Archive for January, 2010
Braybrook Community garden
A number of meetings are going to be facilitated by VillageWell at the Braybrook communitygarden to gather ideas for how the Braybrook Community Garden can best be utilised now, and in the future.
Public meetings will be held in February and March. Please have a read of these flyers to find out more.
Caring for your skin Workshop DIGGERS
Sunday 7th February 2010, 11:00am at Garden of St Erth
Is your skin feeling the heat this summer? Looking a bit sluggish and congested or just worn out from the hot and drying winds? Give yourself and your skin a bit of a pick-me-up and come and learn about making your own quick and easy skin care remedies at a fraction what you pay in the shops! Your skin can look fabulous with just the simplest of treatments. We’ll show you how easy it is to make your own nutritious skin care products without the synthetic additives, chemical solvents and other questionable ingredients that are often hidden away in your shop bought products. Just as effective but much gentler on your skin and containing only the purest of ingredients to pamper your skin with!
Learn how to make toners, cleansers, masks, and exfoliants for your skin type. Various recipes will be available to sample and all participants will get to treat themselves to a cooling footbath and a luscious hand treatment. So give yourself a treat this month and come and join us for some time out for a fun, relaxing time at the Garden of St Erth.
These are limited places so bookings are essential.
To secure your place, please ring our St Erth Retail shop on 03 5368 6514.
Payment at time of booking is required.
Members $25, Non-members $30
Payment at time of booking is required.
Garden of St Erth, Simmons Reef Road, Blackwood, Victoria
Homegrown – The Art of Gardening Sustainably
An exhibition of Sustainable Garden Art
Homegrown -
The Art of Gardening Sustainably
5 th February to 14 th March 2010
Exhibition opening Thursday 4th February, 6 to 8pm
To be opened by Deborah Halpern, well known Melbourne sculptor.
Special Guest: Jane Edmanson, Garden Presenter, Author, SGA Patron.
RSVP essential meredith@baag.com.au or 9850-8165 by 1st Feb (may need to limit numbers if high response due to limited parking & space)
This is an exhibition of art designed to get us to think about gardening sustainably – and to spread the word about and raise funds for SGA (Sustainable Gardening Australia).
Bolin Bolin Gallery at Bulleen Art & Garden,
6 Manningham Rd W., Bulleen. 98505155.
www.gallery.baag.com.au
The Art
We have artists who are passionate about living sustainably and are exhibiting works in various media which respond to the idea of gardening sustainably, particularly growing our own food. Artworks range from vibrant colourful paintings of cabbages to ceramic cabbages, to photographs of carrots, to sculpture in clay or recycled metal, to intricate botanical illustrations to paintings of gardens. Artists include well known artists as well as SGA supporters.
For more information on this exhibition, please go to the exhibition section at http://www.gallery.baag.com.au or click here
SGA does fantastic work helping us be sustainable in our back yards .
But, the big effort now is the new program of SGA PODS – or local neighbourhood garden groups, mainly focussed on helping each other grow our own food. For more information on PODs visit www.sgaonline.org.au/pods.html.
We hope to raise some funds at this exhibition to help them continue this vital work, – commission from all sales will be donated, as well as visitor contributions (both financial and as a volunteer, or pro bono), by becoming an SGA Champion of Change.
This is your chance to become a part of the team which is
Developing the POD garden group program
Further improving the Web site
Writing the monthly newsletter
Implementing Environmental Accreditations
Developing the Green Up Product Guide
For more information go to www.sgaonline.org.au .
Food Swap at the Convent
We held a monthly food swap at the Abbotsford Convent Farmers market during the second half of 2009. It was great fun & we are hoping to establish a POD to run this. ( A POD is a gardening group that take a Productive, Organic, Diverse and Sustainable approach to the way they garden.)
If you are a regular to the Farmer’s Market or would like to be part of the group, please let us know. We will be conducting a food swap on the 4th Saturday of every month.
