Transition Town Blackwood

Categories for the Big Blackwood Bake Off

2011-12-13T19:46:00.001+08:00

For those of you hoping to enter something into the baking competition here are the categories:

1)X-mas cakes (traditional or modern)
2)Best shortbread
3)Festive biscuits and slices
4) Kids open baking comp

All entries to be in by 10am. Judging and prizes at 11am.

Entries will be sold at a morning tea afterwards to raise money for a community wood-fired baking oven

Venue is the Blackwood Hall

The Big Blackwood Bake Off!

2011-12-03T14:59:00.002+08:00

Transition Town Blackwood is delighted to be supporting the Big Blackwood Bake Off - an event to raise Christmas spirits and some cash towards a wood-fired community baking oven for Blackwood.

Saturday December 17
Blackwood Hall (hang a sharp right at the pub - the hall is on your left up the hill)
Entries 10am
Judging, eating and goodies for sale at 11am.

Lots of great prizes including an overall winners prize of dinner for two at the Blackwood General Store.

An update with competition categories and guidelines will be posted within the next couple of days.

Happy Baking!
Heather

Winter Warmer Cook Up!

2010-07-23T07:46:00.005+08:00

We've been a bit sluggish since the Easter Carnival seed spree. Perhaps the chill and welcome rains of winter have sent us into hibernation. Now we have passed winter's longest day and it feels like time to re-energise, re-connect and cook up some plans for the coming Spring.

To that end, you are all invited to a

WINTER WARMER COOK UP
Sunday September 5
Blackwood Special School Camp,
Main Road - Martin Street Blackwood
from 4pm until 7.30pm

Bring yourself, a dish to share that contains a local ingredient and 5 copies of the recipe to swap.

We will be updating everybody about Transition Blackwood, opening the floor to ideas and then breaking into shared interest groups to move the ideas along toward action.

Other news: I have written an article about Transition Blackwood that you will see in the upcoming Blackwood News. It is an introduction to the concept of Transition Towns and some information about what the Blackwood initiative has done so far, as well as an invitation to get involved.

The news article makes reference to another article in the August issue of Gardening Australia - about a couple, who in response to concern for their family and future in the face of Peak Oil and climate change, have created a self sufficient lifestyle on a farm. The article has a section called 'What is Peak Oil' on page 34 - so clearly the concept is finally hitting the mainstream media.

With federal and state elections coming up there is no better time to be lobbying your local politicians to start taking the sustainable future of our communities more seriously. So far the government response to dwindling resources and the risk of a 'domino effect' with large co-dependent systems based around oil, has been underwhelming. Lets let them know we want them to support locally led projects and strong local economies!

Hope your winter so far has been filled with the warmth of hearth, heart and health.

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

Easter Carnival Seed Spree

2010-04-11T10:16:00.005+08:00

On Easter Saturday Transition Town Blackwood had a stall at the Easter Carnival and Woodchop. The purpose for the day was to distribute 200 packets of free, locally collected seed and to chat to people in our community about the transition project.
Despite a somewhat wild and woolly start to the day, Blackwood turned on some great weather. Katie and I gave away almost all our seed, as well as some advice on planting and managing seed collection in a forest setting (making sure your fruit and flower seed don't spread into the bush).

We had some really great conversations both from people who wanted to contribute their skills and participate and with folks who offered criticism and advice. We felt that all of the conversations that day were really useful - its good to hear from people who have been around in the community what has worked and not worked in the past.

One of the real boons of the day was that 35 people signed up to either participate by sharing their skills and ideas or to be kept in the loop of what Transition Blackwood is doing. Many of the skills people listed to share are the kind of activities that could be great for workshops in the future, such as seed saving, permaculture, patchwork quilting, building surveying, learning other languages, beer making, dough making and cooking, natural therapies, and illustration.

Another bonus of the day was talking with some of the people involved in the establishment of Trenthams' community bank and with members of Blackwoods Chamber of Commerce. The lovely thing about Transition Initiatives is that they can work with all of the existing groups and interests to support them. We are looking forward to exploring how we can work with these local initiatives to strengthen them and our community.

All of you who stopped for some seeds and a natter. Many many thanks.

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

Sorry for the gap in news- we have been busy though!

