Sharing

When we knew we were moving to our new town, one of the first things I did was look up community gardens. I've always felt quite passionate about community gardens - they are an excellent way to help local communities reconnect with gardening, growing food, and each other. Living rurally meant that visiting community gardens was something that rarely happened though, so that particular passion has been on the back burner for a while.

Luckily for me, Maryborough has a lovely community garden! We joined the Lupton Park Community Garden  with a family membership, and now I pop in once a week for a couple of hours to do whatever odd jobs need doing. In return I get to share a cuppa with some new friends, learn more about gardening in this area, get my hands in the dirt, and share what I know.

I get to take home some lovely fresh organic produce too!

                                  A couple of zucchini (one the size of a small child!), some eggplant, 

                                 a mix of beans and some passionfruit, all from my first week. And 

                                                         my own name badge! Very fancy.

This weekend Lupton Park is hosting 4 short permaculture workshops run by Morag Gamble - author, teacher, blogger and general all-round sharer of awesomeness, who can be found at Our Permaculture Life. I'm extremely excited! I'll be learning more about sustainable living, food production and permaculture gardening.

The best part (second best, I'm dead keen for these workshops with Morag lol!) is that they are free for members. I wouldn't be able to go otherwise, as we have other things that are higher priority when it comes to funds. But part of what makes community gardens so wonderful is the sharing that is involved. We share our time and our skills not just with each other, but with anyone who walks through the gate. We share food, and information, and we share a space that allows others to do the same. This weekend is, to me, a prime example of why community gardens are just so valuable. So if there is one in your area, even if you can't get there often, or maybe even at all, see if there is some other way of supporting them. Donations of clean pots, excess seeds, even just sharing information about them so others can connect. All of it helps. All of it builds a community that can start caring for each other. It is well worth sharing :)


Take care, ox

Our yard!

This is our yard - I took this picture before we moved in. You can see it is very bare, and the grass is almost non-existent. We also have an excellent view into the neighbour's yard behind us (lucky for us, he is a very nice neighbour!).

 This is post-move, as can be seen by the gigantic trampoline and the kids' clam shell. Also our dog Charlie, who is patiently (for a change) waiting to see if pats will be offered. We put up the chain link fence you can see behind the bins there before we moved in - when you sister-in-law is your landlord, putting up child-containment fencing becomes much easier! The neighbours on that side are also lovely, and are keen gardeners too. I've already been gifted with some cuttings, and I have a few plants here to share in return.

 Here you can see our patio area. If you look closely along the top of the photo you will see the very edge of another garden shed, which is the same size as the one on the slab behind the patio. It used to be on the pavers, taking up valuable patio space, so we moved it. We're not sure what we will do with it yet, but the extra patio space is excellent. We're putting in gardens around the edges of the pavers up that end, initially filled with geraniums (I have a reason for that, which I will detail in my next post) but eventually to be filled with herbs and flowers, a lemon tree and some salad greens. Probably a cherry tomato, and some beans too, to make for a quick salad. Basically whatever will fit in there...

These are some photos of my last garden. I've always loved mixed plantings of vegies, herbs and flowers. And I'm convinced that it makes each of them healthier than they would be on their own. I often let things go to seed, both to collect the seed and to attract pollinators and predators. Looking at these photos makes me miss having a productive garden, but it also makes me excited to know I will have that again, as long as I'm patient!

Take care oxox