It would be great if we could have a dedicated group of individuals heading along to not only share food but also knowledge and skills.
We envisage the POD program as a way for gardening groups all over Australia to connect through SGA.. For more information on PODs, have a look here www.sgaonline.org.au/pods.html
If you are interested in joining us please email pods@sgaonline.org.au.
Costa’s Pictures
Hello, Scott is bringing all the pics taken on the costa filming day together. If you have any you would like to share please email Scott.Hitchins@maribyrnong.vic.gov.au . Thanks
Permaculture Diaries
Hello,
POW has 6 x permaculture diaries for sale. Not only are they diaries, they’re are full of great info and stories of inspiring groups and people. They are $25 each or 2 for $40. Please contact admin@pow.org.au for details! Thanks
Executive Meeting Minutes
AGENDA
POW Exec meeting 2
12th January 2010
7:00 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Attendees: Neesh (Facilitator), Mel, Richard, Deb, Scott, Candice, Kat
Apologies: Delia
Location: Sabroso 2 Gamon Street Seddon (Corner of Charles & Gamon Street, SEDDON)
| PcM related activities | Attending PcM general meeting on 5/2/10
Mel (or Nyree) to attend 1/3/10 PcM related activities. Action: need dates from PcM then discuss roster at next exec meeting. Action: Secretary to keep PcM advised of events and workshops Action: Secretary to send general meeting minutes to PcM Action: Nyree, Deb and Mel to provide POW update for bimonthly PIE. |
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| POW Roles | Agreement for the following roles. 2 people to do each role with swap over 6 months through:
Convenor – Mel (Jul 09 – Dec 09), Scott (Jan10 – Jun 10) Secretary – Deb (Jul 09 – Dec 09), Kat (Jan10 – Jun10) Treasurer – Kat (Jul 09 – Dec 09), Deb (Jan 10 – Jun 10) Events Co-ordinator-need to advertise at events, on website etc for events co-ordinator Fundraising – Treasurer’s role. Candice to help out with fundraising role. |
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| Mailing list | Kat: has had feedback that people don’t have the time to read the weekly digest email. Kat believes there’s a gap in advertising events. Wants the website to have a new subscriber list and monthly newsletter of events. Deb expressed uncertainty about whether she can develop this and has to the time to develop this. Deb expressed reservation about spending more of her free time developing the website. The group recognises that Deb is doing this free of charge and on her own time.
Action: Deb to investigate developing a new monthly newsletter of events. Action: Kat to write up proposal of what should be done with a monthly mailout – events, projects, meetings. Present proposal at next meeting Action: Kat/De to take on how to personalise a monthly mailout |
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| POW logo | General discussion around logos. Decision was to leave off making a decision until after the group facilitation
Nyree volunteered Willie to help design the logo. Scott: that Permaculture is more than gardening, so the logo should reflect this. |
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| Project structure | Discussion about the Project Structure (attached document-at bottom).
Kat: we need to harness the energy of the group, and ensure that the projects are aligned with POW values. Kat believes that the group should vote on whether to approve a project. Action: Candice to develop a project template Scott: need to include Occ Health & Safety considerations, and estimated costs. Mel: core values are on the PcM website. This should inform the project framework. Kat: Projects should be in the monthly mailout De: should we have a project officer so that the convenor doesn’t get swamped Kat: projects shouldn’t have to provide weekly updates. It should be at the monthly meetings Mel: prefers a weekly update for those projects that run over long time frame. Outcome: Projects is a work in progress. Further discussions required. Agenda item for next meeting |
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| Strategic Meeting Vision with Jose | Sunday 7th February starting at 11am. At De place. Please bring a dessert. | |
| Other Business | Maidstone Public Hall Action meeting at Angela’s house on 20th January.