2010-03-23T10:13:00.002+08:00

My internet has been down due to a debacle with changing ISP's - many apologies for the lack of updates from our group.
Despite the absence of news there has been a lot happening with our Transition Group.
We have approached a not for profit company to enquire about being auspiced so that we can apply for some funding for upcoming projects which include:

* starting a farmers market! Fay, one of our local gems has agreed to the use of her beautiful site on the main street in town. It is a block with a venerable oak tree that shades almost the whole area. I am investigating how Trentham got their market started and making enquiries with local stall holders.

* having a stall at the Easter Carnival. We will be giving out free seed packets and sharing with people what the whole transition initiative is about. There will be opportunities for people to sign up and indicate their interest, whether it be food, transport, education, housing energy or something we haven't even thought of yet.

* Our bulb change project was a small success with 20 houses participating to receive free low-energy light bulbs. The providers would only come to a remote area like ours if it was more than 10 houses signing up at once, so Transition Blackwood facilitated signing people up and getting their appointments booked.

We are all busy people, but are feeling quite excited that some actions have been taken and the idea is now starting to snowball.

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

Time for Action

2009-12-10T08:09:00.004+08:00

Hello All,

Last night we had our second leadership meeting of Transition Blackwood.
A fair bit has happened since the first meeting - I have spoken at Moorafest about Transition Towns, have met with our local MP, Don Nardella (or at least his representative) and have made contact with Mike, the leader from Transition Anakie, who is hosting network breakfasts for all the local Transition leaders. Also we have our great logo and motto which has made a difference in getting the word out. (see above)
The really exciting news on the local front, though, is that our leadership group really got into action last night.
We had five attending including myself, which was fantastic. Our group came up with some ways to really get some positive and visible things happening on the ground between now and our next meeting. They are (in no particular order):

1) Jane is going to contact a woman she knows who converts cooking oil to run her car. She has apparently been doing it for over a decade and may come to speak to us to show us how.
2) Michael is going to call the woman from Moorabool Council who heads up community planning to let her know what we are doing and to include us in any community planning meetings (actually he already completed on this this morning!)
3) Katie is researching getting calico bags screenprinted with our logo and details (thanks Trentham Sustainability group for the idea). The hope is to sell them at the Fiddlers festival as both awareness raising and a way of generating some revenue. This is going to happen in tandem with the launch of our seed saving group who will give out free seeds.
4) Heather (me) is going to ask someone from either Trentham or Ballan who knows about the Farmers Market process to come and speak to us at the next meeting. We are all really keen on a farmers market. I am also printing some sign up sheets for Lerdies, the post office and the general store for people to have a visit from Green Saver- a company who will replace all of our regular light bulbs for energy saving ones FOR FREE!
5) We have also decided to research to see what it will take to get us INCORPORATED! We decided that this was a good option because it meant we could apply for grants. I'm going to ask the other Transition Initiatives if we can borrow their constitution to modify to use as ours.

Aside from the getting into action we also discussed some ideas for the future which included hosting 're-skilling events' at our town hall such as community cook off days (jam making, baking etc), how to use a chainsaw (the ladies especially liked this idea), how to make your own cheap and natural cleaning and beauty products, and herbal remedies. If anyone has other ideas, please feel free to message them through to the blog.

Everyone who attended agreed that it was a really wonderful meeting- very lively and with plenty of action and very little getting off track, which was great. Then we all shared a bottle of wine and had a chin wag before heading home.

Our next meeting is 7.30pm, Thursday the 28th of January at Jane Howat's place.

To the leadership team, THANKS! and to everyone we wish you a beautiful festive season full of love and laughter.

See you all next year and remember.. live local and love your town!

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

and We're Off!

2009-11-05T05:27:00.004+08:00

The first meeting of Transition Town Blackwood, held the evening after the Melbourne Cup holiday, was an absolute cracker.
It was hosted by the General Store - big thanks to Donna and Dennis- their back deck with a wood stove warming the chilly (November!) night provided a cosy space for the eleven of us to gather.
We were: Donna from the General Store, Nick, a local furniture maker and musician, Dusan, a sculptor and ex Olympic athlete, Brenda, who is also in chamber of commerce, Katie, a local gardener, mum and teacher, Bill, who also teaches and is an Australian baseball guru, Michael, our local holistic vet, Jane, a local who works from home and is also a keen gardener, Peter, an artist who has only recently moved to town, Tim, my husband who somehow manages to be a dad, welder, bicycle maker and criminal lawyer all at once and myself.

