So much fun at CelebrATE 2019!

Our third CelebrATE event was a small, intimate event, with fantastic presenters and performers, excellent weather for the weekend, and awesome food. Friday late afternoon everyone arrived and set up their campsite. Once they were settled in with their camps, they went to our student space area, where there was outdoor seating and a covered stage. Water was hot and everyone helped themselves to tea or coffee and got to know one another. Pizzas arrived for dinner, and after everyone had their fill, Zaia did an “official” welcome and followed that on by teaching a basic percussion workshop.

This was followed by the amazing Imprints, a duo consisting of Willow Stahlut on violin and Linden Lester on drums playing ethereal dance music, which had most of us moving our feet. The party was over by 9.30pm, time for everyone to go to bed so they could have an early start in the morning.

Dee Humphreys on Edible Weeds and Herbs

Saturday morning started at 6.30am with Dee Humphrey’s edible weeds and herbs workshop. Dee woke everyone up pretty quickly with her knowledge of plants, everyone loved wandering through the gardens and getting to know (and taste) various herbs and weeds.

Tom Kendall’s Biogas Bio-Digester

After a wonderful breakfast provided by local Black Ant Gourmet, Tom Kendall spoke about his Biogas Bio-digester. Everyone got to see how the biodigester works and got an idea of the design. There were beautiful cakes for morning tea, and then Elisabeth Fekonia took to the stage to show her fermenting techniques. After a yummy lunch with lots of salads, Elisabeth did her seeds and seedling workshop, which everyone loved. We had fresh fruit for afternoon tea (no shortage of food at the event!) and Zaia followed this on with a marimba workshop. Participants learned to play a tune, and were joined by Linsey Pollak on CyliSax and Jenny Fitzgibbon on vocals! A thrill for all!

Elisabeth Fekonia on Seeds and Seedling raising

Jenny Fitzgibbon, Carbon Canaries

After a short break Jenny Fitzgibbon had the stage with her alternative lyrics for popular songs, she had handed out some of the lyrics so we could join her. Jodie Williams from Black Ant Gourmet had made an amazing curry for dinner, which we all made sure we finished off! After dinner we all crowded around the stage to watch the amazing Linsey Pollak make music with garden hoses, paper, plastic straws, seats, dusters and more! Everyone was impressed and amazed and absolutely loved it!

The amazing Linsey Pollak!

A 6.30am start again the next morning (Sunday), Tom this time showing animal routines and talking about rotational grazing principles. After another yummy brekky, Phil Stringer took to the stage to talk about soil health. More cakes for morning tea, and this was followed by Tom taking the group for a farm tour of the Kendall Permaculture Farm. The farm tour took 2 1/2 hours, so a late lunch on Sunday, followed by Chris Fuller talking about native (and European) bees. After his talk everyone said their goodbyes, packed up and left.

The feedback from everyone was fantastic, everyone wished they had had more time with the presenters and were beyond impressed with the quality of the musical performances. It was a beautiful exchange of knowledge and people left feeling inspired to start or continue projects at their own place. We formed some wonderful connections with people and we hope to see everyone again soon, maybe next year at CelebrATE 2020…

Author: Zaia Kendall

Zaia grew up in a family of musicians in Holland, and has a background in top sport (snow skiing) and web development and design. She co-founded the PRI Luganville and PRI Sunshine Coast Inc (now PermEco Inc.) with Tom, and runs the “invisible structures”, like finances, business administration, website design and maintenance, writes articles and records and edits videos. She assists Tom in running the Kendall Permaculture Farm and supervising other volunteers. She is an active member of several musical projects and bands, involved in community music and runs percussion and marimba workshops, is the percussion leader for the Woodford Folk Festival People’s Orchestra and composes as well as plays music. She is passionate about community music and loves seeing people discover that they can play!