A couple of items of interest

Connecting Country Workshops
Lena Mazza has drawn our attention to a series of spring rural workshops being run by Connecting Country from Castlemaine.

Sunday 2 August: Living with fire & wildlife
Sunday 30 August: Biodiversity in the paddock
Sunday 13 September: Conservation fencing
Sunday 25 October: Back from the brink –land regeneration

Full details are available at this link or you can call Krista Patterson-Majoor on 5472 1594 (Mondays & Thursdays)

Hosting backyard beehives
Craig Terrell is a bee enthusiast living in Yandoit. He is expanding his enthusiasm into a small business based on setting up a network of managed bee hives throughout the district. For a donation of $250, you can host one of Craig's hives in your yard or on your property. Craig and his co-apiarists will be fully responsible for managing the hive/s and, in exchange you will receive 5 litres of pure honey per year.
Autumn is the optimum time to get new hives located (best time for the bees!). Craig can be contacted on 0449 982 632. Note: Craig is also happy to have visitors out to Yandoit… interested people can call him to arrange a visit.

(Thanks Lena!)

July bee: some light-hearted heavy lifting at Rea Lands

The wall at Rea Lands has been beautifully re-built over the last 3 months...  Thanks Hepburn Shire Council and the great brick artisans that saw to this restoration.

Over the last couple of weeks community gardeners Anita and Rob began re-shaping the slope immediately inside the gate to create the makings of a large new bed with better pathways to the left and right.

Today's bee concentrated on consolidating that new bed, combined with some much needed general maintenance and mulch-spreading across the top food forest area.

1–2–3... Luke & Patrick

Let's rock...

... & roll !

Many hands... (Luke, Woody hidden, Jasper, Violet, Meg, Patrick, Tim, Jeremy)

(Patrick, Meg, Luke, Violet, Ginger, Andrew, Lindy, Jeremy)

(Lindy & Andrew mulching the almond bed)

(Su, Andrew)

The rake's regress! (Jeremy)

(Jasper, Violet, Ginger)

(Arden & Woody)

Ho hoe! (Lena)

(Fiona & Tia)

(Tim, Maureen, Woody Wheelbarrow)

(Tia & Tim)

(Helen, Lindy, Andrew dividing and planting out thyme, Meg & Su in the background)

The morning's work

Break time (Ginger, Violet, Lindy, Woody, Meg, Zero, Lena, Catherine)

Zero helps himself to a bird's eye view!

Todays gardeners and visitors included: Patrick & Meg with Woody, Luke, Andrew & Lindy with Violet & Ginger, Lena, Catherine, Maureen, Tia & Jeremy with Arden & Jasper, Su, Helen, Maureen, Steven, Fiona, Donghwan, Ellen, Tim, Greg and Ian.

Convivial June bee

The winter weather favoured us with a warm day for the June bee… and gardeners and visitors included: Lena, Patrick with Woody, Tony, Ian, Anne Tamblyn and Keira Lockyer from U3A (who are gathering material on DCFG for a chapter in an upcoming community publication), Tia and Jeremy with Jasper and Arden, first-timer Leila, Sarah with tiny Ruby, Mara, Christian, Diana, Meg and Alison.

In the main it was a day of maintenance, some bed preparation and planting, lots of weeding, thinning, removing exhausted plants such as tomatoes (after gathering the green ones), mowing, collecting stakes, compost turning, mixing and adding. While there is always lots of social warming, today's bee seemed exceptionally companionable, with conversations, smiles and laughter aplenty. The morning's pics. . .

Patrick, Lena, Tony

Patrick, Lena

Lena, Arden, Patrick, Woody, Anne, Kiera

Arden (far left), Anne, Kiera, Woody, Jasper... and others in the background

Tia, Leila... (welcome to Daylesford!)

Keira (back), Tony, Jeremy (mandolin discussion)

Anne, Patrick

Ruby, Sarah, Lena, Anne, Patrick

Arden, Woody, Jasper

Ruby, Sarah, Tia, Leila

Mara, Tia, Lena, Leila, Anne, Kiera, Tony

Woody inspects the firm green tomatoes

Patrick, Mara, Tony & Tia bending, Christian

Tony, Christian, Leila

Sarah, Woody (in shadow), Ruby, Arden, Mara... in the distance Diana, Jeremy, Alison

Compost-ready!

Jeremy, Patrick (mixing compost and soccer)

Patrick, Jasper, Jeremy

Diana, Jasper, Jeremy, Meg, Alison, Mara, Tony

Meg, Alison (happy days!)

Best foot forward... boot of the day (Tony)

Next bee: Saturday 11 July

A damp and modest but definite May bee

A wet and cold morning wasn't exactly conducive to gardening, but with winter upon us, though only May, there was not a lot that needed tending. Jo and Tony came early to do some mowing, and also something that had been in the pipeline since January came to fruition. A suitable area to present and gift free food to the community was discussed back at the January bee and Patrick had produced a rough design.

Local builder Nicko Andrews knocked up the structure and brought it to install with the help of Tony and Patrick.

Earlier on some kind person had left a bag of their freshly dug potatoes, so these earthly fruits became the first produce made available on the stand.

Nicko's children Grace and Joey joined their dad on the morning's mission. Thanks Nicko!

Also since the April bee the ever industrious Peter Jenkins installed removable slats for the front of the compost bays, increasing their capacity, and making them far easier to maintain. Thanks Peter!

The timber was donated by Brian Bowes. Thanks Brian!

NEXT BEE : SATURDAY 13 JUNE

April's autumn sunshower of community gardeners

Plenty of willing workers hoed into garden maintenance in gleaming autumn sunshine at this month's Albert Street working bee... edging, weeding, compost-spreading-tossing-tidying, wormfarm tending, bed clearing, seed planting and gathering, some modest harvesting – and lots of exchanges: greetings, news, questions, concerns, answers, queries, advice, opinions, observations, tips, reflections, laughter, stories, smiles… the perpetual weaving of community fabric.

Gardners and visitors included: Dave, Lindy with Alice, Tia & Jeremy with Jasper & Arden, Pete J, Elizabeth & Anitra (visiting from Campbells Creek… about to set up a community garden there), Clay, Nadika, Jacinta & Cam, Anshar with Sage, Wren & Nia, Alison, Kirsten with Alice, Tracy, Maureen & Stephen, Ian…

NB: A call-out for mulch straw for the next bee! Most welcome if anyone has some to spare....
also autumn leaves can be dropped off at the garden...

Meanwhile, the morning's work and chat in pictures:

Dave, Pete, Cam, Lindy

Anitra, Lindy, Elizabeth, Dave

Cam, Jacinta

Tia, Arden

Sage, Anshar, Jacinta

Jeremy, Cam

Elizabeth & Anitra from Campbells Creek

Tia, Anshar, Jeremy

Tracy, Pete, Lindy

Alison, Lindy, Alice

Arden, Jasper, Wren, Sage... considering their next move

Tracy, Pete, Alison, Jacinta, Lindy

Tracy, Alison, Lily, Kirsten

Jacinta, Stephen, Maureen

Cherry tomatoes courtesy of Tracy, & the makings of a conga line!

Anshar & Sage (again)... double the hands, halve the work!
 (in all probability coming to a poster near you, sometime in the n-t-d future!)

NEXT BEE: SATURDAY 9 MAY