Planetary Health NewsStrengthening community and restoring the health of our planet.
Skill Sharing, Seed Saving & Survival Gardens
From Tai’chi to Bushcare, and from Upcycling Fashion to a range of workshops like learning about the Frogs of the Blue Mountains and How to Build a Survival Garden, the Planetary Health Centre’s Skill Share Saturdays are providing a regular opportunity to learn new skills, save money, connect with community and contribute to restoring the health of our planet. Last month, an Upper Mountains Seed Saving and Gardening Group were also launched.
Key Points:
Skill Share Saturdays are held at the Planetary Health Centre on the 1st Saturday of every month
Learn Tai’chi, Fashion Upcycling, How to Protect Wildlife, Bushcare, How to Grow Edible Gardens and more
An Upper Mountains Seed Saving and Planetary Health Gardening Group was launched at Skill Share Saturday this month
Many of us feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the challenges we’re facing locally and globally. Skill Share Saturdays, held at the Planetary Health Centre on the first Saturday of every month, are a way to re-set and put aside a few hours each month to have some fun and learn something new to manage some of these challenges: whether it’s learning how to do gentle exercise and find a calm centre with Tai’chi, or learning how to tackle all those fabrics and old clothes filling our wardrobes to give them new life and keep them out of landfill.
Tai’chi led by Virginia Field, who has more than 30 years’ experience.
Last month’s Fashion Upcycling Workshop
There’s even the opportunity to be mentored to establish new social enterprises, and to connect more deeply with the natural world as we regenerate the Planetary Health site to create habitat for wildlife with the Planetary Health Bushcare group.
Last month’s Bushcare: “Such a beautiful way to do our bit to give back to nature after all the damage we’ve caused.”
Last month participants viewed our exhibition of the Frogs of the Blue Mountains, learnt how to use the FrogID app, and were introduced to how to build frog ponds. They were delighted to see both frogs and an echidna enjoying the ponds we’d built in a previous community workshop.
Learning how to use the FrogID app in the Frogs of the Blue Mountains exhibition
Frogs of the Blue Mountains and their calls
A participant photographing a frog in our pond.
Our resident echidna enjoying our pond
How to Build a Survival Garden
Our first How to Build a Survival Garden workshop attracted 30 participants who enthusiastically launched an Upper Mountains Seed Saving and Gardening Group at the end of the session. We were keen to collaborate to build resilient, community-wide food systems and to ensure that we grow and save a wide variety of seeds to support the vanishing biodiversity in our cultivated food crops.
We discussed the way that gardens help us survive mentally and emotionally through providing spaces of beauty, joy and hands-on connection with the natural world and each other, as well as fresh locally grown food to supplement our diets.
The session started with a tour of the Centre’s Water Demonstration Site to address the critical importance of managing water to protect all life and our capacity to grow food in the future. We looked at Drip Irrigation, Wicking Beds and a Composting Seat as we discussed how to increase life in our soil and improve its water-holding capacity with worm farms and composting.
The workshop then addressed other natural systems that needed to be taken into account to build healthy and resilient food systems and began an exploration of cultures around the world who have had reliable ‘survival’ foods during major global stressors like the Great Depression.
This exploration included a case study of an Israeli academic in Galilee who has grown all his own food on 750 sq m for the last 12 years, and a range of hardy and nutrient-rich crops that, in many cases, have a long storage life which helps reduce food waste.
View the slideshow here:
A Sydney participant in the workshop shared how she now grows Loofahs so she can scrub her veggies without releasing microplastics into the waterways. She shared her seed so we can do the same.
We tasted Yacon and shared their rhizomes, as well as sharing Purple Congo Potatoes, Oca, Turmeric, and seeds for Salsify, Egyptian Spinach, Red Mustard, Echinacea, Parsley, Chard, Radish, and Red Noodle Beans.
We also agreed to start a quarterly Upper Mountains Seed Saving Get Together.