The evening was fairly simple, but structured. I led the beginning of the event - giving some background and more information about the problems of Peak Oil, Climate Change and the model for towns to 'transition' toward being better resourced and resilient locally.
We then broke into two groups to come up with ways in which Blackwood specifically would be affected. The ideas back from the group about the areas Blackwood was vulnerable were:
- Food : if food prices rise as well as petrol we will be hard hit having to drive out of town for groceries.
- Transport: some residents work in the city. School children, teenagers and the elderly are reliant on someone to drive them to where they need to be.
- Water: it was unclear exactly how this might be an issue but there was some concern given that a new sewerage scheme is proposed that will have the town reliant on outside infrastructure. Also it was felt that our dam is too small.
- Local Culture: both a need to raise awareness in the local culture and also a need for more local cultural activities.

After that we were going to do an exercise to brainstorm possible solutions, but everybody was way ahead of my plan- they had already done it as a natural response to the first task.
Some of the proposed ideas were:
- Local food co-op and/or a farmers market and food swap.
- Car pooling
- Re-establishing a local kinder
- Re-establishing some local control of forestry for heating and fire control
- A scheme for locals to get water tanks

There were many more ideas which we will follow up over the coming months.
The gathering concluded with a call for four people other than me to join the steering group and plan for how long we would lead it (The Transition Model suggests planning to hand over leadership at some point to keep the energy, share the load and give opportunities to new members).
I am pleased to announce that the lead team for Transition Town Blackwood for the next 12 months are: Nick Dear, Katie Hadwen-Beck, Michael Bascombe, Jane Howat and myself. Bill Wilson has offered to be a 'back up' leader should we need him and his 80 years of expertise.

Many many thanks to everyone who came along, told people about it, talked to me about it and supported us thus far.

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

1st Meeting Tomorrow Night!

2009-11-03T18:15:00.002+08:00

After reading, learning, emailing and speaking with so many about a Transition Initiative in Blackwood we are finally having our first meeting.
The location (after a bit of to'ing and fro'ing) is now set at:

Blackwood General Store
Martin Street, Blackwood
7.30pm.
We'll have one hour of focused talk followed by food to share (so bring a plate) and conversation.

Look forward to seeing you all there!

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

Local Economy and Spreading the Word..

2009-10-29T10:59:00.004+08:00

Last night I joined our local Chamber of Commerce group to share about Transition Blackwood, hear their initiatives and to look for ways to work together.
Listening to the talk around the group, I realised that we are experiencing a really burgeoning in Blackwood- so many exciting things are happening within our own town and with our neighbours in Trentham and Ballan.
First there was some discussion of a return of the Fiddlers Convention, which was relocated at the 11th hour to Blackwood last year and was a huge success. The natural beauty of Blackwood is one of the assets we shouldn't overlook when considering our local economy - marrying it with good music, with food and with a local welcome goes a long way to attracting visitors (and their dollars) to our town.
I wanted also to talk to the Chamber of Commerce about Trentham's community bank- but someone had already beaten me to the punch - they will be presenting to the Chamber of Commerce at their next meeting.
To top off a fantastic couple of days of Transitioning, I participated today as a marshal on the Special Schools Super Ride. This is an annual Blackwood event that sees over 100 children with special needs ride mountain bikes through the forest from Blackwood to Trentham.
Any able bodied adult who says they can't get on a bike because they are too old/tired/unfit should see these kids and get some inspiration. Rufus helped me wave them through the last bit of dirt track before heading to the BBQ lunch in town.
As it happened, Ruf fell asleep right before we reached our post and the only spot to park in the shade was on the verge of somebody's property. Country folk will notice a strange car on their lawn and wonder about it, so I popped through the gate and knocked on the door to let them know who I was and what I was about. It turned out the people who lived there are keen gardeners and one conversation led to another inevitably to Transition Towns. They were really interested and became even more so when I told them it had all started in Totnes where they are from. So there you go - we're living in a global economy and everything really IS connected.

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

Renewed Energy

2009-10-27T13:12:00.004+08:00

My commitment to this project is very strong, but every now and then something happens that gives me a particular surge of energy.

Today I met with the Trentham Sustainability Group - a mob of very action oriented and organised people who are really getting things done in their town. I have come away from that meeting with a copy of their town plan and some information about the possibility of getting Blackwood investment in their community bank.

Tomorrow night I am speaking to our Blackwood Chamber of Commerce to let them know what is happening and find out how their initiatives may link with Transition Blackwood.

