Biodiversity-biointensity: New Year's Eve Parade 2017

For we community gardeners this year's theme for the Daylesford New Year's Eve Parade was Biodiversity-Biointensity, so we got to work, made signs,

found treasures at the Daylesford Community Opshop,

got dressed and ate together,

made last minute costume adjustments,

took some group pics,

then walked the short 1km up to the parade.

We banged, drummed, and crashed our way up,

practising staying close together.

We were joined by more goodly crew,

and took more happy snaps,

only to become this entire mob of radical earth lovers.

Then we set off

Photo by Nicholas Hansen

with much ado. Busy bees and whistles and screams from the many worlds of life we were carrying, performing and representing.

Photo by Nicholas Hansen

Clanging and clapping, chanting and drumming,

Photo by Nicholas Hansen

dancing and jumping,

Photo by Nicholas Hansen

swinging and signing down the main drag of Daylesford, Vincent Street.

Photo by Karen Brothers

We were composting bankers,

Photo by Karen Brothers

bugs, peas and moths,

Photo by Karen Brothers

we were pathogens, disease and biological pest controls,

Photo by Karen Brothers

and flower queens,

Photo by Karen Brothers

worms and caterpillars and many more fertile things besides.

Photo by Karen Brothers

Thank you to all who joined us for this year's parade. We were awarded runner-up for Best Decorated Float and received $100 for our troubles. This money will go into our account at Wombat Hill Nursery to help keep us in the black.

See you all at the January working bee on Sat 13th. Oh, and if you're passing by the garden and you have a spare 15 mins please give it a soak. The hose is around the back of the library building.

We hope you have a great year in 2018!

Gifts from the gods of the flowering earth

Fe Porter and Ant Petrucci kicked off the end of year festivities by donating a large white musical instrument to the Albert street garden for all comers to play. It is not a piano, in Ant's words, a piano can be tuned. It is a musical instrument, to be enjoyed as it slowly falls back to earth.

On New Year's Eve gardeners walked from all over the town to gather on Vincent Street.

We assembled as a small representative of the gardening community, to walk among other groups in the annual Daylesford NYE parade.

Around 2000 people turned up to witness and enjoy the historic parade, which included a brass band, superheroes, a tip scavengers' float, a pipe band, the CFA, SES and many others.

Cat came as a flower, David came as a gardener-forester in bright red PJs, and Su impersonated Willow the goat.

Zero came as, well, himself. Awesome dog!

Kirsten, Nick and Ashar came as the bee family — bee keeper, bee hive and bee.

It was a beautiful, hot night and we gardeners won the grand prize for best 'float'.

The $500 donated by the Bendigo Community Bank will go on our Wombat Hill Nursery account and keep us in the black in 2017.

Our next bee will be on Saturday February 11 at the Albert Street garden at 10am. Hope you can make it.

Wishing you all a lean, green and joyous year ahead.

Gardeners at the NYE parade

Perfect weather brought out forty or so gardeners with our wheelbarrows, bikes, scooters, pitchforks, horns, bells and kazoos for this year's Daylesford NYE Parade. We were dressed by the Daylesford Community Op Shop or our own creative frugality.

Tia and Jeremy won a prize for their fantastic costumes (especially the carved watermelon helmet with DCFG initials – Gold!)

Peter O'Mara painted us a beautiful banner which we showed off with great pride. Thanks Pete!

Larch Trumpetvine and Nick Sara went tandem as alligators. Every garden needs two.

Scarecrow Kate Gerritsen, Lindy Churches and a cohort of garden nymphs led us down the main drag.

Children danced or lay in a moveable manger while gumbooted Meg and Sarah stomped the beat.

Sharonne's horn and Patrick's straw dance sprayed the crowd.

And community gardener Ian Robertson spent the night busily photographing us. Thanks Ian!