After due consideration I don’t think I have the prerequisites to apply for one of the positions but I did have a few thoughts about economic growth generally.

Let me start with four things I really like about Winter:

1. Snuggling up in bed every night with a yummy rich hot chocolate
2. Butter melting through a stack of crisp yet deliciously spongy crumpets
3. Toasting marshmallow over an open fire
4. Slothing around in comfy old tracky pants (the ones with a really stretchy waist band.

OK what about Summer?

Here is one thing I really don’t like about the start of Summer.

Trying to get into your budgie smugglers on the first sunny day after the rains and realising that they just don’t fit any more … or more to the point, as they haven’t changed over the Winter, you don’t fit anymore! 

Struggling with the unimaginable notion that you have grown too big, your mind rushes about grasping more and more implausible explanations. 

Maybe the very last time you went to the beach last summer you mistakenly took someone else’s Speedos (someone much smaller, of course) . . . .

Maybe your bathers are made out of some new fangled lycra which shrinks when not exposed regularly to sunlight. . . . . 

Maybe your partner is messing with your mind by replacing your togs with an identical but much smaller pair.  . . . .

Finally (possibly after a reality check in the mirror) you are faced with the incontestable fact that they are your bathers and you’ve just grown too big.  There’s no escaping it.  How depressing. 

At this point you have three choices.

One, you can decide you never really liked swimming anyway and you’d rather spent the rest of your life wearing comfortable trackies.

Two, you sneak out and buy a bigger pair of bathers, which is fine this year and may be next year, but at some point in the not too distant future you may find yourself at the centre of a mob of enthusiastic young conservationists trying to push you back into the water and chanting ‘Save the whales, save the whales’.

Three, you come to the painful realization that your pleasurable overindulgence has led to your unpleasant over expansion and that as painful as it may be, the best time to address the problem is sooner rather than later.

What’s this all got to do with economic development?  Well it’s like this.

Essentially, some things get bigger, and some things don’t. When the two collide there’s a problem.

Let’s look at some non-budgie smuggler examples:

Some things get bigger -

1) Population. At the moment, Australia’s population is growing at over 2% annually – one of the fastest in the world.  Perth’s population is predicted to double by 2050.

2) House sizes and the urban sprawl.  Since the 1950s the average Australian house has doubled in size (despite the population per house halving). We are living in four times as much space as we used to.

3) Cars. Between 1980 and 2003 the number of cars in Australia doubled to 10 million and continues to increase faster than the population.

In fact, if you look at just about anything to do with consumption of resources, you’ll see a parabolic increase since about the end of WWII

Some things don’t get bigger -

1) The number of habitable planets currently at our disposal. 

2) Happiness. Despite a threefold increase in the material wealth of the average Australian since the 1950’s our happiness has flatlined.

In fact some things are actually on the decline – (mostly natural resources!)

3)Water. Water inflow into Perth dams has fallen from about 330 gl (in 1960) down to about 80 gl (2009) and continues to decline.

4) Oil. Australia’s oil production has peaked and is in decline, and according the ASPO predictions production worldwide may well have already peaked.

5) Land. Viable food producing land. At present 2.4 million hectares of Australian farmland has become unusable due to salt encroachment. This is estimated to increase sixfold over the next 30 – 50 years.

Maybe I’ll stop there before I run out of fingers . . . .

It concerns me that economic growth is taken as a given, even though it is based on increasing consumption of our dwindling natural resources, driven largely by increasing population (baby bonus anyone?), which in turn has only been made possible by the availability of cheap oil.

I understand that the very suggestion that we can’t continue to grow indefinitely will be howled down as ridiculous. 

After all, the last fifty years has seen the average Australia undergo continued increases in wealth and prosperity. 

Surely the next fifty years will be the same!

Surely growth is good … 

Or is it?

Think about it next time you try to fit into last year’s Speedos.

Cheers, Tim

 So let me ask you a personal question.  Do you like wasabi?  No, seriously, tell me the truth – I can take it.  I won’t judge you as a wasabi wuss if you don’t. 

Personally, I can’t stand it.  One sniff from 50 paces and I feel like someone has poured Draino up my nose, while the idea of voluntarily ingesting it activates my involuntary gag reflex.  I think the strength of my reaction may be linked to my first wasabi experience.  I was having dinner at a local food hall, teriyaki chicken and salad.  About half way through the salad I thought ‘Gee, look at that!  They’ve given me a little bit of avocado – yum’.  Being somewhat partial to avos, I scoffed it down.  Need I say more?  I haven’t been able to look a blob of wasabi in the eye since. 

My girlfriend, on the other hand, absolutely loves it. For her teriyaki anything wouldn’t be complete without a blast of nasal rheeming green gloop. 

So that’s how it is.  She loves it.  I hate it.  A mixed marriage, if you will. 

Apart from a strict half hour break between eating at the food hall and smooching, we get along famously.  As I said, it’s quite a personal question.  You might love it or hate it.  There’s no telling.

 Can we move to a more pertinent example? 

Read the following two passages:

Him -What an awesome place. Very resourceful to convert an old carriage into what it is now. We spent two remarkable nights here. The shower is fantastic. Tim’s work on the bed and shower are noteworthy. Really special place! Keep up the excellent work. It was most entertaining to read your folder on what you have done to the place – kept me interested until the last page. Good luck and we shall be sure to stop here again on our travels. Her – We loved our stay in your gorgeous carriage, serenaded by frogs, lullabied by water features, luxuriated by the pebbles in the outdoor shower. The Painted Fish is truly divine. Thank you for sharing your vision.

We stayed in the Carriage. I cannot comment on the other 2 accommodation styles the Painted Fish offers. The (Railway) Carriage is actually a Cattle Cart with sliding doors that a very fit person would have trouble opening and closing – a health and safety risk. The furniture was so old I wouldn’t even offer it to a charity. The owners are eco-friendly but so are many other people. They have mis-represented the Carriage on their web site to be something that it isn’t. It was simply disgusting.

Now believe it or not these two marvelously expressive passages are two different responses to almost exactly the same experience ie a couple of days staying at the accommodation place run by partner, Shani (the wasabi lover) and myself.

Our accommodation is called the Painted Fish.  It’s eclectic, quirky and run with as much of a sustainability bent as we can manage.  It was even recently described by Josh Byrne as one of the most innovative sustainable retrofits in Western Australia.

I came up with the wasabi analogy because I’ve been fishing around for some way of understanding how our humble holiday offering can elicit such powerfully different responses.  When you run any business, particularly one which reflects you personality and beliefs, then I think any honest and constructive feed back should be treasured.  How else are you going to know how to improve your product or know whether what you are offering has a place in the market?