My sister (a graphic designer) has kindly agreed to turn a scrawly sketch of mine into a Blackwood Transition Town logo-come-business card. The design is in black and white with a view to getting it made into a stamp that we can use on seed packets.

I'm sending an Excel table around via email to sign people up for free lightglobe and showerhead changes via Enviro Savers- a company who will come out and do up to twenty houses in one day.

...and the big news is - There are quite a few RSVPs for our first meeting:

Wednesday November 4th, 7pm

Garden of St. Erth Cafe

- please call me to RSVP so that I can plan and also bring a plate of food to share at the end.

We will try to stick to one hour of formal talk followed by an hour of informal food sharing and chat.

There are so many great ideas out there - I can't wait to meet and plan what is next for our community.

Happy Transitioning,

Heather

A lightning catch up

2009-10-23T19:17:00.002+08:00

So things have been happening..but I must admit it has been a crazy busy week and I haven't really had time to scratch myself - so I'm just taking this opportunity for a lightning catch up on all things transition.
Nick, who is our local furniture maker has let me know about his ideas for energy production. He told me to google 'gas producers' - turns out these were smallish machines that could burn wood debris to turn it into gas fuel. According to Wikipedia they are a closed carbon cycle (carbon neutral) and goodness knows we have plenty of wood debris around Blackwood - its our speciality!
Anyway, its great that people are starting to turn their minds to the practical aspects.
Also I'm still quite heavily focused on awareness raising. My goal is that everyone in our town knows what Transition Towns are about and has an opportunity to have a say.
I had a great conversation with Bill Wilson, a Blackwood local who is eighty years of age. He was an excellent source of local knowledge- put me onto a local who had wonderful ideas about who to talk to next, and has agreed to come along to our first gathering on the 4th of November at the St. Erth Cafe.
More updates soon..

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

Whoohee! Its happening...

2009-10-18T18:21:00.003+08:00

There is some serious momentum for change happening around these parts.
I went to the Trentham Farmers Market yesterday - the Trentham Sustainability Group were out in force and giving out hundreds of their orange string bags for a plastic bag free town.
I stopped to introduce myself - it was some of the folks I have spoken with on the phone. Then I wandered the market and talked to the stallholders about Transition Blackwood, the opportunities that are happening in Trentham and more.
One of the stall holders, Bernie, had a fair bit to say about a return to local growers. He grows spuds just outside of Trentham, and he said he'd introduce me to some members of the older community in Blackwood. That is something I think can't be valued highly enough - it is the older members of our community who remember how we lived good lives BEFORE massive oil reliance, so it makes sense they are the people to turn to find out how to live great lives without it.
I also had a great but short conversation with Anita from The Garden of St. Erth in Blackwood to ask about hosting our first meeting.
The date is tentatively set for the evening of Wednesday the 4th of November - so put that one in your diary!
So much more to tell - will update tomorrow.

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

Black Gold and Brown Coal

2009-10-16T17:29:00.002+08:00

It has been a very physical couple of days for me. I spent a good part of yesterday working with our energetic friend, Brendan, to move five big tree ferns that had been steadily dying since last summers heatwave - a sign of our changing climate. The recent rains were helping them, but I knew they were too exposed in their current positions so we dug them up (or rather Brendan dug them up as I'd put my back out lifting Rufus) and then put them into a new home in a very shaded spot near the septic overflow.
The earth around that area was not surprisingly very fertile with lots of natural leaf compost- black gold I call it. It has been invaluable in the vegie garden as well, where I've used our home made compost to enrich and break up the hard clay ground.
Another reminder of changing times today came in the form of the Age (one of our Victorian newspapers) which reported potential issues about the future closure of two big brown coal plants. 'Power Shortages!' wailed the headline and it made me wonder what would happen if the companies really did retaliate with strikes.
A colleague had been late for work today with another power out on the Frankston line. He said that the traffic jams were insane and that commuters had been waiting for buses for hours.
We have become so reliant on large networked systems that when one part of the network gets knocked out everything falls apart.
Tim is building our chook shed. If feels good to know that even if our car broke down, or we were out of work, or there was a big power out and the supermarkets had to close, we would probably get by food-wise at least from the vegetables in our garden and the eggs from our hens.

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

It's everywhere!

