There are two calendars on the desk in front of me. One is the 2009 Permaculture Calendar, the other the Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network 2009 Sydney Calendar. Both have lots of visual appeal.
The set-out of both calendars presents one month to a page. Both are A4 format. The community garden network calendar is wire bound, whereas the permaculture calendar has been printed on A3 paper, folded and stapled. Both present a full size A4 photo atop a same-size lower page matrix of dates. The permaculture publication appears to be printed on slightly stiffer card than the community garden network's, though both are suitable sturdy and fit for purpose. Both use glossy white, recycled paper that allows clear, real-colour reproduction of images.
The permaculture calendar is companion to a permaculture diary.
THE IMAGES
Both calendars include a number of informally posed photographs — the UK transition town tree planters in the permaculture calendar, two images of gardeners with mounds of produce, and one image with two people amid the garden beds, of Chester Hill Community Garden, in the community garden network's.
Both include action shots. Perhaps the most amusing is that of Jim Walsh doing 40km/hr in a two wheel carriage pulled by a giant dog. Walsh claims to have reached 64km/hr which, considering the size and apparent mass of the dog, should not be doubted. The photographer panned the image, producing the blurred background suggestive of speed, but kept Jim and his beast in clear focus.
There is also Lari's action image of a woman repairing a old bicycle at the Bike Shed at CERES, in Melbourne. I like this image but I find it difficult to say why. Maybe it's not so much the content and more the particular reading that I give to it, about cities, technology and sustainability. The other images I find appealing is the picture of the Seven Stars cooking group at CERES and the Permablitz image by Andy Grubb.
The action shots in the community garden network's calendar are, by nature, more placid. No dog trolley bolting down the highway at speed here, just a cluster of chooks going about their business and a similarly paced group of people in Glebe Community Garden. In fact, action shots may be the wrong term entirely. The November group at Willoughby Community Garden is an appealing one, too.
The good point about the images in both calendars is that they are clear, in focus and properly exposed.
ON THE PAGE
First, the community garden network's calendar. The graphic designer has applied an artistic and subtle decorative motif to some of the images but it does not dominate them. On some, it forms a framing device for smaller, inset images.
The calendar page is divided into dates with community garden meeting times highlighted, a monthly seed planting guide supplied by Natural Touch Landscpes, otherwise known as Emma Daniell of the Randwick Community Organic Garden, and a short verse chosen by Arts in the Garden coordinator and Randwick community gardener, the exuberant Mary O'Connell of Handmaid Press. Each month has notes on the community garden pictured and its meeting times.
On each page of the the permaculture calendar, an explanatory caption explains the picture in the world of the photographer. In a coloured band at the bottom of the page is the permaculture principle the image illustrates. Readers can refer back to the second page to see all of the principles arranged around the permaculture ethics in a graphic also found at www.permacultureprinciples.com. These are David Holmgren's set of principles as originally described in his book, Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.
WHO ARE THEY FOR?
Looking at these calendars arranged on my desk, I wondered who their principle markets would be. It's clear that both are aimed at a specific group of people and that both would have a strong appeal to their constituency. Yet, they surely have appeal beyond people engaged in permaculture or community gardening.
For instance, you might think that the focus on permaculture principles might have less appeal to those outside of permaculture, however its images counter this specialist orientation with their potential appeal to those with a wider interest in sustainabilty. The community garden network's would likely appeal to gardening types in general, not just community gardeners.
In reality, both are permaculture calendars in the sense that many community gardeners are permaculture trained or express an affinity with permaculture. And this brings us to the decision — which one to buy? For me, the answer is obvious. It's almost Christmas time with its fine tradition of gift giving (the nearest our culture comes to a potlatch), so the simple answer is to buy a number of both calendars and give them to those to whom the particular editions are most likely to appeal. Once, we had a tradition in permaculture of mutual support of each others' endeavours. What finer way to maintain this tradition than purchasing both calendars to spread the ideas of permaculture and those of returning food production to the cities?
Publication of the community garden network calendar was supported by the Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network and City of Sydney. Randwick City Council gifted the calendar to their Living Smart course participants.
GETTING YOUR CALENDARS
2009 Permacutlure Calendars from www.permacultureprinciples.com
AU$20, diary AU$30 including postage (in Australia).
Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network 2009 Sydney Calendar from Handmaid Press, email: handmaidpress@hotmail.com
Order before December 15. AU$15 posted (in Australia).
