Hi all,

It has been a while and it has been good to be more in the garden than on the computer !-) but first and foremost let me wish you a very Happy New Year full of gardening achievements and discoveries as well as great community time.

We have harvested almsot 12 kg of potatoes, a lot of kale and there is a lot of beans, a few tomatillos and possibly cucumber and melons to come.
We have also received (but not picked up) a composter from Wollongong Council. 
A few of us more involved (through the management committee) have less time but more ideas !-) and one of them is to make the garden much more shared accessible to the rest of the community, members or not members in deed.

Please put down the following dates of working bees and the AGM (coupled with a shared Mexican locally cooked and eaten lunch). Also, please note that we will try to get our local seed savers and permaculturalists to give us a few talks/tours to help us improve yields in the garden and in our backyards.
On the community side of things, the Council has promised to consider upgrading the fences and the playground, but it may take a while.

• Sunday 18 January, 4.30pm - 6pm, working bee: grass cutting, kale removing, beans planting....
• Sunday 2 February, 4.30pm - 6pm, working bee + Garden your with Narelle Harp from 'A Garden for life' Permaculture and garden design.
• Sunday 16 February, 4.30pm - 6pm, working bee
• Sunday 23 February, 12pm to 4pm: AGM (rsvp here) and MEXICAN FIESTA (you want to be part of the organisation, please email us now here)
• Sunday 9 March 4.30pm - 6pm, working bee
• Sunday 23 March 4.30pm - 6pm, working bee

At the AGM we will decide of the future of the Community and Garden Association and about how to best manage it so we have a great outcome for the community and it's feasible with our busy schedules. We believe a community garden in a place like Otford is a wonderful way to learn, produce and share together and to bolster this great area. It's in Otford but it's opened to people from Stanwell Tops, Stanwell Park, Helensburgh, Coalcliff, Darkes forest...

See you very soon.

Watering rosters

Instructions: turn on the main water tap, plug the hose, open the tap, water each beds between 5 and 10 min depending on the heat of the previous days.
You are two for each week, happy to forward you details of your teammate. Twice a week should be enough if you give it a good go.
You can also write on the chalkboard to say you have done it if you think its relevant and its not your week.(Please leave chalk under BBQ area)

14 oct - 20 oct: Gae + Kate
21 oct - 27 oct: Giles + Phil
28 Oct - 3 nov: Bron + Kerry
4 nov - 10 nov: Paul R + Chris W
11 nov - 17 nov: El + Adam
18 nov - 24 nov: James + Andrew
25 nov - 1 december: Narelle + Lachlan


Each time you go to the garden: bring food scrap to put in the worm tower and grass clipping or other compost matter to put in the compost bay.

If you want to help and your name is not here, it's because we don't have an updated copy of your membership form or it didnt make it to the final desk. Email here to confirm.

Community lunch and spring celebrations

The next event organised by the Otford Community and Garden Association will be a community 'déjeuner au jardin' or 'mad-hatter' lunch.

We have set ourselves the challenge to cook a big Paella and an even bigger apple crumble. We'll try to source most of the ingredients locally or at least to be able to know their story.

We invite you to bring some ingredients from your garden to make a few salads.

To add to the fun of the day, there will be a bread making competition (a recipe will be provided, watch this space), an art workshop and the inauguration of the garden with the spring plantings.

More information HERE.

Conditions:
Price: $5 for non OCGA member ($18 for family - more than 3) - $10 per member ($20 per family - more than 3)
Booking online here or email here, you'll receive the bank account details to be

Winter rosters

Hi

We have planted everything, and we are waiting for the Kale and the Potatoes to grow. There is no need to water, but weeding can be handy, as well as making sure all items are kept in safe order and needed weeding is done. In addition, it can be good to check the stage of growth and the possible need for early cropping/protection...

Members are asked to have a 'garden week'. I list below a possible roster and will try to update it depending on your feedback and new members. I only put on the roster people who sign up to be active member or who clearly expressed the interest and will soon fill their form. If you are not on the list and if you want to help, email here and/or contact the person on the roaster.

July - 1 to 7: Gaetane
July - 8 to 14: James
July - 15 to 21: Adam
July - 22 to 28: Lachlan
July - 29 to 4: Paul & Pauline
August - 5 to 11: Phil & Karen
August - 12 to 18: Bron
August - 19 to 25: Sarah

Sunday 1 September: Back to usual WORKING BEE.

