Collective effort (November working bee)

Our November working bee at Albert Street garden began with a look at what the free food stand had on offer. Emily introduces a visitor to the concept.

There were purple Congo spuds, last season Harcourt apples and broadbeans for starters.

Jono and Liv got into the veg-digging spirit of the day.

Nikki and Kai's grandma pulled weeds together.

Alison signed an Australian Food Sovereignty petition.

Ash (from above), Kai and Tom (below) set a compost,

and later Dora joined Alison in one of the central beds.

Meg explained a thing or two to Kai,

while Woody cut back the fever few.

Tom watered the garden, and over the next couple of hot weeks watered in the new seedlings each day.

Meg pondered between jobs.

and Ash took a break with a book.

Kirsten stopped just long enough to snap this,

and we all said farewell for another month. Bye Zero!

Next working bee is on again this Saturday, Dec 9. It runs from 9am - 12 noon at the Albert St garden (beside the library). All are welcome for as little or as much time as you can spare. It would be great to see you, and please bring spare seedlings of all kinds. We especially need to get some tomatoes and basil in the ground.

Community Uprising (October working bee)

Thank you to the sun, the birds and the bees for joining us at the October bee. And a special thank you to baby Rafael for joining us. We look forward to watching you grow, little fella. Congratulations to Jade + Robbie.

Kirsten overhauls a garden bed ready for spring planting.

Thank you spring!

Patrick selects seedlings to plant. Thanks to Sue + Melissa + Mara Ripani for kindly donating them.

Zero enjoys the soft grass and the warm air.

Tools of the trade.

Ian Clarke lovingly attends to an apple tree.

Ashar makes himself at home.

The Porter Petruccis get busy digging.

Meg sifts aged compost to add to garden beds for planting.

Woody and Ashar discuss which woods are the best for whittling spoons.

Thank you to everyone who came along to help. See you at the next bee on November 11th.

Great photos, Mara Ripani! Thank you gorgeous lady. <3

Many hands (September working bee)

We finally had a great day for gardening after a week of poor weather and the previous (August) working bee being washed out.

Our numbers were doubled by a group of students from Clonard College, most of whom were first time gardeners. Patrick introduced the ethics of the garden and handed out jobs.

Tracey arrived early and got to weeding one of the leek beds.

Loique worked on the other one, hidden by the broadband.

Mara, as colourful as ever, helps in this front bed too with help from ...

Chris gets those happy-pill soil microbes into his blood stream.

Tom lends an ear to the garden nymphs.

Artemisia collects up the purple Congo potatoes.

Tom loads up the beds with mature compost.

Zero hunts mice.

Meg plants some European parsley.

Ian sprays white oil on the fruit trees.

These two from Clonard College learn to set a compost.

Kim wheels the nitrogen down to the composters.

Patrick pulls out the chickweed that has been feeding us all winter. Chick weed is full of Vitamin C.

Ange returns to the district to lend a hand.

Laura from Join Adventures and Michael, the outdoor ed teacher from Clonard College, lead a weeding team.

Linda and Mara take a moment for a moment.

And Diana, one of the librarians from next door, prepares a frame to hang pollinator hotels. Diana is running a workshop for children to make them, as part of the holiday program.

Next working bee is on the second Saturday of October, 9am -12 noon. See you there!

Pruning workshop with Ian Clarke (June working bee)

25 of us gathered at the library apples to attend a pruning workshop lead by Ian Clarke.

Ian has 55 years experience as an orchardist, and the last 20 years as a biodynamic fruit tree expert.

He showed us his method of bevelling larger pruning cuts, which reduces the surface area and speeds up the healing over process.

With each tree we were asked to examine the branches to remove. It was technical work and many of us felt overwhelmed by the matrix of possibilities.

On apples and pears the best fruit comes from the second and third year fruiting buds, which are the pregnant looking ones.

Ian mentioned it is common that people prune for aesthetics and not for fruit, so observe the second and third year buds and only remove those branches that are overcrowding.

Ian advised against using loppers because they bruise the branches, which encourages disease.

Disease such as woolly aphids can be treated in a number of ways, which we discovered in last year's workshop. Ian's notes for the treatment of disease can be found here (once there scroll down).

Thank you so much Ian Clarke for gifting your knowledge again this year. We look forward to the apples at the library producing another abundant crop. Artist as Family made a Library Fuji cider with them this year. What will you do with this free resource that is 100% community nourishment?

For insurance purposes, those who came included: Patrick Jones (facilitator), Ian Clarke (presenter), Jeremy Yau, Marcus and Kaiden Harmsen, Jonathan Swan, Olivia Gourley, Pam Armstrong, Alix Downing, Emily Wilden, Sharon Reading, Tina Whitaker, Geordie Collins, Robbie Woohey, Jade Dela Haye, Chris Dilworth, Odette Dilworth, Lauren Richardson, Fe Porter, Fab, Luna and Ant Petrucci,  Dora Berenyi, Nick Ritar, Brenna Quinlan, Tracey MacDonald, Tracey Collinson.