What a great day at the Manyana Markets yesterday, beautiful weather and lots of people out and about.
Our members had a busy morning either helping out on the fundraising sausage sizzle at the markets or showing interested visitors through the garden. So thankyou to all those members that gave up part of their Easter Sunday to help out with the sausage sizzle, it was an outstanding success. Also, a huge thankyou to the Bendy Hub, they donated the bread for the day. So, if you see Matt, Kev or Jess around give them a thank you. And a thank you to the market organiser Kim Walsh for asking us along. Many thanks to Lara Merrett for hosting a really fun interactive art activity at the Yulunga Community Garden yesterday morning. Lara demonstrated the craft of Cyanotype printing; placing objects on light sensitive paper and exposing it to sunlight. The art work created by all participants will be used as part of a public art installation to be displayed in the Yulunga community hall over the ANZAC weekend. For anyone interested in having a go at this, Lara will be hosting another demo at the Cunji Deli from 1:30PM today. After a successful members social gathering in January, we have decided that it would be great to organise a social night each season of the year with the dates roughly based around the Equinoxes or Solstices.
So, to celebrate the Autumn Equinox, which is on the 20th March, we will be having another social gathering at the garden for members. The details are:
If you would like to save the dates for future planned social gatherings, they will be held on:
Details and reminders for all these events will be sent closer to the date. Hope you can make it to the Autumn Equinox gathering and if not maybe next time. A very nice gesture by Liza Butler, Member for South Coast, in recognising and congratulating Five Villages Community Garden in State Parliament.
We were honoured to have Liza attend our garden launch in September, and very much appreciate her support for the project. Wow what a great couple of weeks we have had at the garden. Been fantastic to see so many members and visitors coming along to check things out and helping in the garden. If you haven’t managed to get down it is well worth the visit. Come down, say hello, have a cup of tea, harvest some of your produce and help with a few little maintenance chores (which at the moment isn’t too much now that the kohlrabi has finished, and those pesky green caterpillars don’t seem so much of a problem). We are currently open 9am to 11am Tuesdays & Saturdays. Remember to bring a container, reusable bag or a paper bag along with you. For clarification, with all of the major works completed we will only be having organised working bees if the need arises. All general garden maintenance is intended to be carried out during our open hours. A lemon tree has now been added to the soccer field mound to complement the Bay tree, Rosemary, Makrut Lime, Macadamias and Camellias (Tea plants). The sunflowers have started flowering and are bringing in lots of bees. The two native gardens near the compost bay entrance are thriving and flowering which is also encouraging welcomed pollinators. A few beetroots are still left and hoping to get a second crop started this week. Still some kale around, lots of salad greens, basil, parsley & shallots. Some dill seeds have been planted at the request of a few members and some mint in the vertical gardens. Tomatoes, Cucumbers and parsnips are very close to being ready for members to harvest. Capsicum & Chillies are not too far behind. The garlic is also nearly ready to harvest so we’ve removed the irrigation line so the bulbs can start drying out, fingers crossed we get some decent garlic bulbs. The water feature is looking great, and the weeping cherry tree is starting to come to life and will hopefully provide some summer shade for the aquatic life. The rate of growth in our initial plantings has been quite staggering and we really did not expect to be replanting seedlings so soon. Well done to all! Now that we have lots of nice vegies and greens coming on at the Yulunga Community Garden, today we presented the Bendy Hub with a small hamper of freshly picked local produce, including the very first ripe tomato picked from the garden, to show our appreciation for their generous donation of food for the recent Manyana Market sausage sizzle.
Once again, a huge thank you to Matt, Kev, Jess and the team at Bendy Hub. We are making a slight adjustment to the garden opening times from tomorrow (Saturday 4th November 2023).