2009-10-14T17:21:00.004+08:00

Oh, I had a great meeting with Laura Campbell from Moorabool. She was going to invite me to speak at Moorafest, but Tom Kingston from the Moorabool Environment Group had beaten her to the punch. So it looks like I will be cooking up a talk and maybe even a workshop to follow a film screening at Moorafest.
We met at a great little espresso bar in Bacchus Marsh called Baby Black. Rufus, my toddler son, ran amok while we talked so the conversation was punctuated with me jumping up to retrieve him, but we still managed to share a lot of ideas.
After Laura left I had a chat with another woman who had come in with her baby. It turned out she lived in Greendale (wow! I thought.. if Greendale becomes a transition town we'll be connected all the way from Ballan to Trentham). Anyway, her name was Tracey and she told me a bit about the wind farm that is causing contention in their part of the world. She asked me to email her this blog link and I have, as well as the Primer.
It certainly seems that there is movement and action just about everywhere.

Other inspiring folks

2009-10-13T06:12:00.000+08:00

I called Ian MacBean from Trentham today and we've set aside a morning a couple weeks from now to meet and talk Transiton Towns and share what we are each up to.
I am very focused at the moment, on surrounding myself with lots of other people who are in action so that I can keep my momentum up. It is really inspiring what is happening in the Central Highlands. There are community gardens, and community banks, seed saving initiatives and bee keeping courses going here there and everywhere.
It is inspiring at a nation and world level too. Please check out the 'Over the fence' section at the bottom left of this page- it has links to the Australian Transition Towns network, the World network and to a blog from Sonya (who plays at the local and nation level) for her home town of Eudlo.
I'm off soon to meet Laura from Moorabool Shire.

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

Rain, hail, shine.

2009-10-12T12:21:00.000+08:00

We're having amazing weather here in Blackwood at the moment. On the weekend it was two days of exquisite sunshine - just warm enough to let Rufus go nappy free in the garden.
I finished work on the bed Caroline had helped with and put in five pear trees as espaliers to complete the fruit tree bed that will become a chook run.
I also put seed into punnet pots for pumpkin, zuchini, sweet corn, spinach, pak choy, corriander and dill. I planted out spring onions, leeks and broccoli.
While I was fossicking through my seed box I realised that sharing seed is something that could really work here in Blackwood. I have room for 24 corn plants in my garden - the packet I purchased has at least 60 seed. It is the same with nearly every seed packet and I have numerous packets from last year that would still be viable.
On the Transition front I emailed the Transition Primer to a few more folks I had promised it to and got in touch with Clive Blazey from the Diggers Club to ask about having the Garden of St. Erth host our first meeting.
I'm meeting with Laura from Moorabool Shire Council tomorrow to share ideas and find out what else is happening transition-wise in our shire.
Also my neighbour Yvonne passed on the concept to another neighbour, Wendy, and pointed out to me that Wendy, as a long standing resident and treasurer of senior citizens, would be a great person to have on board - another conversation for the coming days...

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

Words and Actions

2009-10-10T08:35:00.000+08:00

I caught up with Alex from sustainability at the City of Melbourne yesterday. We walked together to my country line train after work and talked about whether or not a transition initiative would work in the city.
One of the great things that came out of that conversation was that it reminded me to keep it local and 'ground up'.
Alex is doing a great project called 'Urban Coup' that allows people to invest $950 each into a land trust so that eventually they will collectively own some urban land for vegetables and chickens.
On the train on the way home I read more of the Transition Handbook and came to the part where it emphasized that Transition Initiatives work best when they are strongly rooted in the community and in small projects that people have ownership of before moving to the level of council.
Alex also pointed out that actions speak louder than words and that I should get off my butt (he said it much nicer than that) and set a date for the first meeting. When thinking about how to organise that first meeting it occurred to me that rather than lead it myself I could divide the leadership into different sections and invite our small team of 'starters' to each present on a section of the Handbook.
So without further ado - I'm off to get some things in action.