If you’ll forgive me another digression. . . .

Remember way back when (and it’s been a long time since I watched commercials on TV!) there was an advertisement for toothpaste that started with a blonde beautiful couple paddling romantically along a river.   He leans towards her and whispers something gently in her ear.  She jumps out of the canoe, slamming down the paddle and storms off screaming  ‘Next time you can paddle your own canoe!  He says I’ve got bad breath!’ 

Now as a business owner I’d love to reshoot that ad.  When he leans forward and whispers sweetly in her ear she turns around and hugs him saying something like Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.  I didn’t realise.  Thanks for having the courage to tell me.  When I get home I can do something about it.  I know you love me and you’re giving me honest feedback to save me embarrassing myself in public.’  (I mean, who knows she might just have been eating some wasabi).

And after a passionate embrace they paddle off into the setting sun. As I said honest and constructive feedback is rare and precious.

 But what do you do with feedback that contradicts the very things you hold dear?  (I’m sorry, Mr Schwarzenegger, but your biceps are just too big OR Yes, Mr Flannery, I can see you are passionate about climate change but it hardly makes cheery reading now does it?  Have you thought about trying romantic comedy?)

 Again, seeking a more pertinent example, let’s go back to The Painted Fish (if you are brave enough after reading the quoted Trip Advisor review!). 

It’s actually really quite upsetting to Shani and myself to get really negative responses.  We put a lot of time and effort into our business and one of our biggest rewards is looking at the lovely comments, poetry and pictures that people leave in our guest book.

The vast majority of the feedback we get is really fantastic (see website for examples if you are currently underemployed or on holidays and don’t have a good novel).

When we excitedly flip the guest book open and get one of the two or three “hate mail” entries we have had in the last four years, it really is like a mouthful of wasabi. 

It is really just a question of people with different tastes and expectations?

 Let me give you another example. 

We had one guest who sent us quite an extensive list of our transgressions (which I probably would have listed as special features) including:

 The carriage was just an old cattle truck with no charm or character. Well, he’s absolutely right in that it is an old cattle truck.  A marvellous reuse of existing materials I would have thought.  Through my eyes the wave bed I had made from recycled steel, the dry stone rubble walls (collected from roadside earth works, inside/outside courtyard water feature, pirate ship entry gates and collection of prints and paintings from local artists make it a charming and character full setting. But then that’s just me and I also hate wasabi . . .

The shower was outside. Again, absolutely true.  The al fresco shower in the carriage is one which I sculptured from copper to look like a vine or sunflower is one of my favourite features of the carriage.  It has featured in quite a few magazine and newspaper articles and there’s a bit of a nudie shot of me showering in it on one episode of Gardening Australia.  However, obviously not for everyone.

 The furniture was made out of old boxes . . . .Absolutely true.  I love old wooden boxes

 . . . . or looked like it came from the side of the road. Yes, in fact most of it did, or from garage sales or else I made it.  I think the only new furniture at The Painted Fish are the red lounges in the studio.  We bought them from Ikea and I swear I’d never go there again . .  but then again while that’s my opinion  I hear the traffic in the car park is increasing faster than the Great Sandy Desert.

 That we claim to be sustainable but he also recycled his scraps and grew vegies. Wonderful – good on ya.  There should be more of it.

 That the crockery was all second hand and some of it was chipped. Absolutely true.  I love old tea pots and crockery.  So much so that I will often keep them in use even if they get a few chips.  Ironically, the day we received this guest’s list of grievances another guest who was really enjoying our colourful and eclectic crockery collection had come across some great pieces in an op shop and brought them back as a gift for us.

 I don’t believe the other guests comments were authentic. So you see, this poor fellow has come across exactly the same dilemma I’m talking about.  The disparity between what he perceives and what other people have written is so great that it is simply incomprehensible.  In this case, he has decided (if I interpret him correctly) that I must be making them all up. I’m flattered by his suggestion that I have such a wide range of literacy and artistic skills (not to mention different languages and hand writing styles. Unfortunately I must confess that they were all written by guests.  Not only that, but mostly guests who actually liked The Painted Fish and enjoyed their stay.

 Which brings me to the point of this novella. 

Contrary to the belief of the guest who gave us his feedback, it’s not our intention  to trick unwitting travellers into wasting their money and ruining their holiday by spending it at “The Horrible Painted Fish”.

The really great thing about small owner run accommodation like ours is that they are so varied, reflecting the personalities of the people who run them and offer a huge range of styles and prices. 

Hopefully, everyone wanting somewhere to stay should be able to find something that at least approximates their needs. 

As my brother says ‘For every lid there fits a pot.’ 

 So I guess all this is a round about and hopefully light hearted way of saying ‘Thinking of staying at The Painted Fish book carefully, you may not like it.’

We look forward to seeing you.

(Of course not if The Painted Fish is not the pot that fits your lid!)

Love Tim

PS  Always brush your teeth after eating wasabi!

My husband and I have stayed at the Painted Fish many times before, in all of the accommodation options: the Carriage, the Cottage and the Studio.  I can’t decide which one I prefer. I like the Carriage for the “cute” factor and its outdoor shower; the Cottage for its unique blend of old world charm and modern eco-designs; and the Studio for its funky red couches and general air of style. 

Wherever I do stay, there are a few things that always happen:

• I feel like I’ve reconnected with old friends;
• I come away feeling inspired to do more with my own garden, my own community;
• It never feels long enough;
• I feel like I’ve nourished my soul and all of my senses.

Upon our arrival at the Painted Fish, the first thing that usually strikes me is the earthy fragrances of wooden floorboards, fresh linen and herbs in the garden.  It calms me instantly.

I never cease to be amazed at the craftsmanship in the buildings – Tim’s clever iron work can be seen all around the place – on the beds, shower heads, gates and stairwells – and his fantastic paintings decorate the walls, along with a variety of other artists’ works. 

For me, staying at the Painted Fish is about staying put and allowing myself the time to sit in the sun with a newspaper and a cup of tea (Tim and Shani have a great collection of teapots and old-fashioned cups and saucers – tea always tastes better out of a proper cup!), or listening to some relaxing music while dozing on the couch.   

The atmosphere is perfect for this.  In the main courtyard, the large Japanese Pepper tree catches the breeze and the frog pond makes for a serene addition to the garden, which also provides fresh herbs and some veggies, should I have the inclination to cook (if not, there are many restaurants and cafes an easy stroll away). 

