Calendar of free once-off events

Book by phone (9703 5288).

Facilitated by the Maroondah Council Waste Education Team. By starting one of these organic recycling systems at home, you could reduce the amount of waste in your household garbage bin by 50%. This workshop will provide you with all the information you need to set up and maintain each of these systems at home.

All participants will receive a free home kitchen caddy to help with collecting kitchen food waste.

Interested in bees and beekeeping but don’t know where to start? Learn about this intriguing hobby from an experienced beekeeper.

On Tuesdays from 30th April to 18th June (8 weeks), 1.30-3.30pm.

Facilitator: Catherine Donnelley. Experience and enjoy demonstration and hands-on cooking, sharing recipes and using seasonal produce. This class is for participants living with or recovering from a mental health illness, have a mild disability or a long term condition. Family carers looking for a social connection are also encouraged to attend.

HACC-PYP and CHSP supported.

Book by phone (9480 1364).

Participants will be invited to consider their current garden space and household setup, and start planning for increases in sustainability, productivity and resilience. You will use the ideas in David Holmgren’s book RetroSuburbia: the downshifter’s guide to a resilient future to examine the potential for household-scale food production and the introduction of permaculture food growing strategies. By the end of the workshop, you will have a starting point for designing your garden – and lifestyle – to become bountiful and sustainable.

Karen Sutherland, co-author of Tomato – know, sow, grow, feast, will discuss ways to improve next year’s tomato harvest by learning from this year. She will talk about common pest and disease problems and solutions, as well as some simple preserving ideas.

Registration essential.

Karen Sutherland, from Edible Eden Design, will focus on maximising yield through disease management, pruning techniques and cultivar selection to get the most out of apples, pears, grapes, fig, mulberry, persimmon, kiwi and berries.

Urban Pear will show you various types of food preserving, including jams, chutneys, relishes and fermented products.

Nearly half of the waste in our bins consists of food and organics that could easily be composted and turned into nutrient-rich fertiliser for your garden. In this workshop, Maria Ciavarella, from My Green Garden, will talk you through how to set up your own low cost worm farm using recycled materials. Learn about outdoor composting, benchtop (Bokashi) composting and worm farming, as well as how to safely compost pet poo.

Want to grow some fresh fruit, vegetables or herbs for your kitchen but feel like you don’t have the space? Poppy Turbiak will cover the tips and tricks to make your space more productive – even if all you have is a small courtyard or balcony. She will talk about growing food in containers, plants that thrive in different light conditions, and the best plant choices to get you going now.

Learn how composting, worm farming and the use of particular plants can naturally improve your soil. Discover how to compost and worm farm effectively for the best results. Understand how recycling your household and garden organic waste (including dog poo!) can benefit the life within your soil. Facilitator: Dianne Gordon.

They will launch the Eastern Regional Libraries Seed Library – a place to share free seeds among gardeners at their local library. Sharon will then show you how to make eco-friendly beeswax and soy wax wraps. These cotton wraps are re-usable, functional, economical and easy to make at home.

Debbie Makin, from Ratio Cocoa Roasters, will teach you about the 10-step, month-long process that goes into making their chocolate bars.

Registration essential.

Learn how to set up a worm farm and its environmental benefits.

Bookings essential.

Are you looking to create a more sustainable life? Thinking about retrofitting your house but not sure where to start? Would you like to grow more food for your family? Go and join like-minded others to share information and ideas. They will base their discussions and learning on: information in the Retrosuburbia book and discussion notes; local people living and doping sustainability; and shared wisdom among the group.

Take a small contribution towards supper – some of your own produce would be great.

This workshop is all about growing produce in the colder months, including winter crop suggestions, crop rotation, and soil maintenance. Winter needn’t be an unproductive time for your garden.

Bookings essential.

Facilitated by Tash van Velzen. Understand what is really going on in the compost heap and worm farm.

Facilitated by Peter Dyer, from Backyard Honey. Watch a live honeybee colony at work. Taste raw cold-pressed Victorian honeys and discover what you can do to sustain healthy bees and pollinators in our community.

Robin Gale-Baker will discuss how you can look after your winter vegetables and give tips on how to give your fruit trees a winter prune.

This event is also happening at 12.30pm (with different booking details).

Join Maria Ciavarella, from My Green Garden to receive practical tips and advice on soil preparation, winter plant selection and sustainable pest control for a thriving and healthy vegetable crop. You will also have the opportunity to get your hands dirty in a practical planting activity.

This event is also happening at 9.30am (with different booking details).

Join Maria Ciavarella, from My Green Garden to receive practical tips and advice on soil preparation, winter plant selection and sustainable pest control for a thriving and healthy vegetable crop. You will also have the opportunity to get your hands dirty in a practical planting activity.

Learn how to be creative with veggies and more adaptable in the kitchen so you can save money and reduce food waste. Participants will cook and enjoy a delicious vegetarian lunch with others. Free and open to all, with lunch and workshop materials provided. Presented by Open Table.

People will be coming together to harvest unwanted olives from Melbourne backyards and street trees to be pressed into local olive oil to take home for free. Go along to this event either to drop off some olives you’ve already picked or to join their ‘harvesting party’. They will send you out with a map and harvesting equipment to go and pick local olive trees. The olives that you pick will then be pressed into olive oil which is free for you to collect the following weekend.