Contact planetaryhealth@bmcc.nsw.gov.au to suggest skills you’d like to learn, skills you can share, and/or if you’d like to join the Upper Mountains Seed Saving and Planetary Health Gardening Groups
We are `raising the bar for nature` on World Animal Day with a night of poetry and celebration, including an open mic and delicious plant based food. Bookings essential here (link in profile): https://bit.ly/4migZuD
On World Animal Day (Sat 4 Oct), join us at a very special event as we celebrate the life of Christine Townend, cofounder of Animal Liberation in 1976, and Animals Australia in 1980. Christine spent two decades helping animals in India where she and her husband Jeremy also founded two animal shelters. In 2019 she was awarded the Order of Australia for her contributions to animal protection. A resident of Leura, Christine died on 15 August 2025. Raising the Bar for Nature, at the Planetary Health Centre, will be a night of poetry, art and celebration with delicious plant based food. Bookings essential here (link in profile): https://bit.ly/4migZuD
Early bird registrations and call for submissions are now open for our groundbreaking conference and community expo bringing together the Australian Bushfire Building Conference and the Asbestos & Hazardous Materials Management Conference from the 20-22 November. Visit the Full Cycle 2025 website to purchase your ticket, or register your interest in partnering, speaking, sharing research, exhibiting or running workshops (link in profile): https://www.fullcycleconference.com.au/
Katoomba`s Against the Grain compresses sawdust into briquettes. They`re heating homes across the Blue Mountains and dramatically reducing landfill waste. Read more in our Katoomba Area Local News (link in profile): https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/turning-sawdust-into-gold/
What a glorious Spring day! We spent most of it outside: enjoying Tai Chi in the sunshine; with an outdoor stall at the Sustainability Festival; and at Bushcare - where we welcomed new members to the group, and finally cleared our way through what once seemed like an impenetrable wall of weed.
We`re excited about tomorrow: Tai Chi at 8am Book here (link in profile): https://bit.ly/47WI2YO, the @bluemtns_sustainability_fest from 10am at the Cultural Centre and throughout Katoomba and Leura, and Bushcare from 1.30pm (link in profile): https://bit.ly/420ofE4 (NB. Lis will be heading straight to Planetary Health Bushcare after her talk!)
Check out how Blue Mountains City Council`s environment team worked with students from Kindlehill School at the Planetary Health Centre to demonstrate how to stop erosion on a slope using natural materials. This technique slows stormwater flows, builds soil and reduces water pollution downstream. Our `How to Do Cool Things` playlist on our YouTube channel has lots of other helpful videos too! (link in profile) #erosion #stormwater #repair #regeneration #erosioncontrol #planetaryhealth #watermanagement...
There is a little bit of magic happening on Wednesdays at the Planetary Health Centre as young volunteers from @kindlehill_high_school, and Council staff, work together to create a demonstration site for the wider community. This hands-on program is inspiring all involved, including teacher Sarah Daniel. In her reflection on their Bushcare session, reprinted here, she was reminded of Arundhati Roy’s words that ‘another world is not only possible, she is on her way.’
Read more in Katoomba Area Local News (Link in profile): https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/another-world-is-possible/
If you`re feeling overwhelmed, this Saturday offers inspiring opportunities to `re-set` mind, body and spirit with morning Tai Chi, Qigong and breakfast at the Planetary Health Centre at 8am; the Sustainability Festival at the Cultural Centre from 10am; and Planetary Health Bushcare to fully reconnect with nature and help regenerate habitat for wildlife at 1.30pm. Reserve your spot for Tai Chi here: https://bit.ly/47WI2YO and Bushcare here: https://bit.ly/420ofE4
Cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in Australia but Community Defibrillators are easy to use and may help you save someone`s life. Learn how in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIdPTT4r0T4&t=60s
Our Planetary Health Bushcare Group had a ball today at the annual Bushcare Picnic and we were thrilled that our youngest member, Arthur van der Meer, was presented with the Junior Bushcare Award. Our inspiring Bushcare Officer Karen Hising, also leads the Narrowneck Bushcare Group which was recognised for 5 years of service to the Bushcare Program. We`re looking forward to our next Bushcare afternoon on Saturday 6 September from 1.30-4.3pm. All welcome.
You can now read the latest Planetary Health newsletter here (link in profile): https://bit.ly/41u8ftQ
Lots of great stories, events and videos! You can subscribe via the Planetary Health website (link in profile): https://www.bluemountainsplanetaryhealth.com.au/
On the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima the Planetary Health Initiative and the Blue Mountains Peace Collective hosted a Peace Symposium and Community Picnic to provide pathways for everyone to take steps for a more peaceful future.