If I’m feeling energetic I will walk down to South Beach (which is only five minutes away) or catch the free bus into Fremantle.  Tim and Shani also have bikes that you can use to get around – if you’re really keen, which I rarely am!

I always get a great night’s sleep, helped along by the plush pillows and comfy beds, and when I wake up and see the sun twinkling through the leaves on the Japanese Pepper tree, I’m ready to do it all over again.

Twenty plus Living Smarties had a hoot Wednesday night at the Sustainable Clothing session presented by Lesley Thomas and Kerri Barrie. There was a lively trade in clothes and fabrics to swap and lots of discussion about what we could do to take our passion for sustainability into the change room and laundry with us (and still look gorgeous!).

 Kerri spoke about her lifelong passion for reusing fabrics – including felt hats and boots from old jumpers and using doilies, tablecloths and curtains to create beautiful and unique clothes. Kerri and her friend Melanie have started up a business devoted to this and supporting fair trade and local designers and makers: check out Red Feathers and a Hula Skirt at 360 Marmion St Melville.

Genevieve (Gen) also wore a beautiful dress that had been created from several other clothes and showed how she had turned one dress into a dress, apron and and a skirt! Great example and role model, Gen!

So, about a dozen people pledged to recycle, renovate and refashion their clothing choices for 2, 4, 6 or 12 months. Check out the Wardrobe Refashion Pledge website for details. We’d love to do a mass pledge of 20 or more people for at least 2 months. The rules are: No Buying New (exceptions: undies, specialist wear and hand made clothes) One ‘Get out of Jail Free’ card per 2 months post to blog regularly and report on progress Be honest – fess up to slips We’ll have a ‘show and tell’ event in a couple of months to show off what we’ve done.

Kerri and Lesley are hoping to get a few Living Smarties together to share a refashioning course so we can learn together and have a good laugh as we fulfil our pledges.

Information from the Night

Lesley shared some of her research into sustainability as it applies to fabrics and manufacturing, as well as some hot tips on what to look for and where to look for recycled and vintage clothes. For those people who wanted some of the websites Lesley referenced in her talk, please see below.

Comparisons of sustainable fibre choices through ‘Made By’ Brands Fibre benchmarking.

Environmental Benchmark Fibers (PDF)

Made By rated recycled fibres, and organic hemp and linen in the highest rating (class A), with organic cotton as class B. Conventional hemp and linen and PLA (a type of polyester made from plant fibres rather than petroleum were ranked in class C. Most synthetics, non-organic cotton and wool were rated lowest of the 20 fibres. (photo: Carol Hanlon: London College of Fashion) Some manufacturers are taking up the sustainability challenge.

Made By Brands and Icebreaker both have developed track and trace systems for supply chain transparency.

http://www.icebreaker.com/site/baacode/index.html

http://www.made-by.nl/tracktrace.php?lg=en

Goodone recut clothing from recycled clothes (as does a a small business in the East Freo area (could the Living Smartie who had these details please contact Lesley?). Goodone have a great video on their website that shows this in action.

Two companies that are taking a more holistic approach to sustainability include: Aussie company Fully Stoked – (www.fullystoked.com.au) UK’s Continental Clothing’s Earth Positive – (www.continental clothing.com).

Refinity’s amazing felt clothing http://www.ecouterre.com/5857/dutch-designers-modular-refinity-clothing-is-like-legos-for-fashion/refinity-click-fold03/

On the vintage and recycling front, tips for buying include: go for quality – style, materials, construction, classics… …Or cheap and cheerful Check zips work Check for stains, damage (vintage usually shows some wear) Undone hems and seams are easy to fix Can shorten/take in if needed

Buying recycled or refashioning clothes : Reduces the impacts of fabric and manufacture Lower exposure to finishing chemicals and excess dye Most are recycled locally, reducing transport footprint Pleasure of finding a unique piece Extends the life of beautiful, well made clothes and shoes

Place:                    A couch in a house in the Kimberley Desert

She said:              Will you marry me?

He said:                Yes.

She said:              Where?

He said:                The Painted Fish?

She said:              Yeah!

Six months later, after a move to East Timor and some long-distance planning with Tim & Shani…

 Date:                     28 November 2009 (A perfect weather day in Fremantle)

Place:                    The Painted Fish.

 Enter:    The Pizza Oven.

                A white marquee.

                A little stage between the two frog ponds.

                Some paper lanterns.

                A small choir, a bouzouki and a ukulele.

                A polaroid camera.

                Copious amounts of olives and cheese.

                70-odd beautiful people.

                A bride.

                A groom.

               … And a whole lot of warm, fuzzy love.

Thank you, Tim and Shani for everything:   for making our day run so smoothly, for making pizzas, for MCing, for inspiring us all to make gardens and get chooks and cargo bikes and pizza ovens and build communities. 

 Love from Wade & Gillian x

Written by Susie and Jess (and a big thanks to them from Shani!)

Amy the happy pearl stringed house-wife, shared her inspiring experience and extensive knowledge of Vacola preserving. She talked about  why she preserved. –   Because she gardens, economics, creative satisfaction, to reduce waste, to reduce food miles (check out sustainability.ceres.org.au – to make tin cans, ore from WA is shipped to Japan to be processed, then back to Melbourne, and across to WA, a distance of more than 17 000km. And that doesn’t even factor in what’s in the can!), and having assurance about what you eat!

Amy uses the good old Fowlers Vacola gear. All you need to know is in the instruction book, or google it, for beautiful bottles of preserved fruit (no sugar, vinegar, or other preserving agents necessary) If you don’t have the Fowler’s gear (a big tub with a thermometer slot down the side, plastic or stainless steel with an electric element, or a tin tub which sits on a gas stove), you can heat up your jars in a big pot on the stove, but rest them on a cake rack so they don’t crack, and wrap tea towels round them so they don’t rattle (Leah).  Check out the quokka for second hand jars, should be about $1 each. Look out for stainless steel lids (brassy ones go a bit rusty)

What to preserve?Tomatoes are great (but not veggies, cause they’re not acidic enough, may breed botulism!) Plums, peaches, apricots because you can get them cheap in season or off your tree.  Also orange, lemon and other juices!(And you can use the water you heat up for a bath!)

