Local food-related events
Local Food Connect AGM
Come along and celebrate the past year’s projects and meet some fellow locavores!
We will meet on August 23, at 2pm, at a venue still to be confirmed. You may wish to volunteer for the committee of management and we would welcome that. You need to be a member of Local Food Connect to vote and I recommend that you do this via the website by July 23.
Transition Thrive – Sat 26 & Sun 27 July.
Following on from the lead to Rob Hopkin’s blog about Transition, some of you may be interested in this training session in Banyule.
A two-day interactive workshop, 9.15am for a 9.30 start to 5.30pm. Banyule Community Health, 21 Alamein Road, Heidelberg West. This workshop builds on Training for Transition and focuses on how you and your group can sustain, or re-gain momentum, to deepen your Transition Town journey. It will provide a framework to explore and share ways to move your group to the next level. A practical, informative and experiential workshop. Learn how to deepen the transition processes and build sustainable Transition groups that contribute to resilient communities. Facilitated by Jacinta Walsh and Clare Power, Transition trainers. Cost: $50 per person, $30 concession. Lunch will be provided on day 1, and day 2 will feature a Pot Luck lunch (participants bring lunch to share). Bookings are essential, only a few places left – if you are interested please reply to Transition Banyule at info@transitionbanyule.org.au with your phone number and they will send you the link to register. For more information, call Margot on 9432 4200.
Thanks to Banyule Council for providing funding for this project.
Local permaculture group meeting
North East Ranges Permaculture group is meeting in Montmorency this Sunday morning, July 20, after a break since last year. If you would like to come along, contact Richard.
Monty Food Swap in August
On August 3 at 11.30pm after the swap, Robin Gale-Baker will be talking about how to successfully grow vegetables from seed. She will be covering planting in punnets and planting directly, seed raising mixes, tips for successful germination and protection from birds. Robin is an experienced gardener and ran the first herb and cottage plant nursery in Tasmania.
St Johns Community Garden
St Johns Community Garden invites you to join their inaugural Fruit Tree planting on Sunday 20 July at 11:30 am.
And if you would like to learn how to build a ‘no-dig’ garden, come at 12:30 pm for an interactive demonstration workshop. All Welcome!! St Johns Anglican church, 1 Burgundy Street, Heidelberg, Melways reference 32B4. To access the garden, you can either walk along the bike path opposite Heidelberg Park for 50 metres or park in the St Johns car park and amble down the embankment towards the tennis courts. If you would like to contact them, please phone Philip 0416 230455.
Banyule Gardeners’ Almanac
The new Banyule Gardeners’ Almanac is a great resource for gardeners in Banyule and surrounding areas. It provides gardening tips on soil, growing veggies from seed, dealing with common garden pests, attracting beneficial insects and a lot more. It also has a month by month listing of what to plant, key gardening tips and space to record your own gardening efforts, and is beautifully illustrated by local artist Felicity Gordon.
The almanac came about when a group of gardeners attending the Montmorency Food Swap, began recording what they planted and harvested each month and the key tasks they undertook on a seasonal basis. It is on sale for $5 at the Eltham Farmers’ Market. Enquiries, call Julie on 0438 115853.
Other food activities/information
My productive backyard
This is for those of you looking for ideas on how to successfully grow more food.
Open Food Network
This is a group of local people who have been working for a few years on providing an online marketplace, a way to distribute and hence buy direct from the farmer. At the moment, they are having a crowdfunding campaign. For more info see here. Unlike other ‘online farmers’ markets’, the Open Food Network provides the tools and information to make it easier to run ‘food hubs’ (i.e. independent retailers and wholesalers and small social enterprises/coops/buying groups) of all shapes and sizes to work together to reduce distribution costs. See the current hubs at www.openfoodnetwork.org.au.