Saturday 21 Septmeber: SPRING PARTY

Cheers

Building with kids - phase 2

Amazing, it all came to life with the great support from A Garden For Life, The Art Box 2508 and Nurture in nature !-)

Building phase one - done

Plant sale, last days to order

Hi all,

We are ordering a bunch of trees for our Permaculture garden. Meanwhile, we are happy to order more for you. They'll be available at the second workshop at the latest (Saturday 25 May in Otford).
We can also add DWARF MANDARIN.
Most should be suitable for pots.
They are coming from a good nursery in NSW and are suitable for this area.
Order at otford.garden@gmail.com by Friday 3 May 2013

Species			Pot size (mm)	Supplier*	OCAGA fundraising sale price $
Citrus	Cumquat	Nagami cumquat	165	Old Farm	26.50
	Lemon	Eureka	165	Old Farm
		Meyer	165	Old Farm
		Dwarf Meyer	165	Old Farm
	Limes	Tahitian	165	Old Farm
		Dwarf Tahitian	165	Old Farm
	Mandarins	Clementine	165	Old Farm
		Emperor	165	Old Farm
		Silverhill	165	Old Farm
		Imperial	165	Old Farm
	Orange	Leng Navel	165	Old Farm
		Seedless Valencia	165	Old Farm
		Washington Navel	165	Old Farm
Tree	Lilli Pilli	Small leaf lilli pilli	200	Old Farm	11

Landcare grant

We have a Landcare grant, and we should start the work !-)

As you can see here, we have been granted a Landcare grant. It is supposed to help us design and build a garden with and for the community and particularly children.

As under the license we have with Council, we also have a new space a the back of the space. So we are revisiting the design discussed in our previous permaculture workshop (cf former blog on the Website).
With the help of Narelle Happ (from A Garden For Life), we'll now organise the following workshops - free for members:

• Saturday 16 March 2013 - 10am to 12pm - What is Permaculture / A proposed design for the garden / Listing the details of all the materials and steps. We'll also have a quick lunch and we'll finish mulching the lantana we removed a few weeks ago.

• Saturday 11th of May 2013: Building phase - all day from 11 am.
• Sunday 25th of May 2013: Planting workshop - al day from 11 am.

Any questions?

We need to prepare the soil, and so we have to mulch the Lantana. So if you want to contribute, drop us a line (otford.garden at gmail.com). YES A BIT OF YOUR TIME AND STRENGHT WILL DO A LOT FOR OUR COMMUNITY.

New design- new space

Two weeks ago, the boys cleared more than 25 sq meters of Lantana and other bush. Now we're mulching all this and measuring up everything in order to finalise a nice design including: garden beds, fruits trees, herbs, sitting area, watering, and all this kids friendly.

SO CALL TO EVERY MEMBERS- We need to:

• Finish the mulching (contact Gaetane/Andrew or Adriana/Giles to access the mulcher (run on unleaded and oil))
• Turn the soil

This can be done every friday evening and sunday evening for the coming 3 weeks.

Regarding the design and building of a real garden, save the following dates:

• 16 or 17th of March - Permaculture design workshop (30 min on permaculture and 1h30 on how this will be practically applier to our site)
• Sunday 5th of May - Foundation workshop (building beds and the sitting area)
• Sunday 19th of May - Finishing workshop (painting involved and kids workshops involved)

Clearing up the past, preparing the future

The Working bee last sunday 17 feb was awesome

 

 The boys did an awesome job of cleaning 50 sqaure metre of Lantana and other bush. This patch will be cleaned again, refenced to make sure cant fall at the back...and the soil should be fantastic or at least a bit better than on the other side.

• The girls did an awesome job of saving the last tomatoe plant which were a bit dammaged after the storm.
• The kids did a great job watering
• The crop rocket was great
• and more girls/ladies did an awesome job at looking after babies, kiddies and make sure everybody was happy.

Yeepee: The Landcare Community Garden has been awarded. We'll have fundings to set up nice beds. sitting area, irrigation system, all this kids friendly and made to be 'educative'.