And jams are as easy as could be…One part fruit: one part sugar+ lemon juice, pith and seeds in a muslin bag (for pectin) or green apples, or jamsetta (just in case) Wash jars and dry them in the oven on low heat. Boil up the fruit and sugar til gloopy (for a test set put a tsp-full on a plate that’s been in the freezer. The jam should set on the plate). A jam funnel makes it easier to get into the jars.Forage the streets for free food – lilly pillys, quandongs, figs, mulberries, mmm…

Cordial is easy too 1kg sugar: 600ml fruit juice (lemon, grapefruit, lime, grape – heat fruit, mash and strain through muslin) + a bit of citric acid

Some good books on preserving Amy recommended were  A Year in a Bottle: Sally Wise and Pick, Preserve, Serve

And then Shani stepped forward for the lowdown on freezing. Frozen food stores indefinitely, no nutrients are lost. Spread fruit and veggies – berries, cherries, pears, tomatoes, corn, spring onion – flat on trays to freeze speedily, and then store in freezer bags. Blanch veggies such as beans and pumpkin first (put in boiling water 2 min, iced water 2 min) to slow enzyme ripening (they’ll go mushy otherwise). Defrost in fridge.

And…

 Drying Some ideas included – solar wheel barrow (glass sheet on top), a mesh screen resting on the dash board of your car (windows just slightly ajar for air circulation). Great for peaches, figs, tomatoes…

And very best of all, we wind it all up by sampling some of the passionate preserves produced by Amy and Shani – pears with vanilla bean and lemon zest served with baked custard, lemon cordial, sundried tomatoes, fig jam… truly delicious!  

Thankyou! We are thoroughly inspired!

If you are interested in coming along to our nights – email Shani on stay@thepaintedfish.com.au) We meet on the first Wednesday of each month at 7:00 in the library at Beaconsfield Primary School. Please bring along something to share for a snack and mug for a cuppa

 Topics for the next few months include:

March 3^rd –  Sustainable Clothing with Lesley Thomas and invited guests Bring along some clothing to swap and those evening clothes to donate

April 7^th Make your own Alcohol (April 1^st is Easter!) Greg will share tips on beer making, Peter will share ideas on making liquers and we are still hoping to find someone to talk on making your own wine (can anyone help? – call Shani)

May 5th  – Looch will talk about Vegan and Vegetarian eating and cooking (and she promises to share some recipes including her amazing corn patties!)

June 2nd– (to be confirmed) GM Consumers’ Network

Please contact Shani Graham at stay@thepaintedfish.com.au  or on 0417 941 991 if you want to be on our email list or you have ideas for future Living Smarties Topics 

The first time we stayed in the Painted Fish was almost exactly two years ago. We’d planned our entire five-week trip except for the last week in Perth. We’d planned on taking a shuttle to Cottesloe, which people had recommended to us, and we’d certainly find something nice there. Er, no, unless you’re into way too perfect people carefully displaying their way too perfect bodies, shops that are all called ’boutiques’ and unimaginative, overpriced holiday apartments.
We lugged our backpacks to the station and decided to head for Fremantle. The Lonely Planet description sounded promising, and while working out the ticket machine, we started calling the most extaordinary accommodation description.
As it turned out, the description was fairly conservative. We got through to Shani, who told us to ‘just come over, and we’ll sort something out’. The instructions on which CAT to take were flawless and the moment we got off, we met Shani on her wonderful bike – the one on which you have to lie down.  (I wonder what happened to that, by the way – didn’t see it last time we were around!)

We spent six nights at the Painted Fish, moving back and from the carriage and the studio and had a great time with the frog choir, the outside shower and, on one of the last nights, an impressive thunderstorm above sea that we watched from the top of the studio. I not sure if these natural fireworks were included in the package though.

This time, two years after our first visit, we decided to plan our stay at the Fish carefully. Actually, it was the first stay we planned. We’d be in the carriage for four nights before moving on to South Australia. Needless to say, our careful planning was upset in the second week of our holiday by the one unplannable element – the weather. The chilly (ok, 18 degrees) temperature of WA’s south coast made us flee back to the Peeth region, and once more we found ourselves calling the Fish at the last notice. And once again, we weren’t disappointed. Arriving back in Freo felt pretty much like coming home, taking in all the landmarks from our previous visit and spotting differences.

Most of all, we admired the watertank which we’d helped decorate on our first visit (we still didn’t get round to grouting it, so that’ll have to wait till next time) and which had turned out to be beautiful. For some reason, it’s things like this you remember.
Similarly, I’ll remember from this visit the Living Smarties (or what was it called) workshop on preserving. Not that I’m that hot on making jam. I made a fairly nice fig jam last summer from the figs of a friend’s tree, and we’re forever deepfreezing soups and curries since we never seem to remember we’re just with the two of us, but that’s about as far as it goes. Still, the workshop is something I’ll remember, from working out where on eart the local primary school was and nearly being decapitated by the Living Smarties banner to the friendly welcome by the ‘veteran’ Smarties, the info sharing and the custard with vanilla-and-honey pears afterwards.

I guess that’s what we most like about our stays; that you’re not just passively staying at one spot, but that you really get to meet people, get involved, exchange ideas and find out how certain ideas have already spread around the globe.

That said, one of the cottage’s sustainable mysteries for me will be how on earth they’ve managed to make environmentally friendly dishwashing liquid that’s fluorescent green. (Go check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me.) But maybe that was just the result of another Smarties workshop.

Needless to say we’ll be back – just give us another year or two!

(and we can’t wait Veronique – Shani and Tim)

Veronique Crolla

Queen bees live for  1 to 4 years 
Drone bees live for 6 to 8 weeks 
Worker bees live for 6 to 8 weeks
The brood temperature is always 34 deg C
It take 500 workers 4 weeks to make 1kg of honey
Queens can lay up to 2,000 eggs in 1 day      
It takes 21 days from an egg to a bee.
A hive contains approx 30,000-60,000 bees
Each bee frame has about 3,000 cells on each side of the frame. (6,000 cells per frame)
Bees are attracted to Dark colours which can excite them, so it is best to wear light colours & NOT dark. (Hats and Socks as well)
100 bee hives can use up to 1,000 litres of water in a week, that’s 10 litres each bee hive each week.
Bees can beat their wings up to 200 times per Second as they fly. (They have 4 wings) This is how they make their buzzing noise.
Bees can carry 50% of their weight in a load of honey and a Jumbo Jet can only carry about 25% of their weight.
Honey does not have a use by date, In Egypt they found honey that could be eaten after 2,000 years.
Bees need to eat about 7 kilograms of honey to make 1 kilogram of bees wax.
Pollen contains high levels of protein, 1 kilogram of pollen contains the same protein as 5 kilo of beef.
Bees use only about 1 teaspoon of honey to fly around the world.
If you are stung by a bee always scrape out the sting, never pull it out!

