Community Garden Tour "ON YA BIKE' 10th December 2011.

On the 4th November 2011 we received this in an email  from Cultivating Community.

"As part of a community composting (Compost Mates) program we’re running, there’s a small group of us who are organising a bike tour of some local community gardens in the Yarra/Darebin area and we’d love to include your garden on this tour.

The aim of the tour is to network, learn through observing and interacting with other gardens and compost systems and celebrate growing food (and soil) in the city."

And thanks to Hannah Maloney (the organiser of said Bike Tour), Rosi Bint from our Gardens, who as usual is always there when needed and Chris the Younger. This is the result..Our garden was the first the bicyclists came to. Four more were to follow with a babrbecue at the finish.

 As can be seen our Northcote Community Gardens did us proud. Everything is bursting at the 'vegetable' seams.

 Off to the next community garden..

Photography. Ros Bint. (great job)

Posted by  marijka.

October 9th 2011

John Pinniger teaching us how to graft fruit trees.  John is part of Heritage Fruit Trees in Melbourne. John kindly agreed to do a workshop. It looks very simple until everybody had a go but after much perseverance, laughter and extra patient help from John everybody did succeed.

Ros doing her best.

Rebecca a study in determioned intention.

Alistiar getting a helping hand.. 

Alistair

Ros giving it a go.

Grafting tools.

A finished product.  

Alistair preparing space for an apple tree and a bee hive by removing a dead tree.

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Nearly done..

 Christine blending into the background, and holding edible flowers.

Purple broccoli.

Japanese turnips.

The finished SIGN. The first part. Congratulations to Rebecca for the design and all who helped in executing it.

and how beautiful is that....

Photography marijka
Posted by marijka
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Bees!

We now have bees in our garden thanks to Alistair and Christine and the lovely Vanessa and Matt from Melbourne City Rooftop Honey .
Here's a link to Vanessa's personal blog and a post about us!
Here's an extract from Vanessa's post that resonated with me;

"After meeting the guys at Northcote, it really drove home to me how important it is to connect with others and feel part of something, even just for an individuals own mental health.  Doing all you can by yourself is all very well but think what you could achieve if you felt that sense of connectedness with others.  Anything is possible!"
Thanks Vanessa and Matt- we love our bees!

Working Bee September 4th

The working bee was a fabulous hive of activity. People working at all corners of the garden..  from a quickie workshop from the compost queen to the stacking of the worm bins, composting, planting, weeding and  eating of course.  Salads to die for, pickled cherries to hmm, hmm, muffins to ask recipes for and Dianne's home baked bread.  Check out Jessica's muffins on the recipe page.

Rebecca's creations. 

Unfortunately the camera is not always accurate, the icing was also definitely mauve.

 

 Rebecca and friend mosaicing the new sign..

 

Alistair doing what he likes best.  Planting. This time it's a passion fruit.

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Jessica and Christine, compost buddies.

Compost aerator being manufactured on site. Christine, Alistair moral support.

I've been working up north in the warmer climes and low and behold I have sprouted four arms.

Christine.

 Jessica

Heather framed.

 

Chris and Biggles or is it Biggles and Chris.

Jess.

 

                                     
  Pixie and gnome on a rock. Ostensibly weeding..plenty of chatter and
         natter..

Ian and parsnips.  This will go down in garden folklore.. first ever grown.

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                                                      Ian, parsnips and admirers.

Afternoon Tea.

Men's Business.

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On the way home..me and the moon.

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photos marijka

posted by marijka

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Darebin Council Plans

Marijka, Ros and I (Rebecca) met with Liz from the Darebin Council Playsafe program last week and she gave us some plans to look at (now pinned up on the back of the shed door) and plenty of useful information. This photo shows the Council's plans to upgrade the public area below our gardens as part of the "Playsafe" program and it appears that it will hardly affect our gardens at all. The Council actually refers to the public area as the "Northcote Community Gardens Reserve" -which is nice, and apparently they will put a sign up saying that eventually. Basically the basketball hoop and area will be upgraded, a new fence put in along the road up to where it currently stops and the path will be refreshed with new gravel up to the same point. The council is allotting $500 for indigenous plants and mulch for the area behind the basketball hoop and are happy for us to determine what to do with that. All of this should be going ahead within the next 2 months.
So all in all the scary sign that just appeared one day has turned out to be a good thing!