Maidstone Community garden – we can have free access provided we work for half an hour or so. Maribyrnong Council newsletter – want to do an article on POW. Nyree will provide text. Due 22nd Jan. Action: Nyree to provide text for Maribyrnong Council newsletter by 22/01/10 La Trobe Uni are doing a study on localized food supply – Mel & Deb to follow up (Scott to provide) Permaplaygroup – De to develop a philosophy Pipemakers Park – Kat asks for people to email her if interested in being on the Pipemakers Park Horticultural subcommittee Permablitzes – Nyree followed up with everyone who signed up for a permablitz at Mel’s in September. All have dropped out. Action: Kat to email people who signed up at the festivals as they were interested in having a permablitz Action: Nyree/Deb to develop a process for Permablitzes, including a statement of work De’s permablitz- in 8 weeks time. Scott/Mel/Deb designers. Brimbank festival – invited to have a stall and do a presentation. On 13th March. Candice to work with Mel. Action: Mel to forward Brimbank Festival email to group Candice: explain permablitzes on website. Advertise in Brimbank newsletter, Maribrynong letter, local newspaper, gardening groups. |
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| Next meeting | Next Executive meeting 20th April Location TBA
Next general meeting 24th February at Maidstone Community garden |
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| 9:00 p.m. | Close meeting |
List of projects going at the moment – to be added onto the website so interested people can help/join in.
| Project | Leader |
| Maidstone Market Garden proposal | Kat |
| Pipemakers Park Horticultural Subcommittee | Kat |
| Permaplaygroup | De Chantal, |
| POW Brochure/Newsletter development | Deb, Mel |
| Permablitzes | Nyree |
Projects in development
| Project | Scoper |
| Transition Town initiative | Deb |
Projects
We want to encourage people to run with their own projects. We don’t want to burden people with too much, but we need to make sure that we aren’t crossing paths, or have people go off and do things in the name of POW but not tell anyone.
To keep the lines of communication open, the following steps must be taken to get the POW stamp of approval, and how to keep POW members informed.
- Write a paragraph about what the project is about and send it to the POW convenor. It should answer these 6 questions 9must be forwarded to PcM):
What is the objective of the project?
How will the objective be met?
What planning is required ie does PcM need to be told for public liability reasons etc?
How many people need to be on the project?
Are there any specialist needs ie carpenter required etc?
How long do you think it may take to complete?
Answering these questions hopefully helps you to quantify what it is you want to achieve, and also help uncover links or similarities with what other projects are doing.
- The POW convenor will approve the project within 24 hours, or if there are questions, those questions will be asked within 24 hours. But until you get approval, please don’t proceed. At that time, a post will be put on the website to tell everyone of your project. This will also automatically go out on weekly newsletter, allowing you to get more people to help you out if needed.
- On approval, you can go off and do you project. If your project is less than a day or 2, on completion, please send an email or contact the POW convenor to say you’ve completed your project. This will then be posted onto the website.
- If your project will run over a week or more, you must provide a weekly update to the POW convenor.
- If you’re project requires you to contact an organisation, including PcM, you must contact the POW convenor to get the okay to do this. The reason behind this is that you’re a POW representative, and we need to present an organised face to the world. Sometimes we can get too enthusiastic, trying to achieve too much in a short time, or we can be contacting an organisation that another POW person has already contacted.
