Permaculture Out West

Some rastafarians planted a rocking garden which now belongs to Jenny. It needs a bit of a revamp and some soil improvement done.

Tasks for the day:

• Reestablishing & remineralising existing garden beds
• Sowing & planting perennials and annuals
• Planting trees
• Repurposing pallets to make a potting table.

Items that will be required other than willing participants will be at least one wheelbarrow (more will be better) shovels, rakes, forks. And a healthy appetite.

Kick off at 10.30am.

RSVP to jsmith4@optusnet.com.au for address.

YIMBYs are POW’s own open edible gardens. Every second month you can join one of POW’s members on an informal tour of their garden, ask them questions, learn something new and then join them and other POWer rangers for something to eat and drink.

What better way to send a Sunday afternoon?

In June, founder of POW, Mel Henkel will be opening her small, but incredibly productive garden:

Nestled in the back streets of Seddon…

…you will find a back and front yard full of surprises. The front has a food forest while the back shows off some espalier apples, a solar pergola laced with grapes and two nice raised veggie patches.

There is always something to add, I have been creating this space since 2009 and I still find room to add more. I also use my verge to help grow some extra goodies.

I am always looking for new ideas, adding, moving and working with what my garden wants to grow, it is always fun. Come and have a look, maybe you can add to our space with your ideas. They are most welcome. – Mel.

Date:               Sunday 16^th June, 2013

Time:             2-4pm

Venue:            you will be emailed the address when you rsvp

RSVP:             events@pow.org.au

Places are limited so get in quick and don’t forget to bring a plate to share for afternoon tea!

POW General Meeting
Thursday 30th May 7:30pm-9:30pm
At Emily & Luke’s in West Footscray, contact Emily info@pow.org.au or 0431 318 249 for the address

Come join in and get actively involved with POW IN PERSON as well as online. We warmly welcome fresh faces to our crew! Online community is fun, but offline community is riotous!

POW’s General Meetings are held monthly on the last Thursday of the month 7:30pm-9:30pm.

In the meantime, if you have any Agenda items please email them to our Convenor Emily info@pow.org.au

POWer Plants is open this Sunday for their sixth sale day and it’s International Permaculture Day!

The crew are certainly hitting their stride and the nursery is flourishing. In stock this month they have basil, dill, purple broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, rocket, warigal greens and yep ‘more’ for $1 – $2 each. Community style!

Remember you are not only getting great cheap locally grown seedlings but your support also means free seedlings for community groups, schools, playgroups, public housing projects and more!

POWer Plants is on the lookout for some more regular volunteers. They need a couple of extra people to commit to a couple of hours a month on a Sunday afternoon from 3-5. No experience necessary, just an eagerness to help out and a good sense of humour.

POWer Plants Community Nursery
30 Shepherd Street
Braybrook
11-1 Sunday May 5th
All seedlings $1-2 Half price for POW members!

Like POWer plants on Facebook

Saturday 11th May 11am-2pm
Maidstone Community Centre, 21 Yardley Street Maidstone (follow signs to “The Cottage”)

Feel like you are losing your edge? Not the sharpest tool in the box? Still think that it’s meant to be your nose that gets put to the grindstone? Do you still call a spade a spade when it’s too worn to dig with? Then let me be blunt: you don’t have to bury the hatchet; you need to attend this cutting edge workshop.

Presented by Warwick Bone in a three hour session, you will learn the history, the how-tos and the what-withs of sharpening your knives and edge tools: Keeping them sharp and you safe. With experienced instruction and hands-on participation, you will develop take-home skills that will mean no more dangerous blunt knives in the kitchen and no more useless tools cluttering up the shed.

Date: Saturday 11 May 11am – 2pm
Location: Maidstone Community Centre, 21 Yardley Street, Maidstone
(follow the signs to “The Cottage”)
Bring along: A wrapped knife or tool to sharpen
Cost: Gold coin donation and plate to share after the workshop
Bookings essential: Limited places! To book email workshops@pow.org.au with your name, contact number and number attending

Sadly, the Eldridge Street chooks will not be returning home. Maribyrnong Council delivered their report in response to the petition supporting the Eldridge Street chooks last night. You can read it here http://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/files/Attachments/APR13_CCL_Response_to_Petition_Save_the_Eldridge_Street_Footscray_Chooks.pdf

Council refused an exemption on the basis that the chickens were being housed in the front yard: “Chickens in the front yard of any property, particularly dense inner urban locations, have the potential to detract from the local amenity. Open front yards in general are unable to meet the requirements of Council’s Local Law.”