But the highlight of the evening was after the formal talking was over. We moved outside and chief honey extractor Aaron (at three and a half years of age) showed us how to use the hand spun machine extract honey from the honey filled frames Peter brought along.  Norm managed to get covered in honey and we all thoroughly enjoyed the taste of the unprocessed product.
Peter has several hives in the Fremantle, White Gum Valley and Coolbellup area and he prefers to sell his honey locally if possible. Shani and Tim always have some at their place, so get in touch with them if you are interested in purchasing local unprocessed honey from Peter.

As always seems to happen at Living Smarties it was inspiring to hear from someone so passionate about their area of interest, and we are all appreciative of the time Peter put into putting his presentation together and the effort he made to bring all his gear.

Next month we are planning an end of year dinner, sharing and celebration, along with a screening of the movie FLOW which will be held  at the end of Hulbert Street on Friday night December 4th.

Freo Living Smarties

 End of Year Dinner and Film Night 
   

Friday December 4th 2009
At the end of Hulbert Street, South Fremantle
Bring your family and friends

6:00 pm for dinner – bring food to share
Bring a chair to sit on (or pillows)
7:30pm for the movie FLOW and discussion
FLOW – For Love Of Water.
Water sustains our planet. Without it there would be nothing . . . come and see Irena Salina’s award winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st century – The World Water Crisis

For more information call Shani on 0417 941 991

10 Good Reasons to Have Chooks in Your Backyard…
1. Chooks give you infinite pleasure.
2. They are good pets for kids & adults.
3. Chooks will save you money.
4. They turn your scraps into eggs.
5. Chooks give you free fertiliser.
6. You will get fresh ethically produced eggs.
7. Chooks eat garden pests.
8. You will reduce your food miles.
9. Mouth-watering Roast Chicken – reconnect with where your food comes from.
10. There is nothing better than seeing a child with his/her chook with a mob of chicks!

10 Things that Chooks Need
1. Shelter
2. Roosts
3. Food
4. Other Chooks
5. Dust Bathing Areas
6. Shell Grit
7. Clean Water
8. Air
9. Protection from
hawks, foxes, dogs
10. Sun

How to Find Chooks
In WA there are lots of places you can find the chook for you. Here are a few suggestions…
You can buy the Quokka Thursday and find a whole range of chooks advertised, from day old chicks to laying hens, free chooks, breeding pairs, roosters etc.
OR You can go Online…
WA Poultry Trader
http://wapoultrytraders.proboards.com/index.cgi?
Clucky Hen Hatchery
http://www.cluckyhen.com.au/
ChookNet
http://www.chooknet.com.au/
Comps Poultry
http://www.poultryandbirdswesternaustralia.com/
Eggschange Auctions
http://www.eggschangeauctions.com/
 

This website is great for chook info www.simplynaturalorganic.com

 Note: Each council in Perth has their own set of regulations for keeping chooks and will tell you if you can have roosters or not, so it is worth checking it out with them.

Hulbert Street Sustainability Fiesta 2009 Poster

The 2009 Hulbert Street Sustainability Fiesta held on Saturday and Sunday September 19th and 20th 2009  built on this success, expanding the educative and participative content in response to a growing interest in sustainability of the Hulbert Street residents and the broader community. Despite a cloudy and cold weekend with several showers, this year over 5,000 people visited the street over the two day event.

The vision behind the Fiesta was one of celebrating sustainable living, encouraging people to take on a more sustainable lifestyle by coming to visit us  and demonstrating the most sustainable accommodation option in WA – The Painted Fish and Fremantle’s “Sustainable Street” – Hulbert Street. Sustainability and community are an important aspect of life on Hulbert Street, with over 25% of the houses being connected to their own solar power, over 50% of the houses growing some of their own food, regular street movies, community gardening days and fun social events ensuring people in the street are well connected and in a perfect situation to host the Fiesta.

This report outlines some of the major initiatives undertaken in 2009, describes some of the Fiesta highlights, provides a financial report and outlines some recommendations for the Fiesta next year.

Funding the Fiesta – Sponsorship Applications to the City of Fremantle.
Applications were made to the City of Fremantle for three different aspects of the Fiesta. (Please contact Shani Graham if you would like to see copies of these applications.)

A Community Grant application was made for the pre Fiesta activities, including the street planting day, children’s scarecrow making workshop and Youth Tree Training Day. Although the Fiesta was successful in gaining funds from this source in 2008 for the Fiesta itself, the City has a policy of not funding the same event twice. While the application made was clearly for activities leading up to the Fiesta and not for the Fiesta itself, this application was not successful.  The reason given was that the activity had been funded previously.

Freo First Funding was sought to pay for the coordination of the stalls over the weekend, part of the advertising costs and a marquee and seating over the weekend.

An application was also made to Alex Hyndman, the City’s Sustainability Officer to pay for the Speakers Marquee and advertising for the Fiesta. Alex liased with officers from Freo First and a total of $4,400 (including GST) was granted for the Fiesta from the Sustainability Initiatives Budget.

Other funding sources included stall holder fees, donations from a Melville Living Smart Group and local members of parliament, a percentage of door takings from the Australian Open Garden at The Painted Fish and donations received from people visiting Tim and Shani’s home at #21. The budget report
contains a full breakdown of income and expenditure, including an estimated value of the in kind support donated by residents to run the Fiesta.

Advertising the Fiesta

This year’s Fiesta poster featured a painting by local artist Tim Darby, entitled “Growing Community”. His whimsical water colour caricatures are popular with adults and children. Tim donated the use of this image to the Fiesta.

Kate Lindsay, a local graphic designer from Coagency and Hulbert Street resident, designed postcards and a poster advertising the Fiesta, and coordinated the printing of the this advertising material. All graphic design work was kindly donated by Kate.

Postcards were distributed early in August to interested stall holders and others. Posters were displayed in prominent businesses and public spaces around Fremantle and the greater Perth metropolitan region.

An article in the Herald newspaper about a month before the Fiesta featured information about some of the pre Fiesta activities and called for stall holders and buskers to participate.

The Feista poster image was also used as the basis for a special “wrap around” the Fremantle Herald newspaper, which was distributed to all households in the Fremantle area the weekend before the Fiesta.

This wrap had information about the Fiesta and articles featuring different aspects of the weekend including features about Sandra Black, a resident ceramic artist, Fiona Dunham and her efforts in recycling, Nadia and Kylie’s plans for the scarecrow making workshops, and interviews with Chris Ferriera from Great Gardens, emphasising the speakers at the Living Smart Speakers Tent.

