A morning tea (of course, it's BLF!) and chat about where we want our social aspects of the site to go.
I love the garden visits. The truth is, it was just an excuse for a get together with friends, enjoy some great food and talk nonsense. I hate that we are losing that aspect of the site.
So, let's get together and talk about excuses to get together. I'd like to talk about potential ways forward, a refocus the site in a planning session. Ideas include:
- Seed bank ?
- Produce give aways/swap table?
- Practical get togethers to make something - cheese, bread, cakes, jams, cheap wicking beds - whatever?
- Garden visits would become a more minor part of the reason we get together and move to a "can someone show me aquaponics or native bees?" type requests.
Come along, have morning tea and bounce around ideas. Full address will be sent closer to time to those attending.
Comments
I reckon we may well rename the Garden Visits. I thnk they are going to become "Crafting and Crop Shares" as in, more focussed on practical skills like canning, baking, cheese making, make a cheap wicking bed etc.
Obligation free plant and crop swaps are a sure winner. (Just making a list of ideas for the get together. )
I think that would be wonderful Helen. I'm over-run with ants farming scale on everything here so I'll get in quickly and say, "Pick me!" I'm very interested in what I can grow to that will help attract good predators.
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the invitation to this meeting. Unfortunately, I have another engagement that day at that time :-(
Although you're suggesting moving away from garden visits, I like to offer a visit to my West End butterfly and wildlife garden for up to 8 people (at any one time) sometime soon, if members are interested. My focus has been largely on small wildlife.
As the news about biodiversity losses starts becoming more emphatic, I'd like to host a discussion about integrating local native plants with our food plants to consider how the diverse small creatures that use local native species, and their predators and parasitoids, are likely to be able to support our food plants, and how we, in turn, can support biodiversity while growing our food. This is the focus of a book I co-authored with Dick Copeman from Northey St City Farm, called Inviting Nature to Dinner (2020). Its theme is gardening with nature, rather than fighting it. In it, we offer a range of ecological strategies for dealing with "the competition".
In case it's useful to know, I can also offer a session about keeping stingless native bees, and other native bees more broadly. I am the editor, producer, and publisher of John Klummp's Australian Stingless Bees: a guide to Sugarbag beekeeping (2007), and have given a number of workshops on this topic.
Cheers,
Helen
Peter, it is at McDowall, so pretty close.
Thanks for the replies everyone!
Interested if it is near Carseldine area
Thank you for the invite, but I work most weekends so can't attend. I havent been to any gardening events for a long time - but I am grateful for the advice I had from the few visits I did do - our2 acre food forest is still developing and improving all the time. (I think I got my first winged yam from you and now have quite a few of these productive plants). Seed banks are a great idea, all the best wishes.
Will be away but hope it goes well.
Sounds like fun. Unfortuneatley I am booked out for rest of June. We have regular get to gethers on the south side too.
Could link too with other existing groups more local to members too to create the community connections. Another comment said ROGi, Coochimudlo. There is BOGi, Logan Food Gardeners, various community gardens. Could also link with BrisLETS, an alternative online trading currency using your time, skills & energy to earn units & spend like cash. So the swap / trading tables could use units, working bees, work shops etc. Also not sure of availability yet. Definitely agree community is going to be critical - thank you for creating the space for action!
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