The new times will be Saturday 9:00AM to 11:00AM, and Tuesdays 9:00AM to 11:00AM. We think the new times will be easier to remember and it's getting a bit hot to be on site after 11:00AM (and our yogameisters will still get an hour after their yoga session). Shortly we'll put out a survey to see what members think of the opening hours and make adjustments based on the feedback. There is plenty of salad greens and parsley at the moment, and not a lot of work to do! So come on down and grab some greens. If you haven't visited your garden for a while, there has been some amazing plant growth happening. Quite a few members are already harvesting some beautiful veges. Just to remind you our opening times are Tuesday 8am to 10am and Saturday 10am to Midday. If you come during these times remember to bring a container, reuseable bag or a paper bag to take produce home. If you are taking salad greens, please remember to pick the outer leaves only, when picking kale take the lower leaves. For the Bok Choy cut the plant at 2 to 3cm above ground level as the root base will reshoot and produce another plant. If you are in doubt about any of the plants, just ask a fellow member and someone will know how to harvest properly. Hope to see you at the garden soon. Firstly, thanks to all those members who helped out with the sausage sizzle on Sunday at the markets from the organising (particularly Anne Jackson), delivering the BBQ, cooking & taking orders it was an outstanding success, and we made a tidy profit of nearly $600.
A huge thankyou to the Bendy Hub, they donated the bread and sausages for the day. So, if you see Matt, Kev or Jess around give them a thank you And a thank you to the market organiser Kim Walsh for asking us along. Also, for any members going down to the garden tomorrow morning remember to bring a bag down to collect some salad and Kale leaves. Paella masterclass by one of our garden members Emile Gomez at the Five Villages Community Garden opening. Tasted as good as it looks, and oh the aromas; what a treat! A most wonderful event yesterday to mark the official opening of the Five Villages Community Garden at Yulunga Reserve. On a beautiful spring evening 80 members and guests celebrated an exceptional community effort that has culminated in the creation of a public space that will provide homegrown produce for generations to come. The project was made possible through funding provided by the Commonwealth Government Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants Program. We were honoured to host our special guests Paul Jrumpinjinbah Mcleod, Fiona Phillips MP (Fed) Member for Gilmore and Liza Butler MP (NSW) Member for South Coast. Huge thanks to our member Emile Gomez who treated us to a traditional Spanish paella (more pics to come in a follow up post). Thankyou also to The Deli Cunjurong for providing an abundance of grazing & sweet platters. Some big things ticked off at the Yulunga Garden this weekend. Our Blue Gum table was hauled in and set up. The timber slab was salvaged from Conjola Park, post bushfire, and beautifully milled by Dave Patterson and dressed by Pat Byrne. The table is absolutely stunning! We also planted out the soccer field mound with 20 Camellia Sinensis plants (tea plant). The plan is to harvest and make our very own Five Villages Tea. A big thanks to all the helpers. Thank you to the members that came to the AGM last night, it was great to see some new faces in the crowd. For those that could not make it the elected officer bearers for the coming year are
A huge thank you to the outgoing Secretary Karin Mayer and Public Officer Jimmy Woodriff for all you have done over the past couple of years. A copy of the Annual Report for 2022_2023 that was released at the AGM is in the link below.
The Five Villages Community Garden Annual General Meeting will be held at 5:00PM on Thursday 24th August 2023 at the Yulunga Reserve Community Hall. Only paid-up members can vote at the AGM, but everyone is welcome to attend. Membership is $5 for a single and $10 for families. You can sign up for Membership by filling out the membership form on our website under the Join button. Meeting details and documents below.
The garden build is progressing well, and we are happy to report that the last few raised garden beds are nearing completion. The much-anticipated skater bench has been installed. Soon we'll be completing our paths, prettying up the carpark area and planting out the garden beds in time for spring. If you haven't seen the progress for a while pop down and say hello if you see someone on site. First up is save the following dates:
Further details to come on both. Next up, now that the garden build has been progressing nicely and we are nearing the official opening the FVCG committee would like to get some ideas from the membership regarding the following:
Looking forward to the next couple of months and remember to save those dates! What a fantastic turn out to help fill the completed garden beds and mulch the soccer field mounds on Sunday. Twenty-five eager members formed a bucket brigade and spent a beautiful afternoon filling the first seven raised garden beds with 12 cubic metres of goodness supplied by Gardenhaven Nursery & Landscape Supply and the_little_forest_road We also mulched the mounds to get them ready for a future planting of fruit and nut trees. Many hands certainly make for light, enjoyable, feel-good work! Big thanks to everyone that helped. Thank you to the members that joined in for the meet and greet on Saturday, it was a great morning.
