Sunday 23 October 2011

Survey to gauge the interest in community gardens in Maribyrnong

The Goods Seeds are currently trying to gauge interest in establishing a new Community Garden in the Inner West.

This information will help us to effectively lobby council for land.

It would be great if you could take five minutes to help us with this by completing our online survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GV6Q68N
 

Sunday 16 October 2011

Melton Community Supported Agriculture - Farm Open Day

A number of the Good Seeds headed to the Melton CSA for the farm open day on Sunday the 16th of October.

Happy chooks
Busy bees
There was plenty of fun including, farm tours, a
delicious lunch and most importantly the chance to talk about Community Supported Agriculture.

Community Supported Agriculture establishes a direct link between the farmers and the eaters. Membership of the farm includes discounted foods, and the chance to be involved in the life of the farm.

There are almonds, olives, chooks and vegetables, with plans for much more, so plenty of pressing, picking and planting to get involved in through the seasons.

The day was intended to not only show people what is out there, but to invite more people to be involved, be it hands on market gardening, brewing cider, or running special interest social groups.


Getting involved would be a great way for everyone to build their skills base and supplement the produce from a community garden.




Farm tour
For more details visit: www.meltoncsa.org

Monday 10 October 2011

Seed Bomb Sunday

Craving the need to get our hands dirty and actually do some community gardening we had an afternoon of seed bombing. Hopefully we will be seeing a bit more colour around Yarraville in the coming weeks.
Making the seed bombs

Sunflower germinationin Yarraville

Veg Out St Kilda Visit

The Good Seeds have visited a number of community gardens across Melbourne to gather inspiration and ideas. We have had several visits to Veg Out in St Kilda.

Veg Out is an organic, chemical free garden run by volunteers. Formerly a lawn bowling green, the land Veg Out is situated on is administered by the local council for the State of Victoria. They have over 140 plots, where members, friends, families and community groups enjoy getting their hands into the soil. Many have little or no gardening experience, but they soon learn as advice, seedlings and friendships are readily shared.

The president of Veg Out has been providing advice and encouragement to the Good Seeds over the last few months. We will be taking Maribyrnong Councillors to Veg Out for another visit soon to show them what amazing potential community gardens have, given the right location and support.

http://www.vegout.asn.au/

Western Urban Harvest Swap Meets

What's in season? - lemons, bay leaves, rhubarb, rocket, small bunches of herbs for garnishing or herbal teas, silverbeet, lettuces, fennel, cabbage, broccoli, grapefruit, oranges, turnips, parsnips, spinach, eggs, kiwi fruit, radishes, mandarins, carrots, radishes and cauliflower
Short on fresh produce? Some other ideas from Newport swapmeet - 
Something you’ve baked (bread, cake, biscuits), jam jars, preserves you made over the summer (relishes, jams, chutneys); flowers fresh from your garden; seaweed & animal manure; ginger beer, cordials; seeds you’ve saved; worm juice, dried herbs, bay leaves, edible seedlings or cuttings you’ve raised, coffee grounds (to find a local cafĂ© involved in the Ground to Ground project who will be happy to give you some coffee grounds, go to http://tiny.cc/leyyc


EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING IS WELCOME!
Hope to see you and your little urban harvest swappers for some community bonding and a great chat!
neesh
PS: Please let me know if you don't need this email reminder anymore
*walk from middle footscray or seddon station - check out map  http://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/page/Page.asp?Page_Id=2475&h=1
**you may like to bring baskets or boxes, etcetera for you produce

also sister swap meets: Newport Fruit and Vegie swap!  
(3rd sunday of the month) @ Newport Lakes (Mason St entrance). transitionhb@gmail.com Check it out! Altona Swap 2nd Saturday of the month Logan Reserve, Pier St, Altona

Now we just need one on the 4th weekend!
EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING IS WELCOME!
Hope to see you and your little urban harvest swappers for some community bonding and a great chat!
neesh
PS: Please let me know if you don't need this email reminder anymore OR you would like me to add someone to the list.
*walk from middle footscray or seddon station - check out map
**you may like to bring baskets or boxes, etcetera for you produce

also a sister swap meets: Newport Fruit and Vegie swap!  
(3rd sunday of the month) @ Newport Lakes (Mason St entrance). transitionhb@gmail.com Check it out!
Altona Swap 2nd Saturday of the month Logan Reserve, Pier St, Altona

Now we just need one of the 4th weekend!

Western Urban Harvest Swap Meet - 3rd Birthday

Bikezilla and the new Urban Harvest Swap Meet Bunting
Three years of the Western Urban Harvest Swap Meet was really something to celebrate - Well Done Neesh!
Highlights of the swap meets 3rd birthday included: joyrides on Bikezilla (the 7-seater bike), avocados, lemon cake, brownies and gorilla gardening!
Happy little swappers
The swap meet is on the first Saturday of each Month
10-11.30am 
Pilgrim St park -Bristow reserve, Seddon

The exciting news is that the Good Seeds will be sharing the urban harvest love and will be 'hosting' and organsing (and re-energising) the swap meets from now on!

What have The Good Seeds been doing?

We have been meeting on a weekly basis over the past 4 months and these are some of the things we have been up to...

Developed a vision to create community gardens that foster a respectful and productive relationship with each other.
Established a goal to secure land and funding to establish a flagship community garden in the Yarraville, Kingsville, Seddon area.
Networking with other groups including Veg Out Community Garden in St Kilda, Victoria University, Maribyrnong City Council, Friends of Stony Creek, OTHER
Visited community gardens and talked to other gardening groups
Visited potential sites in our area and looked at suitability for a potential garden
Given a talk about the benefits of community gardening at a monthly POW (Permaculture Out West http://www.pow.org.au/) community drinks session at The Dancing Dog Cafe last August
Developed a survey to collect names, addresses and contact details, list of skills, thoughts about community gardens. 
Good Seeds Talk at POW Community Drinks


We are currently...
Developing a plan of management and working towards a legal structure for our group.
Collecting an accurate database of everybody who has shown interest in supporting a local community garden. (Name, Street address, contact details)
Visit our on-line survey...... we'd love to hear from you