Why Biodiversity Matters!
An illustrated talk by Ray Woods
7.00pm, Tuesday 23rd February
Herb Garden Café
In his talk, Ray will explore the origins and inter-relatedness of life on Earth. He will be telling us about the latest discoveries about the impact that the evolution of life forms have had on our planet and its climate, and answering questions such as
- Did tiny bacteria turn the Earth into a giant snowball on more than one occasion?
- Why was the evolution of trees and dinosaurs a cause of great concern?
- Are we only here today because of the chance evolution of athlete’s foot and wet rot fungi?
The Earth is entering a new geological epoch of rapid climate change. Can we learn enough lessons from the past to ensure our survival?
Free admittance includes cake and hot drink served at 7pm. All welcome.
A poster to help promote this event is available to download.
Read more about February 2016 meeting: The Web of Life
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A talk by Tao Wimbush, Lammas Eco Village
Tuesday 26th January from 7pm to 9pm
at the Herb Garden Café, Llandrindod
The Lammas Eco Village in Pembrokeshire received planning permission in 2009 under the Welsh Government's One Planet Development Policy. The policy essentially allows development in the open countryside provided that applicants can demonstrate that they are living a sustainable lifestyle, achieve greater productivity of the land than its former agricultural use, and use low carbon natural building materials.
Tao Wimbush, one of the original founders of the Lammas community, was a guest speaker at the recent Powys REconomy conference organised by the Powys Transition and Low Carbon Communities Network (PTLCC). In this video of his talk, Tao describes the planning process and the experience of living sustainably and answers questions from the audience.
We'll also show a couple of short videos showing how Lammas has developed over the past six years.
Free admittance includes cake and hot drink served at 7pm.
Further reading:
The Welsh Government One Planet Development Policy
The One Planet Council
Lammas Eco Village
A poster to help promote this event is available to download.
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Free Film Night - Short films on UK Permaculture projects
Tuesday 24th November from 7pm to 9pm
at the Herb Garden Café, Llandrindod
Produced by Permaculture People for Permaculture magazine, these 9 short films showcase a number of projects in the UK that demonstrate ecologically sound and regenerative land based practices. The film on Natural Building is presented by Grand Design's Kevin McCloud. The films were released to coincide with the 12th International Permaculture Convergence held in London this September.
Discover how regenerative agriculture can rebuild soil and repair damaged farm ecosystems, see urban permaculture in action with permablitz and watch natural buildings being made from local resources in front of your eyes. Get informed, get inspired, and get involved! (Read more below for details)
Admission to the meeting is free. A donation will be requested to contribute to the costs of refreshments.
A poster to help promote this meeting is available to download.
Read more about November 2015 meeting: Living with the Land
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Guest speaker: Tony Davies
Tuesday 27th October from 7pm to 9pm
at the Herb Garden Café, Llandrindod
The uplands of the Elan Valley has areas of an under-utilized grass, 'Molinia caerulea' (Purple moor grass, Molinia). Molinia is a dominating species, and the spread of Molinia is having a damaging effect on species diversity, habitat quality, fire risk, access for recreation and agricultural productivity.
A project funded by the Welsh Government has been completed to look at methods of reducing the dominance of Molinia and the improvements to the habitat created by this removal. Experimentally processing the harvested biochar into Biochar has also been part of the project.
Biochar is produced through a process called pyrolysis that heats biomass with limited amounts of oxygen present. The carbon rich biochar resists degradation and can lock up carbon in soil for hundreds or even thousands of years.
Soil rich in biochar has improved water and nutrient retention and has potential commercial usage within the market garden and other growing sectors.
About the speaker
Tony Davies is a tenant farmer at Henfron Farm in the Elan Valley with a passion for renewable energy and sustainability. Tony is the fifth generation of the Davies family to farm at Henfron Farm, his ancestors having first moved to the farm in 1860. For more information please visit the Henfron Farm website.
Admission to the meeting is free. A donation will be requested to contribute to the costs of refreshments.
A poster to help promote this meeting is available to download.
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Guest speaker: Andrew Twigger
Emergency Planning Officer, Powys County Council
Tuesday 22nd September from 7pm to 9pm
at the Herb Garden Café, Llandrindod
Pandemic Flu, Flooding, Severe Weather, and loss of Energy sources are among the major risks to the community. In his talk, Andrew will describe the various organisations that are involved nationally and locally in dealing with these risks. In particular he will cover the Dyfed Powys Local Resilience Forum, which has the responsibilty to plan for, respond to, and recover from emergencies in our area.
The Community Risk Register for the Dyfed Powys area assesses the most significant risks to the community, and Andrew will go through those that are most relevant in the Llandrindod area. As well as describing how the Emergency Planning services prepare to deal with these issues, he will look at how individuals and households can best prepare themselves to mitigate the impact of major events.
Admission to the meeting is free. A donation will be requested to contribute to the costs of refreshments.
A poster to help promote this meeting is available to download.
- Details
