshop
We will talk about how we can heal the environment and create abundance with small scale earthworks. 
Earthworks allow us to:
- Harvest water
- Reduce Irrigation needs
- Reverse erosion problems
- Increase ground water recharge
- Create habitat for wildlife
- Improve soil
- Improve pastures

We will learn:
- How to plan and design a regenerative natural water harvesting system 
- How to calculate water catchment area and water use
- How to use a laser level and an A frame to survey
- How to design and build a gravity irrigation system
- Swales design and functions
- Selecting a dam type and location according to your soil type
- We will demonstrate the use of the Yeoman’s plow on contour and keyline design

Presenter - Alex from Abundance Farm
Type  - theory using around the works on Abundance Farm
Duration -  2 hours
Scheduled at - Saturday 10 am

My Bio-Dynamic Story
Bryony explores the basics of the bio-dynamic system sharing her experience of working for two years on Bio-dynamics farms in England.  
Presenter - Bryony Edwards
Type  - presentation
Duration -  1 hour
Scheduled at - Saturday 5 pm

Biochar - How to make it and why it might save the world
Heard of biochar? Biochar is nutrient charged charcoal made of use in agricultural systems, that formed the basic of the "tera preta soils" of the Amazon basin. This workshop will discuss the benefits, application of and history of biochar while making a batch of charged biochar.   
Presenter - Adrian Whitehead
Type  - hands on 
Duration -  1.5 hours
Scheduled at - Saturday 4  pm
pm

I want to be Farmer, do I need a gun?
So you have decided to grow food in a rural setting and are wondering about whether you need a gun and rifle or do you even know the difference? Guns and rifles are used by almost all farmers from bio-dynamic rice farmers to large scale cattle stations. Adrian will introduce you to the basics of rifles and shot guns, discuss their use on farms, and how you need to go about getting a licence.
Presenter - Adrian Whitehead
Type  - presentation
Duration -  1 hours
Scheduled at - Sunday 4 pm

Agroforestry: Trees in Permaculture
Agroforestry has been described as growing timber for conservation and profit. This workshop discusses the benefits of tree on a farm environment and how to use trees and forests to achieve multiple outcomes on your permaculture property.
Presenter - Adrian Whitehead
Type  - presentation and farm walk
Duration -  1.5 hours
Scheduled at - Saturday 2 pm

Nutrition 102: Food and Health, Food and Survival
This workshop will explore the basic of food nutrition, how the food we eat can effect our health. The workshop will then seeks to draw relevant conclusions about how you might approach nutrition in Red and Blue scenarios. The workshop is presented by Mark and Adrian. Mark bring his experience as a committed vegan to the discussion while Adrian will draw on his experience of living with type two diabetes and deal with his son's food intolerance.

Presenter - Adrian Whitehead and Mark Allan
Type  - presentation and discussion
Duration -  1.5 hours
Scheduled at - Sunday 5 pm

Introduction to Preserving with Fowlers Jars
For the complete novice to learn the very important basic steps on how to preserve fruit using Folwers jars. Never let even the smallest of harvests, fruit over the fence or the box of bargains from the market go to waste in the future. Includes a taste test...yum.
Presenter - Carolyn Gemmell
Type  - workshop
Duration -  1  hours
Scheduled at - Tuesday 2pm
COMMUNITY and SELF
  1. Assertive Communication
  2. Consensus Decision Making
  3. Changing Your Life
  4. Permaculture Design and Religion: Can we do better?
  5. Peace with the world we have
  6. Emotional Transilience: Grief-work, Joy, and EFT
  7. Qigong: Health Benefits for the Present and the Future
  8. Introduction to Mindfulness and Mindful Awareness Parenting (MAP)

Assertive Communication 
What does assertive communication actually look like? How about passive, aggressive, passive aggressive and manipulative communication? And how can we identify and deal with it all? Come along and find out!

