Michael Burlace Email & Phone Number

Northern Nsw, Australia

Writer, publisher, web developer, company director — the lot.Am developing a pattern language for farming, with the work done by Christopher Alexander and others as the inspiration. The intention is to develop a language that allows easy transfer of knowledge bundled with the necessary understanding to enable farmers to skill each other up in sustainable agriculture.The Organic Exchange Pty Ltd is the publisher of various websites including FarmRef.com - Info you can walk out and useandRVgreening.com - How to have the life you want and care for the Earth

Northern Nsw

Copy editing, page proofing of newspapers across the group but mainly on the North Coast of New South Wales where I am based.

Sydney And Orange, Nsw

Wrote and taught the NSW TAFE Organic Farming course, Certificate 3 (and as it evolved taught the Certificate 4).Trained the other trainers for it for NSW and ACT.Through teaching this course over many years, I further refined my work on crystallizing the important concepts underpinning effective organic farming into a digestible form that was easy to walk out and use.Participants ranged from environmental activists through to oil company executives.Many found their participation in the course to be life changing.Wrote and delivered several weekend and week-long organic farming courses.

Wherever My Kids Were

Major role in parenting my children, now adult. I was a very engaged parent from the start and happily gave up the best job I ever had to have a lot of time with them by working part time.Now retired from the main role, I maintain delightful connections with them as they chart their own lives.

Harris Park, Nsw

Getting a community garden set up and operating - both in the physical sense and in the community development that is necessary to sustain it. This garden was set up on steroids because we had less than four months from when council handed over the land until the official opening.

Springwood, Nsw

Providing direct support to men in crisis or in change, particularly through groups and one-on-one.Raising the positive profile of men in the Blue Mountains and surrounds.For part of this time was also project worker in the Kinship Care Regional Project and project managed the centre's 30th anniversary celebrations spread over three days.Played a key role in establishing a men's shed.

Orange Nsw

Provided technical and business support to farmers covering all crops from vegetables to cotton, from sheep to snails and everything in between.During this time developed and delivered hundreds of courses, field days, talks, workshops and one-on-one sessions.Member of the federal Organic Produce Advisory Committee that developed the first National Standard for Organic Farming.Refined and developed a lot of this knowledge by using and testing it on my own farm, producing certified organic eggs and certified organic finewool.Wrote a book (Organic Farming, about 300 pages) on how to farm organically. This involved developing a complete system for managing sheep (and cattle) organically under Australian conditions. First tested this evolving system on my farm to evaluate whether it worked. It did, with a few problems which were then resolved. This was a world-first: a welfare-conscious, scientifically-valid effective organic management program for sheep — animals that are notoriously difficult to manage without chemicals under Australian conditions.Writing the book and the TAFE course that followed it each involved consultations with scores of farmers, teachers, certifying organizations, scientists and others in the industry to ensure a high degree of relevance, accuracy and effectiveness.The book has since been expanded and released as three books by Tocal College.

Sydney, Australia

Responsible for co-ordinating the development of software for managing livestock and for use by researchers. Supported staff in their daily use of computers from word processing to statistics.

Sydney, Australia

Responsible for seven computer repair staff and for all training of our staff and of hundreds of clients.Turned the service division around from a loss operation to profitability and boosted client satisfaction.

Sydney, Australia

Gardening business: maintaining edible and decorative home gardens for others. Developed Permaculture-based gardens and fostered understanding of Permaculture through one to one work and through leading Permaculture walks in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens.

Sydney, Australia

Before GPSes we were locating, describing and mapping safe bicycle routes throughout rural Australia. Co-founded the not for profit association. Trained unemployed people in office skills and road researching.Organised recreational bicycle rides and tours.

Sydney, Australia

Sub-editor and writer for Australia's only national recreational cycling magazine.

Coffs Harbour, Australia

Developed, organized, promoted a wide range of courses from Financial Counselling to Chinese Calligraphy and from Massage to Tree Planting.

Sydney, Australia

Started as a sub-editor, ended as editor of The Weekend Australian Magazine. Throughout much of the Nixon Watergate scandal revelations, I was assistant foreign editor and often filled in for the foreign editor. Later on, through better organization and forging new relationships between Advertising, Editorial and Production, I cut costs by $100,000 a year on the Weekend Australian Magazine when The Australian was losing about $2million a year.During the 1975 election following the dismissal of Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister, Rupert Murdoch paced back and forth about 2 metres from where I was sub-editing as he watched Bruce Rothwell rewrite journalists' factual copy to fit the Murdoch line. Murdoch barely spoke, but they would retire to Mahogany Row then come back for Rothwell to do more.

Sydney, Australia

Established a magazine catering to the stud sheep and cattle industries. Poor business decision: Picked a bad time for the industry and didn't understand business well back then. Lost all my money and got an education in return. Repaid all my debts.

Sydney, Australia

Operating two mainframe Honeywell computers and a GE timeshare computer.

Europe

Driving tourist buses full of backpackers around Europe and staying in campgrounds.

Asia And Europe

Drove semi-trailers and a road train to get from Sydney via Adelaide to Darwin.Travelled through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, USSR and most of Europe.A great experience.