Xmas...time to reflect

Two topics on which to reflect over the Christmas break (and a few tasks - cf newsletter)

0.Water rosters (if away, exchange with a friend or post on the Otford local) -

24: Pauline T
25: Sarah M
26: Natasha
27: Andrea
28: Adriana
29: Samantha
30: Madeleine
31: James
1: Eleanor
2: Lorraine
3: Nicola
4: Phil
5: Esther
6: Donna


1. Here is the design of our future garden, as resulting from our proposal and the workshop with Elemental Permaculture.
We need to put a ring on it....and the best way to do so is prioritise our work, zone by zone.
Knowing that we have a remaining grant including mulch, compost tumblers, another including a greenhouse, and a few funds, access to seeds.
We'll discuss this on Sunday 23 December from 2.30pm. Expected outcome: a list of tasks and a corresponding list of date to achieve the design.
THIS SUNDAY WE LL ALSO PLANT SALADS and BEANS.

2. Our use of the clubhouse and tennis court as we are about to finalise the agreement with Otford Tennis Club, Wollongong Tennis Administration and Wollongong City Council.
A proposal below. Please comment replying by email.
Weekly activities

• Morning Yoga (before the 7.57 am train)
• Mums and Bub Yoga
• Thursday morning parents group
• Evening Art and Craft Workshop
• Garden maintenance (no direct use of the clubhouse and court, but use of the toilet)

By-weekly activities:

• Garden working bee (sunday 3pm)
• 'French classes' - clubhouse - evening
• Drumming circle (time and noise consideration)
• Tight ropes and acrobalance (from June 2013) - tennis court
• 
  

Trimester activities

• Pecha-Kucha
• Brewer club meeting
• Committee meeting

Semester activities

• Festive gardening celebrations

 Merry Xmas ans happy new year.

What a great community party it was

...memories and a few pictures speak better than words (although i dont have all the one of the evening and night).

You can see and download the pictures here.

The fundraiser was a great success and we can now think about proper gears for our garden. We also had an Annual General Meeting to elect a committee, so you also have people to help organise all this:

• President - Electronical communication - Gaetane
• Vice-president - Garden coordination - Adam
• Secretary - Parents group - Bron
• Treasurer - Brew club - Andwoo
• Grants - Lachlan
• Garden - James
• Infrastructure - Marc

and we had a few new members, happy visitors and mery kids cropping their first 'home grown Sebago potatoes!

So a huge thanks to all the volunteers, cooks...and:
the musicians: Bhanglassi, John and Wolf, DJ Robbo
Emma Khourey and Circus WOW
Warren Windsports. A Garden for Life, The Jack of Harts and Jude, Glenbernie Orchards, Plat du Jour, Karen McDougall Yoga, Andrea and Yoga Unite Me, Kellie Bollard Permaculture Books !

So to prepare our green future, get involve this coming saturday in our FREE PERMACULTURE WORKSHOP.

We'll have to drink a few bubble to celebrate this success, a Council grant (SI SI - yes yes) and a new great partnership with the Otford Tennis Club (Thanks Pauline) and the License from the Council !!!!

Garden party raffle: Call to local businesses

Hi local businesses interested in sustainability and community engagement,

The Otford Community and Garden Association organises a garden party on the 24th of November 2011. We'll have a circus workshop, a kid movie, 3 different liveband, a DJ and a gardening workshop.

We would like to raise money to undertake the following activities:

• Installing sustainable structure for permaculture beds 
• Installing a greenhouse
• Creating signage around the garden to educate on foods plants, native plants and permaculture principles
• Developing workshop activities on sustainability, healthy food
• Having a great, safe and engaging community space for Otford and its surrounds.

If you want to get involve, you can donate a prize in the raffle, as the following businesses have already done, or you can also directly support us (great raffles prizes)

• A Garden for life
• Warren adventure
• The vege box
• Karen McDougall Yoga
• Soil co.
• Otford Farm
• Plat du Jour
• Kellie Bollard Books

You can also forward the poster or the information about this event to some of your partner (media release available).

Feel free to contact us.

