Winter working bee Sunday 5thJuly 2009

Hey folks! Its that wonderful winter time of the year again and yes, the Garden is cranking with plenty of fruit tree and vegie goodness...
We have just come off the back of another fabulous and successful Veg Swap on Saturday and a midday sell out stall at Sunday's Coledale market!
The inner circle will assemble around 10am for a glorious day of mattock swinging, vegie planting, liquid tea splashing, compost building, local food preparation, warm cuppas, laughter and well mannered frivolity!
Our regular monthly organic gardening enthusiasts - we look forward to catching up with you and new comers are always welcome. Feel free to bring a plate of something wholesome for a 1am lunch. See you there!
If you can't catch up with us at the Garden Sunday, see us at our organically colourful stall at Thirroul Public School's Fete of the Earth from 10am.

Last Swap of the Season!

It's great to know that the swap has been so well received. The consensus seems to be that the vibe is really good and the fruit and veg is truly worth swapping. Thanks so much to everyone for making it work.
We have decided that the next swap will be the last of the season (sorry, but we've got to let the earth rest once in a while, ya know?!)...don't worry, we will kick off again in spring! Listening to 2SER today, a food expert claimed 50% of the world's food goes to waste in some form or another...man, we've got work to do.

So DO NOT miss the coming swap on Saturday June 27 from 9-12. It will be business as usual with loads of both common and unusual edibles and of course coffee from the Port Kembla Men's Group. We're guessing this swap will be citrus heaven, so if you are feeling a bit swine-ish then come and get fixed-up.

By the way, if your garden has totally gone to bed for the winter, maybe rummage through your book/magazine collection for something to swap. The Garden is looking for old (and new) organic gardening magazines like Warm Earth and Grass Roots to build a local public collection of organic/permaculture/ sustainability/self-

sufficiency related resource materials. Books welcomed too.

We leave you with reminders of the last swap. Thanks to VJ for the photos. See you on Saturday!

Swappers' delight

We couldn't have asked for more! The weather was glorious and the people were generous. Our friends from Port Kembla Men's Group provided seriously good cups of fair trade coffee for 30 or so swappers from in and around Wollongong. The produce was beautiful and varied: Vietnamese mint, lemongrass, mind-blowing chilis, three types of basil, pumpkins, curry leaf, lettuce, spinach, passion fruit, macadamia saplings and nuts, strawberry plants, mustard greens, chokos, beans, wax jambu, cucumbers, tamarillos, Jerusalem artichokes, rosemary, fennel, flat and curly leaf parsley, bulls horn capsicum, garlic chives, curly kale, eggplants, garlic, figs, limes...are you getting the picture!!!

A lot of healthy organic food got redistributed and people made new friends in the process. And in keeping with our motto 'Waste Not!' virtually every leaf and sprig that was donated to us was sold the following day at Coledale Market (pics and more info to come) which will allow us to keep the swap going.



Humongous thanks to everybody who participated and made it such a relaxed and positive morning.

Fellow swappers at Happy Earth(http://www.happyearth.com.au/) wrote a very kind report about the day as well. A podcast may also appear on Tim Denshire-Key's blog (http://upyourjumper.wordpress.com/). Tim visited us as a part of his Australian tour in which he is documenting the various ways communities are addressing sustainability and the challenges we face as a result of climate change and peak oil.

So spread the word. The Waste Not! swap will happen on the 4th Saturday of each month from 9-12 here at the Garden.

Swap your surplus veg at the Garden!

Waste Not! Fruit and Veg Swap is being launched at the Garden @ North Wollongong PCYC on Saturday April 25th.

Details are on the flier, but basically you bring some surplus herbs, fruit and/or veg from your garden i bring from mine and we swap! simple!

The equitability of the swapping will be determined between swappers. so if you are happy to receive a sprig of parsley in exchange for a pumpkin...cool!

Although we want as much veg as possible, don't be shy about bringing other stuff. Maybe people want flowers or dried beans or a branch of rosemary

Our only request is that you donate some of your bounty to the Garden for sale the following morning at Coledale Market (Wollongong Produce and Creative Traders Markets - About Us ). The little $$ we make at the market will be be re-invested in the costs of the swap/market and into ongoing projects at the Garden. As time goes on and we gather more members, we can all discuss whether that arrangement works or needs to be changed.

If that isn't enough...we hope to have some sweets and coffee on hand for the swap.

Before you come, take a look at your food garden through fresh eyes...all the stuff you are sick of is probably just the thing others are searching for.

See you at the swap!

working bee april

March Working Bee

Another good turn out for the monthly "working bee".
We got a lot done, & had another great lunch with lots of contributions.
And Lou gave us a grafting demo.