Presenters - Theo Ktichener and Suse Schelom
Type  - workshop and discussion
Duration -  2 hours
Scheduled at - Saturday 1 pm

Consensus Decision Making 
Effective decision making is key in good functioning in any group., but often groups lack even the most basic skills such as good listening and agenda setting. This workshop covers these basic skills, how meeting processes can be done very badly, even hijacked, and presents a model of group decision making called "consensus decision making".  Consensus decision making encourage the active participation of all members in a group and seeks a shared agreement and buy in by all. The model I have developed is a robust form of consensus which can still function if the group has dysfunctional members or sabotage of group process is attempted.

Presenter - Adrian Whitehead
Type  - workshop and discussion including group roleplay
Duration -  1.5 hours
Scheduled at - Sunday 2 pm

Changing Your Life
Let's discuss how to change our lives, like how to actually convince ourselves to live the way we want to live! Let's learn some emotional skills and figure out how we can practically live utopia as much as we possibly can!

Presenters - Theo Ktichener
Type  - workshop and discussion
Duration -  2 hours
Scheduled at - Monday 2 pm

Permaculture Design and Religion: Can we do better?
This workshop explores the role of religion in our lives and society and seeks to explore the question can we use permaculture principals to design a better one?

Presenter - Adrian Whitehead
Type  - group discussion
Duration -  1.5 hours
Scheduled at - Facilitated discussion after diner on Monday night.

Peace with the world we have
Ecosystem loss, climate change, growing refugee flows, economic inequality and impending financial collapse are unprecedented challenges which concern so many of us. Our hearts are grieving for what we have already lost. Join us as we explore rarely examined assumptions we hold about the Human experience and our relationship with the rest of Nature and the Cosmos. We'll ask: - Can we hold the tragedy of the modern world in one hand and an inspiring vision for the future in the other? - Is it possible to transform fear, anger, despair and grief into creativity, forgiveness, compassion and joy? The aim of the gathering is not to find answers, but to find support and explore ways of responding which honour the ongoing validity of the questions. Inspiration for this workshop came from Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh's book 'The World we Have'.

Presenter - Phil Baulch and Wendy Klason
Type  - workshop
Duration -  1. hour
Scheduled at -  Monday 1 pm.

Emotional Transilience: Grief-work, Joy, and EFT
How can we ‘be with’ the grief of our personal trauma and the collective trauma of Humanity and Mother Earth? What will it take for us to be at peace, to live with ease, connection, and joy; and to be empowered to take right and effective action? This is an opportunity to learn a powerful tool, to very gently and quickly enable changes in your relationship to traumatic stories and programs encoded in your neural networks and quantum body. 

EFT —’emotional acupuncture without the needles’— is emerging worldwide as a leading, evidence based, healing modality. Avoiding and not releasing our grief can create ‘stuckness’. We can use EFT Tapping to release fears, anxieties, and grief.  Allowing and healing emotional pain enlivens us to our natural state of ease, lightness, inner freedom, joy, empowerment, and creativity. You take home a safe, and effective technique that you can use day to day, to facilitate a deeper capacity for ‘being with what is’; a greater awareness of oneness; and a new freedom and energy that underpins actions. 

Presenter - Wendy Klason
Type  - group discussion
Duration -  1. hour
Scheduled at - Sunday 3 pm

Qigong: Health Benefits for the Present and the Future
Qigong is a health practice originating from China. Dedicated practice of Qigong leads to increased vitality, longevity and spiritual awareness. 
In this talk you will learn about the nature of Qigong as a health art form, how it works and the benefits of Qigong as a practice for our times. Dedicated qigong practice offers a very real self healing tool for bringing balance and harmony into our high stress lives and as we move into times of possible reduced health care options with increasing costs qigong offers us increased ability to manage our health, healing and vitality ourselves. 