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

Cups of tea and local news

2009-10-08T18:36:00.000+08:00

Hello All,

I am absolutely knackered - a lovely Australian expression for those of you from other parts.
I got home at midnight last night from the movies in Ballarat and was up at 6 to drive Tim to the station (dreaming of the Blackwood to Ballan shuttle bus).
Caroline, a wonderful neighbour, came by at 10 to help me in the kitchen garden while Rufus slept.
We dug over two big beds and planted lettuce. It is still too early to plant out seed in Blackwood- we get late frosts until November - another much needed Blackwood transition project is a community hot-house.
After Caroline and I had washed up and had cups of tea I drove to Kyneton via Trentham to see Liana about Transition Kyneton.
In Trentham I stopped for potting mix at the hardware and had a great chat with Lee, a woman who had oodles of garden wisdom. I told her about Transition Blackwood and she put me onto the Trentham newsletter which had word of a community garden and community bank.
In the newsagent I chatted to Tanya about the concept and she told me how the town used to have its own butchers shop and how far they have to drive to shop now.
The newsletter gave me a link to the Trentham Sustainability Group - I called their number and spoke to Ian MacBean, a generous listener and clearly the source of a lot of action in Trentham.
He and I are going to catch up for a cup of tea soon. In the meantime I'm emailing him the link to this blog.
Then, finally I made it to Kyneton and to more cups of tea with Liana, who amongst other brilliant ideas had the thought of seeking the support of the local CWA (country women's association). You know they pretty much run everything in rural towns.
Finished the day by going to pick Tim up from the station to find that the train was running an hour behind due to power failure across the West. A sign of things to come?...
All up a fantastic day, but oh.. how sweet my bed will be tonight.

Happy Transitioning,
Heather

It all happens in conversation

2009-10-07T21:23:00.000+08:00

Hello All,

I had a great little conversation with the folks who catch my Ballan to Southern Cross train in the morning. They are an excellent group of people - really warm, generous and very sweet to my (sometimes overly lively) 18 month old, Rufus.
I just shared with them that I am really excited and passionate about the Transition Town concept and what it makes possible for communities.
One of the women then brought me an article from her local newspaper. It was written by Tom Kingston of the Moorabool Environment Group - a great piece about skepticism for climate change. The article finished with the time and address for the next group meeting, which was the following evening.
I couldn't make the meeting (Rufus' bed time) but dropped around anyway after picking Tim, my husband up from the station.
Within a five minute conversation, Tom and I had figured out that there was significant interest within the MEG for a transition initiative. If this happens in Ballan I will be two thirds toward my short term goal of creating Transition Town Initiatives on either side of Blackwood.
On the home front, a neighbour has offered to help me in the vegie patch tomorrow. I have four pear trees to go in and about eight packets of Spring veg seed. With a toddler on my hands, the kitchen garden project really doesn't happen without help- and it has made me consider community 'working bee credits' as a way of helping people in Blackwood to get their own veg patch happening. If you help at somebody's bee you get a working bee credit for your place.
It could really be that simple.
Anyhoo- its late and I've an early trip to the station tomorrow.
Happy Transitioning,
Heather

From little things...

2009-10-03T06:51:00.000+08:00

Hello All,

Two weeks ago the Transition Handbook that I had ordered arrived at my local library. It was my first real introduction to the concept of Peak Oil- the first time the penny dropped that life as we know it is going to change irrevocably- and the first time I knew what I was really passionate about.

What really excited me about Transition Towns was the possibility of communities becoming connected; people with all their disparate views, lifestyles and backgrounds being able to contribute in their own way to making their home town vibrant, beautiful, healthy and resilient.

So, with the feeling of a rocket under me for the possibility of all of this for my town and for Australia, I have done the following (in kind of chronological order):

- had conversations with 5 people in Blackwood who have pledged their support for the idea and emailed them the Transition Initiative Primer
- shared with some local mums at a baby shower last Tuesday and had one of them agree to lead Transition Kyneton. (I'm meeting with her next week)
- discovered that Andrew Lucas from Transition Surf Coast is speaking a the Avoca Sustainability Festival. I'll be going along to hear him.
- made an appointment with Alex Fearnside, head of sustainability for City Of Melbourne to talk about Transition Melbourne.
- made an appointment with Don Nardella my member for parliament to do the same. His secretary, Anna was really into the idea- she is considering leading Transition Bacchus Marsh
- spoke to a bunch of Department of Premier and Cabinet employees at our work induction. We had to give an interesting fact about ourselves. I shared about my passion for Transition Towns. A senior policy adviser for Resources and Infrastructure was really interested. I emailed him the Primer last night.
- Met someone from SBS on the train. She is going to tell me how one goes about getting a documentary commissioned. At the very least, I'll get to share about TT initiatives with the good folk there.
- dropped a note under the door of the Ballan Providor. They are already the kind of business that would be part of a Ballan Transition Initiative. I'm hopeful they'll be interested in leading Transition Ballan.

I have lots more I want to do. Will post again with a little less list and a little more narrative. :0)

Happy Transitioning,
Heather