The following report is provided on behalf of Parsons Bay Lodge and the Tasman Demonstration Project (the Hillside).
Helpers:
- In the past 6 weeks or so, PBL had the pleasure of hosting 4 Wwoofers/helpers, Nikki from the UK, Steve from Canada, Sahar from Israel and Andrew from Melbourne. All are ‘stuck’ in Tasmania due to Covid-19. They have made an enormous contribution to the appearance of both the Village and the Hillside with their energy and skills. Thank you!
- PBL has re-registered with HelpX, Workaway and Wwoof to host more workers.
Village Common ground tidy up:
- 4 steel trusses and 2 sea containers were on the common ground for many years. The original proposal was to convert these into a Village workshop space with a roof in between. Recently TEVA requested PBL to relocate these containers and other items away from the common ground. A planning permit exemption was obtained from Tasman Council to place the containers on the Hillside and build a roof in between them to create a workshop and storage space. The sea containers are now in place and the construction work is progressing well.
- A dangerous tree next to Unit 8 has been removed. A good quantity of fire wood was cut into logs and the tree limbs cleaned up promptly and efficiently, thanks to Ian Kingston, Benjamin Dean and 3 PBL Wwoofers. The job went very smoothly at no cost to the B/C.
- The tree offcuts and small limbs were delivered to the Village central common ground and provided an abundance of material for Mark and Miles to make biochar.
- A large tree stump on common ground near Rob and Catherine’s house (lot 110) was dug out with an excavator then relocated with a crane to the Hillside, at no cost to the B/C. See photos attached.
- Other smaller tree stumps in Pod A that were proud of the ground and were a tripping hazard were lifted out and removed as well.
- All the tree foliage, weeds, tree stumps and old fence palings were burned last Sunday in a large pile on the Winter Solstice day. See photos attached.
- The Hillside old Massey Ferguson tractor has been repaired. Some slashing and general tiding up took place in Pods B, C and D.
- The Hillside Project obtained a Council permit to build 2 poly-tunnels on the south west side of the Hillside property for food growing and seed propagation. Work has started with an area of 250 square meters being prepared, posts going in the ground and iron hoops recycled to make 2 tunnels. See photo attached.
- AK Consultants were engaged and came up with a design for a large dam in the south eastern gully of the Hillside, this dam could have a catchment capacity of 4 to 5 mega-litres and could offer long term water security to the Village. Please see the attached file Dam Map.
- Power to Pod B has now been installed. On Friday 19 th June power for an additional 7 potential house lots was installed, allowing Jack and Hannah’s new construction to be connected to power when they finish building. Storm water pipes went in the same trench for the collection of rain water overflows from the future roofs in the Pod. This power installation now completes 5 out of the 6 distribution switchboards in the main village connecting 32 out of the 40 lots in Pods A, B, C, and D.