Full page ads were also purchased for other versions of the Herald newspaper in Cockburn and Melville, and a final full page ad on the weekend of the Fiesta. The Herald newspaper was very supportive of the event and provided organisers with discounted advertising opportunities.

Local letter drops made sure all residents in the area around Hulbert Street were aware of the weekend, and informed of the expected increase in traffic etc over the weekend. Many local residents assisted before and over the weekend.

All local schools advertised the Fiesta in their school newsletters.

ABC 720 local radio was contacted about the event, and due consideration was given to broadcasting from the street on the Saturday morning of the Fiesta. While this did not eventuate, Shani was interviewed on the morning of the event and listeners were encouraged to attend during the popular “Roots and Shoots” program broadcast from 9- 10am on the Saturday of the Fiesta.

The Fiesta was listed as a special event as part of the Australian Open Garden Scheme, and this meant it was not possible to make direct contact with other media. City of Fremantle media staff met with Shani and Tim and prepared a press release for the City’s website, but this was not taken up by any other media. While local residents word of mouth seemed to be a fantastic conduit for promotion of the event, further media promotion is an issue that should be further examined next year.

Pre Fiesta Activities
In preparation for the Fiesta several street and community events were held, including a Street Verge Gardening Day a month or so before the big event. During the day residents of Hulbert Street were encouraged to plant productive food gardens on their verges, or tidy already established verge gardens. Three new verge garden beds were established and many verges were tidied.  All households did some tidying of verges before the big day.

There are many volunteers involved in the running of the Fiesta both before the event itself and over the weekend. To attempt to support and encourage this level of volunteering, this year a Sustaining Youth – Volunteer Training Day was organised in conjunction with Tim Kenworthy from “Youth Tree”.

During this day, participants received training from Shani and Tim in organic vegetable gardening and an extensive tour showing the features of the two sustainable houses (The Painted Fish and #21) open over the Fiesta weekend. It was envisaged that these volunteers would then act as “guides” over the weekend, assisting people with questions etc. This training would also assist them in their own personal development and academic study.

While over 40 participants registered for this event, only a dozen or so came on the day, and only two of these volunteered over the weekend. It is felt however that this idea has potential and it would be interesting to work more formally with a local university or school next year.

During a Scarecrow Making Day facilitated by local community artist Nadia Rasheed, held the Sunday afternoon the weekend before the Fiesta participants were encouraged to make their own scarecrow to enter a competition held over the weekend. Approximately 25 children and families enjoyed this opportunity. Scarecrows were used to sign post open homes, gardens and studios before being gathered for official judging on the Sunday afternoon of the Fiesta.

Contact was made by email and hand delivered letter with eight local schools in the Fremantle area, inviting them to participate in various ways, including a call for students to busk, enter the scarecrow making completion (as a class or individual) and for classes to use the Fiesta poster as a “prompt” for children’s work. Local P&C groups were invited to use the Fiesta as a fundraising opportunity.

Fremantle Primary School responded to the Fiesta poster with two classes sending in work that was displayed during the Fiesta. Beaconsfield PS’s pre-primary class entered a fantastic scarecrow in the scarecrow completion. One of Lance Holt school’s classes displayed sustainable house models created by the students as part of their term’s work. A class from Winterfold Primary School visited for a tour of the Painted Fish the week before the Fiesta. It is hoped that school involvement in the Fiesta will grow next year.

The Fiesta Weekend

During the weekend itself Hulbert Street was closed to traffic, with residents volunteering to ensure all cars were off the road so road space was available for stalls and activities. Volunteers manned the street entrance to welcome visitors, noted the number entering the street and controlled traffic. Two people were rostered on to this street entrance door at all times. An estimated 5,000 people visited the street over the weekend.

Demonstrating Sustainability – Open Homes, Gardens and Artist Studios.

The Painted Fish at 37 Hulbert Street was open again part of Australian Open Garden Scheme (AOGS) with a door charge of $6. Three volunteers worked on the in and out door of the Painted Fish all weekend. The number of people entering the house and garden less than in 2008 (only 500 people or 10% of visitors paid to enter the Painted Fish compared to 1000 people or 50% of visitors in 2008).

Feedback from the volunteers at the door suggested that many people had already seen 5-6 gardens and houses by the time they got to the end of the street and the $6 door charge put many people off. The layout of the street was also different this year, with the buskers area and cafe being located in the middle of the street, rather than outside the Painted Fish. This meant there was a shift away from the Painted Fish being the focus of the event to the whole street being the focus. While this meant the Fiesta was not as financial as it could have been, this shift is seen as very positive.

Organisers felt there were some issues with opening with AOGS this year. While the Fiesta was listed as a special event in the AOGS diary but no special advertising was undertaken, the AOGS flags were not on display over the weekend (as they were in 2008) and no AOGS volunteers assisted on the door. Local advertising in the Herald and local papers, on ABC 720 radio and posters in local shops was all coordinated by Shani and Tim. The AOGS policy of not allowing householders to contact state media outlets did restrict publicity potential.

While the AOGS does supply insurance and some advertising, 65% of the door takings go to this organisation and while their work is commendable, it is recommended that different options for insurance and income streams should be examined next year.

This year more residents showcased their homes, creativity, work and sustainable lifestyles.

The front half of Tim and Shani’s other property at 21 Hulbert Street was also open to the public, with all proceeds from the donation box inside going to the running of the Fiesta. An estimated 700 people visited this house.

Also open for viewing was a productive food “guerrilla” garden on the verge leading down to South Beach, called the Living Smarties Garden. This garden has been established by Tim and Shani will support from Living Smart workshop participants.

The Painted Fish, #21 Hulbert Street and this Living Smarties Garden all had informational signage outlining special features to guests, with over 100 signs in total. This signage was compiled and printed by Shani and Tim, and proved popular with visitors who were able to self tour each property.

A total of six practising artists held hold “open studios” over the weekend, including Tania Ferrier and Abe Dunovits at #25, Sandra Black at #16, Robyn Warren at #33, Tim Darby at #21 and Ken Wadrop at #15. All artists reported pleasing feedback about the weekend, especially those who had goods for sale, and all are keen to participate again next year.

Four other gardens in the street (at # 7, 24, 26 and 10) were open to members of the public .

Ray and Gosia’s vege garden at #7 was only open on Saturday as the number of visitors during the day was overwhelming for this couple, and they decided not to open the next day.

Andrew and Megan’s front vege patch at #10 was visible over the fence and did not need someone to be present.

Fiona and Mike’s vege garden at #24 proved popular and Fiona noted how much time she spent talking to people about her garden.