33 members planted out all 100 pots in the vertical garden with a mix of garlic, lettuce, rocket, spinach, parsley, marigolds, coriander, beetroot, dill, oregano and polyanthus. We enjoyed a sausage sizzle, some lovely cakes and good conversation. For those who couldn't make it we plan to hold a similar event in a month or so when some of the raised garden beds are ready for planting. Firstly, thanks to those who helped out with the sausage sizzle at the markets on Easter Sunday, it was an outstanding success. In fact, we sold out of snags by 11:00AM and our second team that was rostered on for the 11 to 1:00PM shift didn't even get a start; thanks for turning up anyway!
We made a tidy profit of $710, thanks in part to a kind donation by the Bendy Hub of 12 loaves of bread. We'll definitely be looking for more opportunities to do future sausage sizzles. Secondly, you may have noticed that we have made some progress with the Yulunga Garden. The shed is now almost complete, and we have completed the first of 10 raised garden beds and installed the vertical garden. We know that our members have been keen to get started on some actual gardening, so we are going to hold an informal meet and greet on Saturday 13th May 2023 from 10:30AM and give all members the opportunity to get the vertical garden up and running. What we are proposing is that each single or family membership be allocated three pots in the vertical garden. We know it's not much, but it's a nice way to kick off the garden - giving all inaugural members first dibs at planting something! All members have been sent an email about the get together, so check your inboxes or spam folder. You can bring along whatever seedlings you would like to plant in your allocated pots, or to make it easier we have purchased a kilo of organic garlic bulbs and each member will be given nine garlic cloves to put in their pots (we think each pot should support three garlic plants). It happens to be the right time to plant garlic, the only downside is you'll have to wait until December to harvest your garlic. If you can't make it on the day don't worry you will still be allocated three pots and we'll put the garlic in for you. Some photo's below of the current build progress and from the sausage sizzle. This week we will be recommencing work on the Yulunga Reserve Garden.
With the enclosure frame now complete we will work on the central boardwalks, cyclone mesh fencing and equipment shed. If any financial members would like to assist with the boardwalk construction, please send a direct message for details (click here). The first hole was dug on 14th November and the last of the roof section was completed on 16th December. We now have a structure.
If you haven't already been past the garden site, it is worth having a look. We are now going to have a break for Christmas, but plan to start again in the New Year working on the shed, boardwalk and raised garden beds. The committee would like to thank all members for their support and encouragement and wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 2023 is going to be exciting for the garden. Despite a few weather delays and equipment malfunctions all the perimeter poles for the garden enclosure are in the ground.
Over the next few days, you'll see the roof rails go up which will really lift and define our little space. Long awaited exciting news at last! On Friday we received final approval from Shoalhaven City Council to commence work on the Yulunga Reserve Community Garden.
Draft plans of the proposed garden structures can be viewed here Although we can start work immediately, we will be waiting until after the Southerly Change Festival to access the site. If the weather is kind, we'll be on-site Monday morning 14 November to start the preliminary site works. Key elements of the project include a garden fence enclosure, equipment shed, water tank, raised beds, vertical garden, bench seating, meeting table and pathways. For updates keep checking our website or Facebook page or just wander past the Garden to see what's happening. Due to insurance requirements, if you would like to get involved and help with the garden build, you will need to be a financial member of Five Villages Community Garden: Join Here The Inaugural FVCG Annual General Meeting will be held at 2:00PM on Saturday 17 September 2022 at the Yulunga Reserve Community Hall. All current committee position holders have indicated an intention to stand for re-election. However, we would welcome any nominations from members who would like to become more involved in the work of the committee. Only paid up members can vote at the AGM but everyone is welcome to attend. Membership is $5 for a single and $10 for families. You can sign up for Membership on the day, or fill out the membership form on our website under the Join button. Light refreshments will be provided at the end of the meeting so let us know if you think you'll be able to make it.
After considering the suggestions and feedback we've received this is the first impression of what the Yulunga Community Garden might look like from the outside. Framing material will likely be galvanised steel tubing.
We will continue to refine this design while working with Shoalhaven Council to obtain the required planning approvals for the project. If you would like to be involved in the garden construction you will need to join FVCG so you have the protection of our volunteers insurance. Membership is only $5pa for singles and $10pa for families, join here https://fivevillagesgarden.weebly.com/join.html |
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