Saturday 10 August 2013

August working bee – leaves, edges, simple pleasures...

The winter's rain finally stopped for the working bee today and a small group of us met to do some jobs at the Albert Street garden under a more than happy sun.


The communicative aspect of community gardening cannot be underestimated in terms of 'social warming' in an age of global warming.


While some of us nattered away, others worked and children learned by watching and assisting the elders.


One of the tasks we wanted to complete today was dismantling what was left of a giant pallet that we had used for making the new compost bays, using the excess timber as edging around two beds so as to build up the soil-humus in them.


While some helped with the building work others turned the compost heaps – a fantastic way of exercising and keeping warm in winter while also helping to generate more heat in the pile.


We finished the edging and broke some bags of leaf mulch over the beds. The broad beans in the first bed are really starting to move as we edge towards spring. Go go broad beans!


We have been collecting donated bags of deciduous leaves for some months, slowly accruing a large pile.


Our fourth community garden at the skate park, originally instigated by the Daylesford homeschooling network, has just started. So we took dozens of bags to that food garden for the second working bee there coming up this Thursday, 15 August from 11am. The first stage of planting has been done and the leaf mulch will add to the sheet mulching planned for Thursday. All welcome!