About Earthcare
EARTHCARE ENTERPRISES is a partnership based in
Maleny
and at 'Crystal Waters Permaculture Village' in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, south-east Queensland. We are involved in the
exploration, research & development of new species of plants & animals with
economic potential, as well as, Permaculture design, consultancy & education. Species
we are currently propagating and developing include; Bamboos, Water plants - Chinese
Waterchestnuts, varieties of Lotus & Arrowhead; Root crops - Taros, Tannias, Yams,
Cassava, Arrowroot & Asian spices of the Ginger family ZINGIBERACEAE;
miscellaneous fruits, herbs and spices. Many of these species, except for our most recent
acquisitions, are sold as plants through the nursery and some are also supplied as fresh
foods to restaurants & retailers, notably Mioga ginger & Moso Bamboo shoots.
For a copy of our catalogue Click Here
then save the page to your hard drive or print (8 pages).
if you want to buy please see
PURCHASING INFORMATION
About Hans Erken
Some history and background information on Hans' experience
with bamboo & Permaculture
Hans completed a Permaculture Design certificate course in
1979 and was awarded a Diploma of Permaculture Design in 1984 for applied work
in the fields of :- design consulting, site development, nursery work, education
and community projects. In 1984 he led a team that convened and ran the 1st
International Permaculture Conference at Pappinbarra, NSW. In 1992 he was
awarded The Permaculture Community Service Award - awarded by the Permaculture
Institute for "vision & work forming an essential & selfless contribution to the
promotion of Permaculture locally & globally and toward the healing of the
planet".
In 1985 he founded the Australian Bamboo Network and published
its newsletter for 4 years. He maintains a large collection of useful species
and has been researching their viability for Australian conditions through
growing trials since the early ‘80s. He has held numerous workshops on bamboo
cultivation and use.
He was the first in Australia to successfully produce & market
tropical & temperate bamboo shoots & other Asian vegetables, principally
PHYLLOSTACHYS heterocycla var. pubescens & BAMBUSA oldhamii, Lotus, Chinese
Waterchestnuts & various ginger spices. The quality of his produce has gained
him the cliental of a number of 1st class restaurants in Sydney, Melbourne &
Noosa Heads.
He has run a wholesale/retail nursery of aquatics, bamboo,
ginger family spices and other food plants for the last 25yrs. He has travelled
Indonesia extensively in search of new species to import to Australia. He is a
founding member and president of the “Bamboo Society of Australia”. He attended
the IVth International Bamboo Congress in Bali, 1994. & the Vth International
Bamboo Congress in Costa Rica, 1998. He is also working as webmaster and
coordinator of a global collective of bamboo enthusiasts & professionals to
create a bamboo identification manual (BIM) on the world wide web, this project
is currently on hold.
In September, ’99 at the invitation of the International
Network of Bamboo & Rattan (INBAR) he took part in the International Workshop on
the INBARIS Bamboo & Rattan, Species-Utilization Database held at the Kerala
Forest Research Institute, Peechi, Kerala, India, followed by a week in Beijing,
China at INBAR’s headquarters to work on the re-design of the website.
He has been the president of the Bamboo Society of Australia
on and off for a number of years and otherwise serving on the board. At the last
AGM he stood down as president to be able to devote more time to the development
of the society’s website.
Contact Information
Postal - Earthcare
Enterprises, PO Box 500, Maleny, Qld, 4552, Australia
| Telephone: |
07 5327
4096 |
International: |
+61 7
5327 4096 |
Manager - Hans Erken
email -
info@earthcare.com.au
|