Urban agriculture is the practice of growing, harvesting and cooking food in an urban setting. At the heart of urban agriculture are communities that are come together to develop relationships, share knowledge and build creative partnerships. In this seminar, an expert panel will share their stories and discuss how neighbourhoods can work together to grow food and share harvests. The panelists will include:

• Paul West – chef turned urban farmer from River Cottage Australia.
• Michael Mobbs – author of Sustainable Food and urban farm designer.
• Ellen Regos – Team Leader for the School Food Gardens Program at Cultivating Community.

Melissa King will inspire you to grow a whole range of heirloom vegetables. Then, at 3.20pm, AB Bishop will talk about her book Habitat: A practical guide to creating a wildlife-friendly Australian garden. Then, at 4pm, Duncan Cocking, from Leaf, Root & Fruit Gardening Services will show you how to develop a low maintenance backyard orchard.

This walk will take place three times on the day, at 10am, 1pm and 3.45pm.

What if many of the weeds in our garden were just as edible as the vegetables we tend beside them? What if some of these free, all-too-easy-to-grow uninvited guests were so nutritionally dense that they are just about the healthiest things you could possibly eat? What if many of them also had medical traditions dating back centuries?

Well it’s all true! And if you know what to choose, they also taste great. Join Adam Grubb, co-author of The Weed Forager’s Handbook, for a fascinating walk on the wild side, foraging for edible weeds.

This walk will take place three times on the day, at 10am, 1pm and 3.45pm.

What if many of the weeds in our garden were just as edible as the vegetables we tend beside them? What if some of these free, all-too-easy-to-grow uninvited guests were so nutritionally dense that they are just about the healthiest things you could possibly eat? What if many of them also had medical traditions dating back centuries?

Well it’s all true! And if you know what to choose, they also taste great. Join Adam Grubb, co-author of The Weed Forager’s Handbook, for a fascinating walk on the wild side, foraging for edible weeds.

This walk will take place three times on the day, at 10am, 1pm and 3.45pm.

What if many of the weeds in our garden were just as edible as the vegetables we tend beside them? What if some of these free, all-too-easy-to-grow uninvited guests were so nutritionally dense that they are just about the healthiest things you could possibly eat? What if many of them also had medical traditions dating back centuries?

Well it’s all true! And if you know what to choose, they also taste great. Join Adam Grubb, co-author of The Weed Forager’s Handbook, for a fascinating walk on the wild side, foraging for edible weeds.

Are you looking to create a more sustainable life? Thinking about retrofitting your house but not sure where to start? Would you like to grow more food for your family? Go and join like-minded others to share information and ideas. They will base their discussions and learning on: information in the Retrosuburbia book and discussion notes; local people living and doping sustainability; and shared wisdom among the group.

Take a small contribution towards supper – some of your own produce would be great.

Join Julie French as she shows you how to best use the produce in your garden to reduce food waste, save money and enjoy the tasty food that she prepares in the library’s kitchen garden.

Facilitated by Julie Weatherhead. Find inspiration to create your own native food kitchen garden and experience the unique culinary flavours of Australia’s native food plants. Julie will provide practical advice for growing, harvesting and using Australian native plants in the garden and kitchen, whilst exploring Australia’s lost opportunities to appreciate the wealth of traditional knowledge in relation to the uses of its native plants.

Join Katherine Barling to learn how to make kombucha tea. Enjoy a demonstration of how to prepare, build and harvest the finished kombucha drink and (perhaps) enjoy some samples.

Fruit trees require seasonal care to keep them healthy and productive. This talk will cover pruning techniques, seasonal fertilising, pests to watch out for, and how to get the most out of your backyard fruit trees.

Join them in celebrating SEEDs Communal Garden at their annual ‘winter soup’ fundraiser – with live music and performers, food prepared using SEEDs-grown produce, chai, coffee and mulled kombucha, locally brewed craft beer, communal weaving, sewing with boomerang bags, children’s activities and a mini market.

Are you looking to create a more sustainable life? Thinking about retrofitting your house but not sure where to start? Would you like to grow more food for your family? Go and join like-minded others to share information and ideas. They will base their discussions and learning on: information in the Retrosuburbia book and discussion notes; local people living and doping sustainability; and shared wisdom among the group.

Take a small contribution towards supper – some of your own produce would be great.

OzHarvest collects excess food from around 3,500 commercial outlets and delivers it to around 1,300 charities supporting people in need across the country. That’s 180 tonnes of food each week.

Are you looking to create a more sustainable life? Thinking about retrofitting your house but not sure where to start? Would you like to grow more food for your family? Go and join like-minded others to share information and ideas. They will base their discussions and learning on: information in the Retrosuburbia book and discussion notes; local people living and doping sustainability; and shared wisdom among the group.

Take a small contribution towards supper – some of your own produce would be great.

Join Julie French as she shows you how to best use the produce in your garden to reduce food waste, save money and enjoy the tasty food that she prepares in the library’s kitchen garden.

Join Julie French as she shows you how to best use the produce in your garden to reduce food waste, save money and enjoy the tasty food that she prepares in the library’s kitchen garden.