Please note: this is an interesting discussion of the benefits of Qigong and not the learning of a form, which one would do over a longer period of time. 
Lisa teaches the form known as Self Healing Qigong and is an authorised instructor from the Aust College of TCM and Qigong, Shiatsu practitioner (Aust Shiatsu College), Post Grad Cert in Manaka Acupuncture Protocols (Paul Movsessian) and has a clinic in Abbotsford. 

Presenter - Lisa Pearson
Type  - group discussion
Duration -  1. hour
Scheduled at - Saturday 5 pm


Introduction to Mindfulness and Mindful Awareness Parenting (MAP)

Mindfulness is a beautiful way to come back to the present moment, to clear perception, to ‘just being’, and to our wise heart ~ a rest from busyness, doing-ness, too much thinking, worry, reactivity, or overwhelm.

“Mindful Awareness Parenting is the inner work of caregiving with positive intention, strength, kindness, wisdom and delight” ~ Dr Rebecca Coleman (creator of MAP), 2008.
Rebecca had found mindfulness practices were an effective antidote to chronic pain, and realised it might help ease the distress and overwhelm experienced by parents trying to cope with extremely difficult behaviours of their children.  MAP is an experiential program, based on Interpersonal Neurobiology, Applied Attachment Theory, Mindfulness, and Self-Compassion.  More info at:  maplinc.com.au

In this workshop, you will experience “Mindful Awareness Parenting” mindfulness and self compassion practices ~ Valuable for all parents, and anyone desiring a greater sense of ease and empowerment in meeting challenging situations. 
In MAP Parents and caregivers learn: 
  • To notice what our children need
  • About our children’s brain development
  • To repair relationships when things don’t go as smoothly as we would like
  • Ways to help us stay calm with our kids
  • To enjoy being a “Good Enough” parent
  • Ways to look after ourselves, while caring for our family
  • To have fun and enjoy being a parent
  • Lifelong relationship skills
In case you wish to lie down for the Body Scan, please bring blankets and pillow or cushion. 

Presenter - Wendy Klason
Type  - workshop
Duration -  2 hours
Scheduled at - Monday 10 am - 12pm

​
TRANSITION
  1. Livelyhood: Working Towards a Joyous and Fair Community Economy
  2. Suburbia and how it is critical to sustainability and any future transition
  3. Should we talk about Population? 
  4. Building a Movement for Systemic Change
  5. Holistic Activism

Livelyhood: Working Towards a Joyous and Fair Community Economy
Livelyhood is working on a model for a neighbourhood based community economy that is as utopian, joyful, egalitarian, sustainable, accessible, world-changing and likely to work as possible. Come along and find out more about what we're working towards, our trial community in Preston and have a chat about how you'd like to see things work.

Presenters - Theo Ktichener and Suse Schelom
Type  - workshop and discussion
Duration -  1 hour
Scheduled at - Sunday 4 pm

Suburbia and how it is critical to sustainability and any future transition
The way we plan our communities is an issue that has been neglected in the broader discussion of how we improve our environmental sustainability and prepare for transition. Suburban sprawl is more rampant now than ever and we are in danger of locking people into high carbon living for generations. The time is now to start retrofitting the suburbs and to reinvent the village as a model for sustainable living.

Presenter - Mark Allen
Type  - workshop and discussion
Duration -  1  hour
Scheduled at - Saturday 2 pm

Should we talk about Population? 
How should the controversial topic of Population be approached? If we ignore the issue, we only risk leaving it in the hands of those who peddle fear and xenophobia and why is the topic so controversial anyway? All of this and more will be discussed in a workshop that will challenge but also provide new insights as to how we can pursue multiculturalism and welcome refugees (without compromising our environment) as part of a post neo-liberal society.

Presenter - Mark Allen
Type  - workshop and discussion
Duration -  1  hour
Scheduled at - Sunday 11 am

Building a Movement for Systemic Change
Let's talk about some strategic ideas for how we might really change the world. Let's aim for what we really want, and maybe, just maybe, we'll get it!

