Month in Review

Boing, Boing, Boing

Spring is on the way, balmy days in the high 20s, clear skies, cherry blossoms bursting every where, magnolias on show, this pretty much sums up the last month.

So i may have skipped over the days sub zero earlier in the month, the snowfalls in the Blue Mountains, the return of the August winds, and those lovely possums hell bent on deforesting my garden of any spare magnolia buds and fresh growth, but that all comes with the change in seasons.

The past month has seen the gardens become a hive of activity, below is a summary of just some of the highlights.

• The Community Garden took out 1st place in their category in the local garden comp. Thanks to all concerned, volunteers, gardeners and supporters.
• Chester Hill Neighbourhood centre visited with 35 x 70-90yr old visitors, a great day was had by all concerned.
• Macarthur Farm Fresh Tour visited again with a dozen people on their regualr farmgate tour.
• The herb garden and the garden in general had a tidy up, see pic above, approx 15 gardeners all chipped in and lent a hand after an early breakfast supplied by the committee on site at 8am. (next one is the 15th of September)

Narellan Rhythms, The Gardens, and everything else.

Alot has happened over the last month, this update includes Working Bee, Narellan Rhythms, Happenings in the Garden, The Veggie Lady and snakes.

Steve at the Community Gardens stand.

• Narellan Rhythms - This was a chance to get some more information out about the Community Gardens, over the 6 weeks leading up to the street festival i had grown in excess of 400 pockets of herbs, covering coriander, basil (many types) italian parsley, daikon radish and Pak Choy, on the day with the help of a young helper i set up 2 garden beds adjacent to the Library, with asian and italian themed plants, (Thanks have to go to the folk at Patio Plants, you will find their huge range of plants on sale at the produce markets every 4th saturday at Camden Town Farm), we displayed information about the gardens and gave away all our plants over the course of the day, while surrounded by the Scarecrows that were built at the Scarecrows and Sculptures Workshop. Lots of info was on hand and this was complemented by the councils own enviromental team who were giving away native plants also.
• The last working bee was a great success with a few hundred new rosemary bushes going in, a big thankyou to Colin Mills who organised the cultivation of these and these will be going in over a period of time, also thanks to all those that attended.

Cow - moo - nity News form the Gardens

Exciting times are ahead in the gardens, news in brief:

• Working bee - Call to arms, mass border rosemary planting.
• Scarecrows and Sculptures
• Pathwork to begin soon
• Narellan Rhythms
• Welcome new gardeners

• First off the bat this weekend will see a working bee on saturday invade the garden like ants or little worker bees, a call to arms is being put out to gardeners and a big thankyou goes out to Colin Mills and the team of volunteers he enlisted who have been quietly cultivating several hundred, (close to 1700 i think) rosemary bushes, these will be a main feature and form a hedge to surround the Platypus  and border our pathwork (near map the gardens and you will see what we mean). Anyone interested in helping out there will also be a free BBQ lunch on and refreshments, gardens open from 9am for working bee.

• A big thankyou to Freya Jobbins, who facilitated the Scarecrows and Sculptures Workshop at the gardens on the 28th and 29th of September, all concerned had a great couple of days, although the weather did dampen spirits on the thursday forcing a change of venue to Camden Civic Centre, our nonnas and asian gardeners made a special appearance at the ArtStart Festival at Bankstown and will reappear at the Narellan Rhythms Festival and will then take up residence in the community gardens.

• The main pathwork and disability access will commence over the coming weeks with approval for the first stage of the pathwork being approved at the November Committe meeting, the contractors are aware that these are an operating community garden and will not be closed, but as such we would like to request that once works begin that you please be mindful of them going on, this pathwork has been crucial for greater access to disability groups and as such will form a linking path back to the set down area near the barn as well as the toilets located on the town farm site.

• Narellan Rhythms Festival is coming up, it takes place on the 29th of October, Camden Council will be giving away native plants to the public, getting their own faces out there as well The Community Garden will be running its own giveaway, the committee have over the past 5 weeks grown several hundred seedlings to give away, these include Bok Choy, Basil, Daikon Radish, Coriander and all being well Italian Parsley, (its just grown a bit slower than anticipated, note for next year). The festival gets under way at 10.30 am on Elyard St Narellan, there is plenty to get involved with, not to mention the Pizza Chef Relay @ 2.30pm, more info can be found on the Camden Council site here. Anyone interested in helping out on the day with the giving the seedlings please let me know via the contact details on the home page.

• Welcome to our new gardeners, Lachlan and Joshua Newman join our young rank of avid gardeners, Tash, Jai, Tali, Gabrielle, and Warwick, also welcome to Hazel, Kristine and Mike.

The week that was and ahead....

Looking for something to do over the school holidays and want to get outside, here is a sample of whats coming up in the weeks and weekends ahead

1. TASTE Food, Wine and Music Festival
2. Scarecrows and Sculptures - Living on the Fringe
3. Countdown to Narellan Rhythms Festival

TASTE Food, Wine and Music Festival, this Sunday and the Camden Town Farm on Exeter St, be sure to sample the many offerings and take in the ambience of the Town farm precinct, a great selection of local food, fine wine and great music will be showcased.

Glenmore House - Open Day is invitation only for pre booked "friends of the garden" only, apologies for any confusion as one of the local papers stated an open day on Wednesday. This was incorrectly reported in the paper.

Scarecrows and Sculptures - Living on the Fringe - Free Workshop, Miss Llewella Davies Camden Town Farm, Community Gardens, 40 Exeter St, Camden, a great initiative in conjunction with artstart and BYDS. This free workshop is on the 28th and 29th of September, open to 12 - 24yr olds, you must register via 46455106 to be part of this free workshop.

Narellan Rhythms Festival, 29th October, Elyard St, Narellan 10.30am - 3.00pm, there are lots of activities for the whole family, stall, prizes, giveaways, the Community Gardens will have their own stall, the Scarecrows from the workshop will also be on display.

Thankyou to all participants in the last working bee, a good time was had by all, some new faces dug in, and a good lunch was put on using some of the local produce.

Don't forget the next meeting is the 6th of October, it is the AGM at 6pm at camden library, nomination forms for committee positions are available to all Coommunity Garden Assoc Inc financial members and close on the 28th, call me if you require a form, via the contact number on the home page.

Happy Gardening