Otford Association is getting ready to party

On the Saturday 24 November 2012, the association will hold its Annual General Meeting. It means that you, member, will have an opportunity to learn how the association and its (your) budget is managed. We'll also discuss the future and agree on the best strategy. But who wants to spend a summery saturday afternoon sitting down discussing about organisation and budget?....not that many of us. So to make sure you have an opportunity to have your say, but also that we all have a great community time, we have decided to organise a very fun fundraising day, the Otford (End of the Year Fundraising Garden) Party: curry night, live music, kid movie, circus, gardening.
To make this day a successful day, we explain below how you can contribute, just by giving a bit of your time, skills or strength!
This newsletter also gives more details on the next garden working bees, the Pechakucha night and the next brewer club meeting.

Pecha Kucha: sat 27 oct - 6pm

Participants have to prepare an oral presentation on a topic they like, with 20 slides. The challenge is to keep it short and fun, so no more than 20 seconds by slides and slides content which add to the speach (not repeat it). Please bring your presentation (.ppt) on a USB stick or send it here before the 26 at lunch time. The event is open to the public but won't be very interesting to kids. The event will be followed by BYO drinks and BBQ.

 Brewers club

The first batch came back from the 'beershed'. A new batch will be launched on Saturday 3 November. Guys are currently going to a beershed in Kirawee. If any of you has everything to welcome the next batch, email asap here.
It would be great to start thinking about growing hops. It could be even easier with the new night light on the garden.

Arm strength NEEDED

Friday 19, from 7pm, we need arm power to carry wood from 59 station road to the tennis court (via vehicle).
BEFORE Sunday 28 we need a trailer or a ute to go and pick up soil/horse poo
On the Sunday 28 & Sunday 4 November we need PEOPLE to to build our vertical frame for Melon and to build the new herbs beds on the terraces.
Who can help fixing the fences?

Help us to raise money

On the Saturday 24 November, we'll raise money for the association. We have a few people to make delicious curries and dahl. We'll serve sweet crêpes. Who is happy to bake cakes? Which local business is happy to give a price for the raffle. Contact us now here.

Who is interested in 'Landcare' activities?

The creek needs cleaning (removing branches, moving sand to ensure a better flow). We would need gumboots, gloves and a trailer. We could also apply for a Landcare grant. Who is interested?

Blossoming activities around our garden!

Not only are we very lucky to see potatoes enjoying their mulch and sunny winter, but we have a lot of ideas growing blossoming:

A parents groups is now meeting every Thursday morning. We meet around the garden but we also do walks (Sea Cliff bridge was a really nice one) and will find many other activities. Today we cropped the overgrowing salads/Kale/spinach to add to our pic nic. Kids had great fun harvesting. Once they knew they could pick up mainly 'small' leaves of the Spinach and Kale, they had hips of fun selecting and checking. One thing is certain, these kids will know where salad comes from and how to harvest greens.

A group of guy met at a local 'beer shed' and started a batch of beer. I understood that the plan is to make beer, in deed, drink it, in deed...but also to learn the process and experiment it  in order to be able to do a real 'Otford beer' soon.

We also caught up last Sunday to prepare some seedlings to be planted in a few weeks. Seeds of cucumber, beans, cherry tomatoes were a few of the wonderfull that our seed saver Greg gave us. James did a great job putting this together and the seeds are nox germinating in Greg's wonderfull greenhouse.

Spring has definitely started and it's really productive at the Otford Community Garden Association. Make sure your neighbours know about it !

***The potatoes and the worm are happy. As they need a bit of maintenance, put your hands up for your 'MAINTENANCE ROASTER'.
I (Gaetane)'m doing this week (10 to 16th). I'll water every two days and i'll feed the worm (lifting the lid, lifting the carpet, putting food scrap on the far end side) and water the garden.
Would be great to have a list of people to do this till December, as our potatoes look gorgeous but will need more love with this hot summer approaching.
Look at the pictures (click here): they are doing great.

***Cherry tomatoes, beans and cucumber have been planted and are now growing to seedlings size in Greg's greenhouse.
Dont miss our next 'Working bee - catch up' on the Sunday 30th of September (most likely from 3pm) We'll also have a little BBQ and drinks on the afternoon.

***Don't forget to register your interest for the bus tour of Community Gardens (Sunday 7th of Oct).

*** A local Playgroup has started and meets up every thursdays (pictures to come). We'll have a salad together this week.

*** A local brewers club is starting as well.

*** We'll have a fun night on the Saturday 27 of October (Patcha Kutcha) so save the date.

What a great preparation to summer !-)