Dusk and Ben Liney had their three chickens and three chicks evicted from the front yard in front of their block of flats. They gathered over 125 signatures from residents on their street, stating their support for the return of the chickens who were loved by the community. You can read more of the back story in the Herald Sun and Star Newspaper.

The Council report mentions the Save Our Chooks Public Forum meeting and states that Council will be developing an operational guidelines document and undertaking consultation in its development.

If you are interested in joining a working group advocating for responsible backyard chicken ownership, please email us for further details.

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our Save Our Chooks Public Meeting on 4th April. It was an interesting and informative evening!

Special thank yous to our speakers
- Emily Sims from Permaculture Out West for facilitating
- Debra Maffescioni, founder of Book A Chook for “mythbusting” potential “problems” of keeping chickens in the city
- Paul McKeon, Local Laws manager for Maribyrnong Council for talking about the current law, how it functions, is applied by their officers and the Poultry Keeping Guideline document they intend to make available shortly
- Cr Martin Zakharov, Ward Councillor for Yarraville

After an initial ice-breaker and introductions, we looked at the reasons why keeping chickens is so important to us as well as what issues can arise that can make chook keeping in the city problematic. Deb, founder of Book A Chook addressed these issues, outlining how all of these problems, except “noise”, are not inherently chook problems – they are PEOPLE problems. Ie these are all problems because of poor management by the chook’s owners. Chickens are very easy to maintain pets, that do not require much space, but do require a good set up and regular but simple routine to prevent problems.

In brief, Council said they are supportive of responsible chicken keeping in Maribyrnong and recent events have highlighted the need for an operational guidelines document re Poultry Keeping to inform both Council officers and the public on how the law is applied and the conditions required for exemptions to considered. The document will be completed in the next 3-4 weeks and Local Laws are open to consulting with a working group on this.

Council do not feel the need to amend their “15m from any dwelling” rule at the present time as there already exists the clause that allows exemptions. All the local laws are up for review in 2015 and community consultation will be commencing in about 6 months time.

We are grateful to Paul McKeon for attending our meeting and clarifying the laws, identifying areas that his team needs to make improvements and agreeing to work with POW to make operational guidelines for animal management officers and chook owners available as soon as possible. We thank Council for their positive response to community concerns. We look forward to the local laws being reviewed so that Maribyrnong’s vision for a sustainable city can be pursued consistently and confidently by council and residents.

Minutes:

Meeting Agenda

Meeting Notes – Pros Cons Solutions

Meeting Notes – Discussion

MAIDSTONE CHOOKS UPDATE

The Ashley-Chiews are in discussion with Council Local Laws regarding an exemption. Fingers crossed and watch this space!

ELDRIDGE STREET CHOOKS UPDATE

If you would like to show your support in person for the recently evicted Eldridge Street chooks http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/west/let-chooks-come-home-plead-footscray-west-couple/story-fngnvmj7-1226585238607 you are invited to attend Council’s sitting when they hand down their report on 23 April 6.30pm.

Have you ever been to a POW permabee?

Permabees are informal, community working bees in a backyard near you. At permabees we tackle jobs that are too big for two. Last month we readied Maidstone Community Garden for the largest day in community calendar, Harmony Feast. What will we do this month?

This month we will be making no dig gardens on Sunday 28th April somewhere in West Footscray. Watch this space for more details.

If you would like to attend or would like some more information, please drop us a line to permabees@pow.org.au.

11am-1pm in Maidstone (RSVP to workshops@pow.org.au for address details)

Advanced chook keeping skillshare including humane dispatch of injured or delicious chickens and roosters.

Limited spots available. Cost of skillshare is free.

Things have been moving along for the Braybrook Community Gardens! Some great news:

Now our record breaking hot summer has died down, it’s time to do some serious planting in the new Braybrook Community Garden. Join us as we plant the foundations of our community orchard with a wide range of fruit and nut trees including some wonderful peaches donated from the Werribee Heritage Orchard.

It’s a free event and everyone is welcome!

Date:
Saturday 13th April – 10.30 am

Where:
Braybrook Community Garden (behind the airplane playground),
107-139 Churchill Avenue, Braybrook.

For more details, check out the Facebook page or download the event flyer here.