Jenny’s native garden at #26 was “taken over” by Sandy the Fairy and proved a very popular spot for families to visit.

All open gardens and houses were signposted with cardboard signage and a scarecrow signalling the entrance. It was noted that in some instances more space was needed between stalls and the open properties so that the entrances were clear.

Six households took part in a “Living Smart Poster Project” where they shared in a poster outside their home what they have done in the past twelve months to make their homes and lifestyles more sustainable and what their future plans were. Also included was what they were most proud of and what they wished everyone else would do. This project has the potential to be expanded next year, both in the number of households participating and the size of the signage.

Feedback from the residents who opened their gardens was generally positive (with the exception of Ray and Gosia). Several other residents have expressed an interest in opening aspects of their homes or gardens next year.

A street raffle was held over the weekend, with a wide variety of goods and services donated by residents. The raffle raised about $350 for other street events and activities. This raffle has the potential to expand next year, with better touting of tickets etc.

Spreading the Living Smart Message
This year a Living Smart Speakers Tent set up directly outside the Painted Fish allowed for different groups and individuals  involved in sustainable living to share information in a more formal way over the weekend. Topics and speakers included :

- The Solar Shop
- Les Lyons from Weatherworks
- Gary Warden from Days of Change
- Chris Ferriera from Great Gardens
- Catherine Narbett from Raw Vanilla
- Community Midwifery WA
- Emma from the Raw Kitchen
- Vince from Slow Food Perth
- Dr Peter Dingle, and
- Jason from the Hemp Shop.

All speakers volunteered their time over the weekend. Audience sizes varied greatly with the most popular talks being Peter Dingle and Great Gardens. A speaker’s timetable was advertised in the local paper and on a flier handed to participants as they entered the street.

There could have been better coordination between the activities in the speakers tent and MCing in the buskers area. It is also suggested that next year a “host” welcome and thank speakers, and encourage people to attend talks and the speaker’s tent timetable should feature at various other positions in the street.

A  Living Smart Information Stall, manned by past participants and facilitators was set up near (or in) the Speakers Tent. This stall, designed and put together by Shani and Tim,  had photographs outlining the different topics covered in Living Smart and basic information about the course. There were three volunteers rostered on at all times, and they spoke to interested visitors about the impact of the Living Smart Course on their lives and also coordinated the Speaker’s Tent.

Over 150 people expressed an interested in future Living Smart courses or the local Freo Living Smarties Group. A follow up email was sent to interested parties outlining courses available in term four.

Street Stalls
This year about 60 stall holders participated – a well planned mixture of community groups (such as Living Smart, St Paul’s Church, Soroptimist Club etc ),  local artists and craftsman (eg Kiki, Chinky Rooster, Desert Shadow), local businesses selling or providing information about sustainable products (eg Solar Shop, Solar Options, Tanks Very Much etc),  flea market stalls and stalls selling food and drink (local schools and community groups were encouraged to run food stalls).

The stalls were coordinated by Kylie Wheatley from Red Tent Events at a discounted rate, with stall holder fees providing 68% of her fee. Stall holders were charged a sliding scale- from $50 a day for companies selling sustainable products or food, to $40 per day for local artists, $20 for community groups selling goods or services on the day, and $10 for flea market stalls. Community groups or individuals that were not selling anything were not charged for their stall. Hulbert Street residents who ran a stall were not charged.

A great deal of effort was made to ensure that stalls met the criteria for entry – products being sold had to be locally made and produced or be sustainable household goods, community groups had to be not aligned to any political part, and there was attention paid to the final “mix” of stalls. While this does reduce the percentage of Red Tent’s fees that come from stall holders, it is felt that it is vitally important to keep the local and sustainable focus of the Fiesta.

In general the following feedback was received from stall holders-
- All food stalls were in high demand and all ran out of food both days. There was generally not enough food for the number of people who attended. The raw food stall was especially popular and ran out of goods by the second day.
- Stalls selling sustainable products were generally happy with the exposure over the weekend.
- Stalls selling art and craft enjoyed the weekend but some did not make the sales they were expecting.
- Local community groups reported the weekend was a great success for sharing what they were doing in the local community.

Kylie had several requests from stallholders who wanted to be involved next year and she commented that many stallholders commented on the local, low key, friendly and “non commercial” feeling of the event.

 
Entertainment and Growing Community

 Cafe style seating was set up with round tables and chairs under a marquee near a the Street Buskers Spot to allow participants to relax after visiting the open homes, studios and gardens and allow the informal sharing of information and food – an important part of “growing community”.

The buskers stage proved very popular this year, and all spots were filled before the opening of the Fiesta. Shani contacted interested parties from last year and other local musicians and an article in the local paper appeared about a month before the event calling for buskers. Many street residents participated in the busking.

All public address and sound equipment used for the busking was generously donated by Abe Dunovits (Hulbert Street resident), who also coordinated sound and MC’d over the weekend. 15 year old Cassie Dunham (another street resident) also MC’d on the Sunday. As outlined earlier, the coordination between activities at the Speakers Tent and the busking could have been better.

Buskers performed for free and included:

- Local children playing violin and guitar
- Funkarellos – band
- Jim Fisher – singer songwriter
- Not the Dooby Brothers – Tim and Bil Darby and friends
- Hullaballoo Dance Troupe
- Joy Ride – band made up of teenagers
- The Eights – band
- Dave Pike – ukele
- Tribalive – belly dancers from Sheik to Sheik studio
- New Cosmick System – band
- Cake Club – large percussion group
- Voice Male – large male choir
- Dave Robertson –singer songwriter
- Marie Dwyer – singer songwriter
- WASAMBA – local Fremantle percussion group

A short email survey was sent to participating buskers. Most responded reported that they enjoyed performing over the weekend and were keen to participate in the future.

Much attention was paid to increasing the options for family activities over the weekend. Children and youth were able to participate in making two large street scarecrows and exploring the fairy garden on the Saturday, and an acrobats area on the Sunday. Coordinators of these events provided their services at a discount to the Fiesta organisers.

Several community groups and local residents also ran stalls with activities for families as a fundraising and advertising venture for their groups, such as face painting, fishing, guessing the number of worms in the worm farm, badge making, apple coring etc etc 

A portaloo was hired for the weekend, and toilets were available at The Painted Fish, but it is recommended that better toilet facilities need to be organised for next year.

The Formalities
A formal opening ceremony was held on Saturday at 12 noon. Invited dignitaries attending the opening included Allanah McTiernan (Opposition Minister for the Environment), Peter Tagliaferri (Fremantle Mayor) and Brad Pettitt (Local councillor and mayoral candidate).

