Returning the suburban to the sacred: a commons of apples and people

It's been twenty years since Patrick planted the library apples. Last Saturday, at our monthly working bee, we celebrated these giving trees, the community who have tended them and their grand pruner, Ian Clarke.

The next working bee is on the 12 July.

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

Edible Forest Gardens talk with Dave Jacke

Edible forest gardener and permaculturalist, Dave Jacke, came to Daylesford during the week for a brief talk while touring the country giving workshops on temperate climate food forestry. Excerpts from Dave's talk follows...

Dave Jacke talks edible forest gardens

Come hear Dave speak at the Town Hall this Wednesday...

DSC Food Forest makes front page news

The Advocate newspaper today...

DAYLESFORD will soon boast a five-acre food forest, thanks to a partnership between Daylesford Community Food Gardeners, Daylesford Neighborhood Centre and Daylesford Secondary College. The food forest will build on permaculture principles and will boast more than 60 species of food producing plants, a poultry system and bees.
Daylesford Community Food Gardeners co-ordinator Patrick Jones said the Daylesford Secondary College Council had already approved plans and the project was now seeking funding. The food forest will be planted at Daylesford Secondary College and will be a fifth community garden for Daylesford.

Read on here.

A forest garden

After several months of planning, with many enthusiastic people giving their time and skills, we today signed an agreement with Daylesford Secondary College (DSC) to begin work on a 5-acre food forest at the school in 2013. This will be the fifth community garden in Daylesford established within 2 years, and a significant contributer to the growing community food system we are developing locally. Part community garden, part educative resource, the DSC Food Forest will be a first of its kind in Australia. It will have an emphasis on growing ethical, local food in an ecologically restorative way and will teach students and the wider community how to climate change proof our food supply while attend to greenhouse gases by growing locally, perennially and organically.

Drawing by Patrick Jones (click for bigger)

The design group included DSC student Ruby Scott, DSC parent Alison Wilken, local permaculturalists Luke Pither, Patrick Jones, Paul Dempsey and Chris Wood, and consultation by permaculture co-originator David Holmgren and relocalisation activist Su Dennett. The generous and inspired school representatives have been teachers Liz Woodroofe, Karen Ruff, Eirinn Taylor and principal Tiffany Holt. Many others have given their time, support and knowledges to this project thus far, including the school's council, the Daylesford Neighbourhood Centre, numerous community gardeners and those who first sowed this seed.

All of us involved have thought it important to continue the great work the local primary schools have been doing to educate our kids in sustainable and ethical food production and really expand this knowledge at the secondary schooling level, where teenagers are often prey to corporate food predators.

We'll start looking for broader community support, volunteers and funding opportunities for the project in the new year. In the meantime our community can celebrate knowing that this project will begin to become a biophysical reality in 2013.

Daylesford Secondary College 10-acre Food Forest Project Under Way

Notes from today's exciting meeting with community gardeners, environmental activists, community participants, parents and Daylesford Secondary School principal, Tiffany Holt.

Click here to see the site.

A five acre food forest?

Yes, we're still in the middle of planning a fourth community food garden, but in the meantime we are also talking to Daylesford Secondary College about the possibility of a fifth garden at the school. The edible, ecological and educational possibilities of this site are potentially huge.

L-R Dave Stephens, Robert Hewat, Veronica Pellet and Alexis Pitsopoulos. Photo: Patrick Jones

Last Friday a first meeting was arranged by Dave Stephens (local forest activist and future parent of the school) who invited Alexis Pitsopoulos (local forager, herbalist, locavore cook and edible weedsman), Robert Hewat (local botanist, parent), Patrick Jones (community food system activist, designer and poet) and Veronica Pellet (French WWOOFer) to look over the site. We look forward to working with the school.

January working bee, picnic and Boite Singers' Festival

We had a day of diverse activities in our little town today including our regular monthly working bee and Harvest Swapmeet, a community picnic and a forum on permaculture. But first, the working bee and harvest swapmeet:

As part of the 22nd Boite Singers' Festival, Timor Leste singer-songwriter and permaculturalist Ego Lemos performed with his band before joining a local panel, including permaculture co-originator David Holmgren and community gardener Patrick Jones, to discuss permaculture activism, community gardens and global crises ordained by late industrialism:

Patrick presented his take on the communal establishment of Daylesford Community Food Gardens, guerilla style, by giving a live read to his film Gardens of Love.

Our first nine months

The story of Daylesford Community Food Gardeners first nine months demonstrating how a guerilla action at one garden developed into three community gardens throughout the town.

First design session Rea Lands Park, Daylesford

As we can only garden at the Albert Street garden temporarily, we have started to look for a permanent site, working with council sustainabilty officer Jill Berry and infrastructure manager Peter Reeve.

We had a good scout through the town of Daylesford looking at available sites for permanent food production. We found Rea Lands Park. Perfect site. Deep volcanic soils, North facing, protected from the south, and a site gifted by a Daylesford elder to the community in the eighties for community use.

Here is a topographical map obtained from council that Patrick Jones has added to, drawing up the suggestions made by David Holmgren and the community after the first design session.

Click for bigger.

A second celebration

National Permaculture Day celebrations at the Daylesford Community Food Garden in Albert Street (next to the library).

This event was hosted by Daylesford Community Food Gardeners (DCFG) and Hepburn Relocalisation Network (HRN).

Thanks to our friends SHARE (Sustainable Hepburn Association), Daylesford CFA, Hepburn Council and local residents for their support!