Presenters - Theo Ktichener and Suse Schelom
Type  - workshop and discussion
Duration -  1 hour
Scheduled at - Sunday 10 am

Holistic Activism
Climate change and many of the other problems that we are facing are symptoms of a much deeper problem, one that is rooted in ego and identity. Holistic Activism is about taking us outside of the matrix because unless we do, we will never achieve long-term peace and sustainability. We have to embrace our interconnectedness and our differences so that we can work together effectively as activists without getting bogged down in the issues that divide us.

Presenter - Mark Allen
Type  - workshop and discussion
Duration -  1  hour
Scheduled at - Saturday 11 am
​
 PRACTICAL SKILLS
  1. Making a small knife on a forge
  2. Archery
  3. Weaving
  4. Making Kombutcha
  5. Making Sauerkraut
  6. Energy Freedom: Radically change your home energy use
  7. See also ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE -  Lighting a fire with a spark, Changing a Tire, and Making a Bow from Electrical Condute

Making a small knife on a forge

We will set up a small forge and anvil and guide you in making a small knife you can take home.

Presenter - Adrian Whitehead
Type  - hands on
Duration -  1 hour
Scheduled at - Saturday 11 am  PLUS opportunities to learn over lunch.
 


Archery
We will set up a range and target and give you some basic instructions on how to shoot a bow and arrow. If you have your own bow bring it along.

Presenter - Adrian Whitehead
Type  - hands on
Duration -  15 minutes set up
Scheduled at - Saturday 1 pm

Weaving - with special guest Tamara Griffiths
Weaving one of the must have in your survival and primitive skill tool box. It enables you to make rope, twine, baskets, hats etc all from natural materials. you can find around you . 

Presenter - Tamara Griffiths
Type  - hands on
Duration -  1 hour
Scheduled at - Sunday 5 pm

Kombutcha
Learn all about making kombutcha from a professional Kombutcha manufacturer - Dean O'Callaghan from the Good Brew Company

Presenter - Deao O'Callaghan
Type  - workshop
Duration -  1 hour
Scheduled at - Monday 1 pm


Making Sauerkraut
Learn how to make sauerkraut. 
Presenter - Bryony Edwards
Type  - workshop
Duration -  1  hour
Scheduled at - Monday 2 pm

Energy Freedom: Radically change your home energy use
Energy Freedom is a new way to radically change the way you home uses energy.  This talk will show you:
  • just how poor most homes are when it comes to energy efficiency
  • how it's practical for existing homes to reduce the gross energy consumption by over 75% and the net energy consumption by more than 100%.
Base on the book written by Richard "Energy Freedom Home" published by Scribe

Presenter - Richard Keech
Type  - workshop
Duration -  1  hour
Scheduled at - Saturday 10 am

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
  1. Close Quarter Combat
  2. Lighting a fire with a spark
  3. Running and Hiding: what to do (and what not to do!) 
  4. Changing a tire
  5. Spear, Shield and Sword
  6. Are you prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse?
  7. Making a bow out of electrical conduit

Close Quarter Combat
Inspired by a life time of Chinese martial art training, Phil will guide you how to go hand to hand in a personal attack-Get ready for the Zombie Apocalypse or how not to be "the first to die". 

Presenter - Phill Gemmel
Type  - practical with some thoery
Duration -  1  hour
Scheduled at - Monday 1 pm

Lighting a fire with a spark
So the zombies are running loose and the nuclear winter has set in. If only your cigarette lighter hadn't run out of gas. But all is not lost you remember you been trained on how to light a fire with a spark! A hand on workshop were participants get to light fires using a range of progressively more difficult materials..
​
Presenter - Adrian Whitehead
Type  - hands on
Duration -  1 hours
Scheduled at - Find Adrian at Diner time and he can get you going to join the formal workshop on Tuesday at 1 pm

Running and Hiding: what to do (and what not to do!)  
Where to head, how to stay hidden, how to hunt for food -as opposed to foraging- you need protein calories to run. Situational awareness and threat assessment are the two vital survival ingredients.