| Meeting | Description | Responsible | Status |
| 12/01/10 | need dates from PcM then discuss roster at next exec meeting | Secretary (Kat) | |
| 12/01/10 | Secretary to keep PcM advised of events and workshops | Secretary (Kat) | |
| 12/01/10 | Secretary to send general meeting minutes to PcM | Secretary (Kat) | |
| 12/01/10 | Nyree, Deb and Mel to provide POW update for bimonthly PIE | Nyree, Mel, Deb | |
| 12/01/10 | Deb to investigate developing a new monthly newsletter of events | Deb | |
| 12/01/10 | Kat to write up proposal of what should be done with a monthly mailout – events, projects, meetings. Present proposal at next meeting | Kat | |
| 12/01/10 | Kat/De Chantal to take on how to personalise a monthly mailout | Kat/De Chantal | |
| 12/01/10 | Candice to develop a project template | Candice | |
| 12/01/10 | Projects is a work in progress. Further discussions required. Agenda item for next meeting | Secretary (Kat) | |
| 12/01/10 | Maribyrnong Council newsletter – want to do an article on POW. Nyree will provide text. Due 22nd Jan | Nyree | |
| 12/01/10 | Permaplaygroup – De to develop a philosophy or how this is different to a normal playgroup so that other playgroups can take up the idea | De Chantal | |
| 12/01/10 | Kat to email people who signed up at the festivals as they were interested in having a permablitz | Kat | |
| 12/01/10 | Nyree/Deb to develop a process for Permablitzes, including a statement of work | Nyree/Deb | |
| 12/01/10 | Mel to forward Brimbank Festival email to group | Mel | |
Economic growth and transition to sustainability
When POW formed last year, it was formed by a group of people who care about the earth, care about other people, and believe that all people have a right to a fair and equitable share to live a dignified life.
Since then, you have become a part of our network. We all have in common a sense, a feeling, an intuition that our biosphere is being degraded, that the climate is changing, pollution is increasing. We also have in common an idea that we can make a difference by sharing our stories, encouraging one another and getting out there and doing things. It’s a start.
We often look to our politicians for solutions. Governments, whether local, state or federal seem to see that the answer is more growth. Whenever the GDP figures come out, always the expectation is that there must be growth. To have zero growth or even worse, negative growth, is a disaster. That perception is quickly reflected in the stock market. It propagates through the economic system. It’s reflected in the responses of our politicians.
Whether we want it or not, we are part of the system that perpetuates the idea that growth is the answer. We need to start questioning whether growth will help us to have a lighter and smaller impact on this blue globe of water, clouds and land, travelling around the sun. The earth has finite sources; how do we reconcile a finite source with infinite growth?
Have a look at this video. Then go to this website, http://www.neweconomics.org/ and download the PDF http://www.neweconomics.org/sites/neweconomics.org/files/Growth_Isnt_Possible.pdf. Have a read. In a fortnight’s time, the next part of this topic will address 2 important revolutions in human culture; the agricultural revolution that started around 10,000 years ago, and the industrial revolution that started about 250 years ago. What lessons can we learn from these revolutions?
Fruit and Vegetables in Season – February
The following fruits and vegetables are at their best and cheapest in the month of February.
Fruit
Bananas, blackberries, blueberries, grapes, nectarine, orange, peach, pear, plum, strawberries, tomatoes, watermelon.
Vegies
Asparagus, beans, beanshoots, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, capsicum, carrot, celery, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, mushrooms, pumpkin, snowpeas, sweet corn, turnip, zucchini.
Seeds to sow in February (temperate zone)
Baby beets, beetroot, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, Chinese greens, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, spring onions, parsnip, potatoes, radish, rhubarb crowns, shallots, silverbeet.
Herbs: chives, dill, nasturtium, parsley
It’s fruitful february! Urban Swap Meet
how many fruit trees laden with goodness to be shared have you passed lately?
who has been inspired to knock on neighbours doors to share the harvest love?
Come down to the February urban harvest and find out!
Saturday 6th February
Same time, same place
10-11.30am (always first saturday of every month)
211 Nicholson St, Footscray (Grasslands)
Whatever you’ve got growing or cooking or jamming or to share – everyone and anything is welcome -
PEACHES, PLUMS, NECTARINES, ZUCCHINI, TOMATOES, greens, citrus, eggs, honey, manure, coffee grinds, preserves, jam, homemade sourdough bread or biscuits, companion plants, herbs (think small bunches or root stock) and loads of fruit and veg of course!
Hope to see you and your little urban harvest swappers for some community bonding and a great chat!
neesh