Permaculture Out West

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FILM NIGHT

A simultaneous satellite event hosted by local environmental sustainability groups.

Free state wide screening of ‘HOME’ a portrait of the Earth Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Glenn Close, Jacques Gamblin
Time: 7.00pm
Date: Sat 18th Feb
Location: Yarraville Community Centre,
59 Francis St, Yarraville

Bookings 0432 857 266

There is still time to register for the ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ Launch this Sunday! Register at: www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/greening

Sunday 19 February 11am – 1pm

Footscray Community Arts Centre

Meeting Room – 45 Moreland Street, Footscray

Come along to the launch of the new free monthly seminar series of ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’. These seminars will take place on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the year at different locations.

Enjoy a complimentary coffee, sign up for the series and meet sustainability groups working in the City of Maribyrnong. Get your FREE ‘when to sow’ Diggers poster on the day.

Attend three of the ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ series to receive a FREE getting started pack with compost bin and lots of other goodies. Other conversations will include: Cook It, Buy It, Save It, Grow It and Compost It.

Design Workshop

Maribyrnong City Council has committed funding to expand the Braybrook Community Garden. You are invited to attend a design workshop to develop concept plans for the garden expansion. The workshop is hands on, and will be facilitated by Council landscape architects. Please bring pictures of other community gardens or garden ideas to share. Afternoon tea will be provided.

Places are limited, an RSVP is essential to attend this workshop.

Braybrook Community Garden Expansion
Place: Braybrook Community Centre Hall
107-139 Churchill Ave, Braybrook
Meeting time: Saturday 25 February, 12.30-4.30pm
Contact: Jennifer Witheridge
Growing Food Growing Maribyrnong Coordinator
9688 0169
jennifer.witheridge@maribyrnong.vic.gov.au
RSVP: Thursday 23 February

It’s a communal community garden “A first for this unique community greenspace, the Open Gardens Australia event will showcase the edible landscape of PepperTree Place on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th February, 10am-4:30pm.

On the corner of Bell Street and Sydney Road this creatively designed community garden boasts a productive kitchen garden, inviting edible classroom and affordable community plant nursery all framed by an historic bluestone church and stables.” http://www.kildonan.unitingcare.org.au/news_view.php?news_id=79

More Open Garden events here…http://www.opengarden.org.au/regions/vic_calendar.html

Upcoming - 24/25th March Rose Creek Winery Keilor

Great things can be made with recycled pallets, as seen above.

When choosing your second hand pallet take care not to get one treated with Methyl Bromide (MB), the pallets are labelled with the following codes, Heat Treated (HT) would be a safer choice.

ISPM 15 mark

•YY: is the treatment abbreviation where:

• HT: is the code for heat treatment to a minimum of 56º C for a minimum of 30 minutes
• MB: is the code for methyl bromide fumigation.

More information about the labelling for pallets here http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/export/wood-packaging/faq-ispm15

More information than you ever wanted to know about pallets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallet

Free pallets are sometimes advertised on Gumtree

There are invisible costs on not only our imported flowers but also conventionally grown local flowers. Another permie told me how imported flowers have to be treated (some with methyl bromide fumigation) prior to importation into Australia. An exhaustive list can be viewed here http://www.aqis.gov.au/icon32/asp/ex_QueryResults.asp?Commodity=flowers&Area=All+Countries&EndUse=All+End+Uses&QueryType=Search

Our conventional flowers are grown with artificial fertilizers and pesticides, but overseas they may be grown with chemicals which are banned in Australia, read more in the detailed article below.

More information in the Gardening Australia article http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s2739874.htm

Do we have an organic florist in the west? Feel free to comment.

Date Sunday 12 February 2012
Time 10am until 2pm
Where Werribee Park Heritage Orchard

Come along to Werribee Park to see how to propagate your own stone fruit trees or add another variety to an existing tree to extend the fruiting season.

Purchase newly budded trees, or scion wood separately

The orchard is on facebook http://www.facebook.com/groups/wph.orchard/

Website http://www.werribeeparkheritageorchard.org.au/

Have a look at this article about budding techniques http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/propagation/budding/budding.html

Anyone up for bottling / preserving the summer harvest workshop?

Time, date and address to be arranged.

Register your interest email annstevens@optusnet.com.au

POW is also on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/groups/232421223455251/

View or listen at your leisure

Costa’s Garden Odyssey http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/costa

ABC gardening videos online http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/video/

Also radio online http://www.abc.net.au/radio/listenlive.htm

Add your favorites in the comments section below

It is the time of year to preserve the produce.

Now that I’ve a stockpot with no holes in the bottom I’ll be making Blackberry Jelly.
My favourite books are an ancient book using imperial measurments ‘Preserves and Pickles’ by Alison Burt (which I assume is out of print) as well as ‘A year in a bottle’ by Sally Wise.

Australian preserving forum link http://www.home-cheesemaking.com.au/

Stockists

Fowlers Valola (website pending)
(03) 9329 7799
23-25 Racecourse Rd North Melbourne

Source of Bottles and Lids – Plasdene – get together with a friend as it’s a min $100 purchase

This shop has a mind boggling range in such a space, I got my jam funnel here http://www.costanteimports.com.au/

1. Feel free to add your stockists in the comments section
2. If you have a receipe for zucchini I’d be grateful