Presenter - Phill Gemmel
Type  - practical with some thoery
Duration -  1  hour
Scheduled at - Monday 2 pm

Changing a tire
Some people have never changed a tire. Better to have a go now than when the zombie are breathing (or not breathing) down your neck. Bryony will explain tire changing for beginners.  - Zombie Tire Change Scene - 28 days later

Presenter - Bryony Edwards
Type  - hands on
Duration -  1 hour
Scheduled at - TBA
 
Spear, Shield and Sword

These weapons equipment the fighting forces for thousands of years.. This workshop will guide you through the very basics of using these weapons. 

Presenter - Adrian Whitehead
Type  - hands on
Duration -  1-1.5 hours
Scheduled at - Tuesday 3 pm

Are you prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse?

In this workshop you will assess your ability to survive the zombie apocalypse, using Collapse Survival Training's Personal Survivability Rating Assessment Tool. Will you end up being a "Survivor Extreme" or an "Oxygen Bandit", or fall somewhere in between.  We will discuss the results as they apply to your zombie preparation. 

Presenter - Adrian Whitehead
Type  - hands on
Duration -  1 hour
Scheduled at - Monday 2 pm


Making a bow out of electric conduit

So you went out clubbing and someone slipped you a rohypnol.  The next morning you wake up 8 kms South of the CBD under the floor of a construction site (true story). But what's that?!?! The sound of a deep soulless moan and slow aimless shuffle of 100's of feet walking past. It IS the ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! You pop you head up through the floor boards. Your training at Red and Blue comes back to you in flash. You spy some electrical conduit and builders line. You still have your cigarette lighter in your pocket. You can make a bow! It's going to be all right! Now if there was something to make arrow with? You hear a magpie call and start looking for a rock.

In this workshop we will make some bows from electrical conduit and builders line using flame and a knife.

Presenter - Adrian Whitehead
Type  - hands on
Duration -  1 hour
Scheduled at - Sunday 10 am


INTRODUCTION TO PREPPING FOR COLLAPSE
Adrian Whitehead from Collapse Survival Training is running an Introduction to Prepping for Collapse course. There four core subjects in this course spread over two days Monday and Tuesday.

People interested in preparing for collapse are also highly recommended to attend as many of the other workshops as possible running over the weekend particular permaculture design related workshops those listed in Food Growing and Zombie Apocalypse sections.

Lesson 1 - Introduction to Collapse - 2hrs  - Mon 10 am 
In this session we explore what is a collapse, how collapses differ from emergencies and disasters, explore and  understand the different levels of collapse using the Whitehead Collapse index, and finally explore current major drivers of potential future collapse including, viral outbreak, economic collapse, nuclear war, and global warming. We also invite people to tell their own stories of prepping.

Lesson 2 - Your Personal Survival Rating - 1hr - Mon 2 pm 
In this session we use the Collapse Survival Training – Personal Survival Rating self assessment tool to see how you would rate in the first days of a Zombie Apocalypse. Though not specially applicable to other real life scenarios this workshop will enables to get some measure of the likelihood of your survival in some of the more extreme collapse scenarios, and what areas of personal development you should focus on.

Lesson 3 - Planning your preparation - 2hrs - Mon 4 pm 
This sessions focuses on how you might develop you collapse preparation plan by looking a range of strategic level options you might consider for trying to survive a collapse. The workshop then focuses on developing a set of preparation goals based on a series of trigger points for the collapse event or events you are preparing for.

Lesson 4 - Practical Preparation Skills – Stored Food, Survival Kits and Go Bags - 2hrs - Tue 10 am
The last session for on two practical aspects of preparing. The first half focuses on developing an emergency food supply, while the second half looks at survival kits, go bags and strategies for leaving large cities and getting to your refuge.  


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