Bridport Street Daylesford Bus Stop Precinct Upgrade

Mid 2013 a small group of gardeners initiated the Daylesford Bus Stop Precinct Upgrade. The long-term plan is to make the stop and it's immediate surrounds more reflective of Daylesford; welcoming to those visitors who arrive here, as well as being a more comfortable space for the locals who regularly wait for transport at the shelter.

We think that the swimming pool retaining wall could host some hardy, drought resistant plants such as succulents, geraniums, herbs etc. Time will tell how these would survive a hot summer... but we are hoping they would help soften the aspect of the shelter and the immediate surrounds, and in some way reflect the artistic life that is such a wonderful facet of living in Daylesford and Hepburn Springs. In time in it would be good to initiate some ‘verge’ gardening with a variety of plants on the nature strips either side of the shelter, and perhaps a tree or two in the pavement area.

To be involved or contribute thoughts & suggestions, please come and see us. We are on site every second Tuesday around 2pm. During the warm months of summer someone will often be there every couple of days early in the morning or in the evening.

You can also come along to our Daylesford Community Food Garden working bees on the 2nd Saturday of the month, next to the library.

December 14 working bee: all a-buzz!

A sunny early summer day saw more than 20 out in the garden... 

Jo, Tony, Simone and Smooch, Lindy, Paul, Alex, Dana, Lisa, Chris, Anita, Yael and Essie, Matt, Sam, Pete, Alison, Bridie and Joyce, Maureen, Ayumi, John, Sonia, Lois, Tamaya, Tiffany... weeding, planting, moving, trimming, pruning, picking, swapping, clearing, supporting, mulching, composting, talking, laughing, standing, kneeling, squatting, digging, planning, turning, tossing, pulling, wheeling, dragging, pointing, patting, scraping, mounding, spreading & watering....

Below - pictures worth a thousand words...

Lindy

Alex, Dana

Sam, Alison, Maureen

Paul, Ayumi

Anita, Peter

Yael and Essie

Matt, Jo

 Lindy, Sam, Joyce and Bridie

 Paul

Tiffany, Simone

 Ayumi, Tony

and Smooch!

Happy New Year & see you all in January 2014!

Skate Park working bee 10am – 12 midday Wednesday December 11

There's an upcoming working bee at the Skate Park on Wednesday December 11 to put down a compacted sawdust path, and to install some weed matting around the baby wattle hedge plants. This will reduce the need for slashing those areas behind the fruit trees. We’ll get underway around 10am. We need about 10 people, but all welcome! Please bring shovels, old tent pegs and wheelbarrows.

This regular visitor (below) has been at us for a few weeks to get onto this, so let's make them happy!

Reminder: the next Albert Street working bee is Saturday December 14... 

Water Roster Call Out

Hello all...

This is an initial call out for water roster volunteers for the Albert Street garden, next to the library, for the coming hotter months. I'm planning to put together a roster for Dec + Jan over the next couple of weeks so could willing people please let me know their availability.

Each person, or family group, will be asked to take on a weekly slot. Each week the garden will need watering perhaps twice... maybe less if it rains... maybe 3 times if it's scorching! Each watering usually takes 20-30 minutes. Another person will be rostered on for the same week to make sure the garden is adequately looked after. All you need for watering is on-site.

Also, anyone is welcome to be a casual participant... if you drop by and it looks parched, feel free to sprinkle!
(nb: on hot days watering is best done early morning, or late afternoon/evening.) 

All our recent plantings of tomatoes, coriander, basil and spinach, to name some, will be grateful for your involvement!

Can interested people please contact me
Pete O'Mara 5348 1154 Many thanks!

The pricelessness of community-made social spaces

Albert Street garden...

November Working Bee

We had an enthusiastic & energetic November working bee and swap meet with more than 20 gardeners... all of them bricks! in action amidst continually changing conditions...

Lots of plantings, seedlings & seeds: tomatoes, coriander, basil, spinach, to name some. Lots of composting: distributing, spreading, tossing & turning, and building new heaps...

Lots of maintenance: with edging, weeding, mulching, staking and consolidating the beds, plus overhead wires for the banana passion-fruit... there was also painstaking attention brought to the coddling moth infestation outside the library (thank-you Paul!)

Lots of conferring and co-operations...

Lots of hello’s... to familiar and new faces...

...to a young Rose...

and a (temporary) good-bye to an old (but eternally young!) face...

see you later Patrick!... all the best to you Meg Zephyr Woody & Zero for the next adventure!

Meeting @ Meeting

Another DCFG working group meeting was held at Daylesford Neighbourhood Centre to further refine handover roles and responsibilities. Acknowledgement was given to the Dja Dja Wurrung and us, the people of our local community. Also, the meeting recognized the remarkable input of Meg Ulman, blogger extraordinaire and steady hand of the Ulman-Jones realm. We thank-you Meg for all your contributions and love.

The meeting brainstormed a list of DCFG Aims. A final 12 was decided upon and listed on the whiteboard. The aims listed below are a basic understanding of our shared intent and participation, not definitive, graded or constituted. A snapshot of DCFG in November 2103. You are welcome to randomly throw them up in the air and see where they land. Or sing them as a mantra in the garden….

1. Organic Food Production

2. Abundance

3. Common Ground

4. Social Warming

5. Joy

6. Raise Awareness

7. Community Participation

8. Learning

9. Inclusive

10. Inspire

11. Group Sustainability

12. Local resilience

Patrick further fleshed out DCFG structural roles with a focus on communication. Showing exemplary white-board skills Patrick conjured up a dynamic map diagram (see below) of what is required to ensure that DCFG remains in open communication both internally and with wider community. The meeting agreed with the roles outlined. Other noted roles were.

.

• Luke to be general info contact 

• Tia to assist Kate with Facebook

• Ian to be blog contact

• Event facilitators to provide blog write up+ photos to Ian

• Pete to be Hepburn Shire contact 

In keeping with our recognition of the need for strong communication, it was decided that a general DCFG meeting would be held bi-monthly. The meeting schedule roughly coincides with the six seasons of the Wombat Forest as identified by local field naturalist Tanya Loos. These seasons are early spring (late Aug-Sept), true spring (Oct-Dec), early summer (mid Dec-Jan), late summer (late Jan-March), autumn (April-May) and winter (June-mid Aug). Tanya notes that indigenous Australians have long understood that our continent has more than four seasons. We acknowledge that understanding here. See Tanya’s Daylesford Nature Dairy website for more information.

The meetings will be held at Daylesford Neighbourhood Centre commencing at 7.00pm with a firm resolve to finish at 8.30pm. 

DCFG meetings are open to all people.

Tuesday 3 Dec 2013

Tuesday 4 Feb 2014

Tuesday 1 April

Tuesday 3 June

Tuesday 5 August

Tuesday 7 October

Tuesday 2 Dec

In closing the meeting discussion was held about garden signage and possible general information poster. Further dialogue on these has been held over to next meeting. Along with other stuff. Will keep you posted!!

Pete O'Mara