During the ceremony Shani Graham invited all elected officials and those who wanted to be elected (local council elections were being held!) to come forward and collect two blue ribbons. Participants then had to find someone from the audience to give one of their ribbons to before joining  these ribbons. These pairings were then  combined to create a circle of ribbons with both elected and non elected members of the community, symbolising community working with various layers of government for a more sustainable community.

At this point the suggestion was made that the community circle was still not big enough to deal with the issues that were confronting us and so our mayor cut the circle of ribbons to include all members of the community, before giving a short speech opening the Fiesta.

A formal closing ceremony, scarecrow judging and raffle draw was held on Sunday at about 3pm. Sadly it had just rained very heavily before this event, and the planned scarecrow parade did not eventuate. Melissa Parke (Fremantle federal MP) Lyn McLaren (State MLC) Georgie Adeane (local South Fremantle Councillor) and Andrea Whiteley (Soil Sister) participated in the closing event. Local drumming group Wasamba began proceedings by performing and then encouraging participants to get their faces painted and join in.

Three special mentions were made from the collected scarecrows before prizes were awarded to all scarecrow participants. Many scarecrow makers were not present and many entry sheets had been damaged by the rain, so a letter to the local paper encouraged participants to contact Shani after the event to collect prizes. The Herald ran a three quarter page photo montage with the letter, an exciting surprise for organisers, volunteers and participants.

 
Volunteers and In kind support
Shani had been bed ridden with a prolapsed disc for about three months before the Fiesta, and underwent back surgery three weeks before the weekend, so many calls for assistance were made to the Freo Living Smarties and local resident to assist.  As well as a host of people who helped set up, prepare gardens and clean before the Fiesta, a total of ten volunteers were working at any one time over the Fiesta weekend. All street residents and volunteers were given special name badges to wear. 90% of residents in the street participated in some way, either by opening their homes, gardens or studios, running fundraising stalls, or working on the doors over the weekend.

The final budget report contains an estimate of the in kind support donated by volunteers over the Fiesta weekend.

The highlight of the weekend for many street residents was the street “couch race” and rally to the local pizza shop held after the visitors to the street had left. Many toasts were made to volunteers and enthusiasm for The Hulbert Street Sustainability Fiesta 2010 was high.

Final Financial and In Kind Support Budget

For full financial budget reports please contact Shani Graham.

The Fiesta’s total income including City of Fremantle Grant, donations, stall holder fees and door takings was $8 537.00 and total expenditure was $10 038.88.  In summary financially the Hulbert Street Sustainability Fiesta 2009 ran at a loss of $1501.88. This loss was covered by The Painted Fish.
An attempt to estimate the financial value of the in kind support for the Fiesta totals nearly $17 000. This includes graphic design, printing, door and street entrance volunteers, Living Smartie volunteers, buskers, photographers, setup and clean up, organisation, preparation, loss of income at the Painted Fish and final report preparation.  It should be noted that this list does not include community stall volunteers, businesses who offered special deals for the weekend, and groups who did fundraising.  All volunteers listed were coordinated by Shani and Tim from The Painted Fish.
  

A short survey was sent out after the Fiesta to all residents of Hulbert Street, volunteers and busking participants. The overwhelming majority of respondents said they enjoyed the Fiesta and were willing to help out again next year. A review meeting was held with Tim, Shani , Alex Marshall (Community Development), Alex Hyndman (Sustainability Officer) and Kylie Wheatley from the City of Fremantle. A street afternoon tea and debrief was also held. Ideas and suggestions from the survey and meetings have been incorporated into this report.

The basic outline of the weekend and activities incorporated had good support. Improvements suggested included :
- the need for more toilets,
- more and a wider variety of food stalls, while keeping the emphasis on local sustainable food.
- better spacing of stalls so that the entry to gardens, houses and studios were more obvious,
- and more signage about the speakers tent schedule,
- using chalk to delineate stall spaces, rather than spray paint,
- having a MC for the weekend to ensure better coordination between the busking area and the speakers tent,
- the needed for more people at the street entrance, especially if raffle tickets are being sold, and
- the need for some form of identification for street residents.
Other suggestions, issues and ideas for 2010 included  finding a suitable date for the Feista next year, issues with insurance, funding opportunities, issues with advertising opportunities, how to judge the success of the Fiesta, and expanding aspects of this year’s Fiesta, including the Living Smart House Poster Project, School involvement and Volunteer Training Days.

Because of the weather issues this year, spring garden planting s and a conflict with a local Children’s Fiesta several suggestions were made to hold the Fiesta a bit later in the year, or even including it as part of the Fremantle Fiesta held in November. After a great deal of consideration and discussion it was decided to keep the Fiesta to the same weekend (one week before the end of the third school term and the weekend after Solar House Day) due to issues with school holidays, other spring events, and guests at the Painted Fish.

The Fiesta clearly needs to be well insured. Because Red Tent Events coordinated the stalls, the street itself and stalls are covered but it is suggested that different opportunities to be looked at for house, garden and studio insurance. It is suggested that the Fiesta has a big enough profile to “go it alone” without continuing to be an Australian Open Garden Scheme Event, but this does mean that other insurance will need to be sought. Ideas for discussion include paying for private Event Insurance from private insurance companies or the WA Local Government Association, or expanding local household insurance over the weekend.

Funding the Fiesta is an issue for the future. Grant applications take a great deal of time to compile and because the Fiesta is not organised by an incorporated non profit organisation but individuals in a street there are sometimes issues with eligibility. The Sustainability Officer at Fremantle City Council has indicated he will continue to support the Fiesta financially and views it as the “sustainable event of the year”, but other funding sources should be examined. The Community Development Officer from Fremantle suggested looking at Lottery West Funding and an appointment has been made to discuss this avenue. Discussions regarding a mixture of funding the Fiesta from a mixture of grants and donations by participants continue. There is also a need to ensure that Hulbert Street residents and participants understand the costs involved in coordinating the Fiesta.

While data was collected on the number of people attending the event, other evaluation depended on the short survey of volunteers, without any other form of direct feedback from participants. Given that the focus of the Fiesta is on encouraging sustainable lifestyles, clear identification of the educational goals of the Fiesta and other ways of judging the success of the Fiesta should be examined for 2010.

It is hoped that projects such as the Living Smarties Household Poster Display, Volunteer Training Day and street raffle and School involvement can be expanded next year, with separate coordinators being sought for some of these events.

For further information about the Fiesta or the details about this report, please contact Shani Graham at stay@thepaintedfish.com.au