Piggery Road Permaculture
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Piggery Road Permaculture
Established in 2018, Piggery Road Permaculture has a vision to teach permaculture and foster community-supported agriculture in the Latrobe Valley.
PLEASE NOTE: Piggery Road is still effectively a building site. Wear sturdy shoes and be mindful of mud and uneven ground. The driveway is muddy so unless you are in a 4WD or front-wheel drive, please consider parking on the street. It is about 80m to the house from the road.
We seek to provide a working demonstration site for permaculture enthusiasts and designers, providing clean, healthy local food to the community. Garlic and seasonal vegetables are currently the major focus of crop production.
The site is also the home of Jack Spira Guitars, offering fine, hand-crafted stringed instruments and lutherie tuition. The household has been set up to have minimal ongoing costs and maximum self-sufficiency, allowing the inhabitants to pursue their passions rather than work off-site to pay bills. The workshop and house are powered by stand-alone solar. Five large water-tanks and a spring supply household and irrigation water.
The house is almost entirely recycled, having been relocated from Melbourne and retrofitted with improved insulation and a hybrid solar/wood-fired system for heating, cooking and hot water. Piggery Road’s Permaculture plan is still in a relatively early stage, allowing visitors to see the work in progress.
Sustainability Features
- Energy efficiency:
- Efficient lighting
Energy monitoring
- Passive heating cooling:
- Cross ventilation
- Passive heating cooling:
- House oriented to NE so that most windows and courtyard face north
- Active heating cooling:
- Ceiling fans
Heat pump
Hydronic
- Water heating:
- Hot water heat pump
Water heated by PV system
Wood fire wetback
- Water harvesting and saving features:
- Above ground rainwater storage
Worm farm septic tank system
Stormwater management
Low flow shower heads
Drip irrigation
- Average water consumption per day:
- 66L
- Above ground rainwater storage Type:
- Tanks, dam (under construction), 5ML groundwater licence, stock and domestic river water licence
- Above ground rainwater storage Size
- 110,000L tanks, dam TBA
- Storage connected to
- Whole house
- Energy Efficient Lighting
- LED lights throughout
Natural daylight
- Window Protection:
- Awnings (external)
- Window Protection:
- Plantation shutters
- Recycled and reused materials:
- House frame, floor, weatherboards, some plasterboard.
- Sustainable materials:
- All new insulation batts are made from recycled glass bottles. Underfloor insudlation is yet to be installed.
- Recycled and reused materials:
- Appliances
Basins/sinks
Bathroom cabinets
Copper pipes/fittings
Doors
Glass
Insulation
Kitchen cabinets
Timber
Windows
- Insulation Type:
- Under-roof
Ceiling
External walls
Floor
- Ceiling Type:
- Bulk – glass wool
- Ceiling Rating:
- R4.1
- Floor Type:
- Reflective foil
- Floor Rating:
- Unknown
- Under Roof Insulation Type:
- Fibreglass roof blanket with foil
- Under Roof Insulation Rating:
- R1.3
- External Walls Rating:
- R2.0
- External Walls Type:
- Bulk – glass wool
- All-Electric Home?
- No
- Renewable energy used:
- Solar PV off-grid
- Size of PV system:
- 5kW solar panels, 10.5 kWh battery storage
- Average Daily Energy Consumption:
- 4kWh
- Total cost of home when constructed:
- $237,000
- Cost estimate of sustainable home/features:
- $52,000
- Estimate of annual savings:
- $2400
- House Size
- 175m2
- BAL Rating
- BAL – 19: Increasing levels of ember attack and ignition of debris with a heat flux of up to 19kW/m2
- Roof
- Metal (Colorbond)
- Wall Materials
- Timber
- Window and Door Types
- Sliding windows/doors
- Window and Door Types
- Standard doors with glass panels, sliding, sash and winding windows
- Number of bedrooms
- 4
- Number of bathrooms
- 2
- Garden / Outdoors
- Worm farm effluent field used to grow mulching materials and bee graze
- Garden / Outdoors
- Bee keeping
Composting
Drip irrigation
Edible garden
Organic
Permaculture
Native plants
Water wise plants
- Waste Reduction Practices:
- Compost all food scraps
Recycle
Repair
Swap with friends and neighbours
- Other Waste Reduction Practices:
- Worm farm, many material obtained at local tip shop
- Healthy home features
- Chemical free cleaning products used
Cross flow ventilation
Natural light and ventilation
No carpets
- Housing Type:
- Standalone House
- Project Type:
- Relocated house
- Builder
- Owner builder post relocation
- Designer
- N/A
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