Butterflies and Bushland

Ben Middleton from ABC 1233 did  walk through the rainforest on Ash Island with Rosie Heritage and me.
http://blogs.abc.net.au/nsw/2011/10/butterflies-of-ash-island.html

This is one of Rosie's beautiful watercolours (Copyright Rosie Heritage)

Ben has done us proud as we talked his ear off and he had to whittle it down to this clip.

The book we wrote and illustrated as part of the Caring For Country grant and the plantings done by the Kooragang Volunteers on two hectares of partially revegetated land next to the rainforest walk to Scott's Point from the Old Dairy have been a labour of love for the future. We tell people they will have to come back in two centuries at least to see something like the lush and majestic growth which existed on Ash Island in 1801.

Garden tools for people with disabilities

Have found just one source on the web, www.wisdomactivities.com.au, which is in WA. They have all the garden tools plus the add-on handles. Every other place is in the UK or USA. There may be others in Australia but I haven't found them. Our letter of offer from Minister Jenny Macklin has arrived and been returned so the funds will be available for using pretty soon. Mitre 10 Mayfield will look after us, as usual, (thanks guys) and we will have a raised garden bed installed plus we hope to have a purpose designed "pod" which allows people in wheelchairs or on walkers with a seat to sit at the right height and pot and plant without getting covered in soil. Saw a model on-line from a website www.terraform.fr which was for a group of designers and architects in France. Actually spoke to them, at least to the one person with some English and with some help from my 20-year old French, and tried to find out how much one would cost to import . At that time, three years ago, it was 1300 Euros for one pod. The website has recently been changed and we hope to contact them. We could get a local person to use their design under some kind of licensing arrangement and produce a local version.  With a  decent sized garden umbrella for shade - hey presto!- some gardening for people with "mobility issues" - euphemism for a lot of people who want to garden but have bad backs, weak shoulders and whatever (like a lot of our members).  Small shallow pool going into the centre of the stone circle for bird watering. If "cured" in the way the pot man explained, the clay bowl could become a fire-pit with the addition of a steel plate in the base. Maybe we will just have an oval area with half being a fire pit in another circle of smaller stones.  Hmm, have to think on that one.  Meanwhile - the Kale has and is being a beautiful, purple, frilly-leaved and productive crop. The purple cauilflower on the other hand is a miserable disappointment, pretty purple-tinged leaves and a head the size of a coffee cup. It is being cut out and will become egg-plant instead. The smaller and long-fruited eggplants are very nice, and very decorative.

Kale has been very popular on the stall at the Newcastle Farmers Market.

Grants

Just had a phone call from Sharon Grierson's office. We have been successful in getting a Volunteer grant of $1950 which will be used to make our garden more disability friendly. We have only a small area and to be really accessible for  existing and potential members with any level of disability shouldn't be too hard.  
In the meantime, the stones which used to line the roadway have been moved into a circle on the grass. The workmen building the new Commission housing behind the church have been using the water and electricity, so to return the favour they used their machines and made the circle for us. Last Tuesday during Beanstalk trading there was a group of parents standing around the stones chatting and their kids jumping around and over them.


No human children here but a squawking begging magpie chick




Lots of blossom on the citrus trees




Most of the Sweet peas disappear as bunches of flowers for home!



Painting The Wall

Two chummy artists after the day was over, a lively funny pair full of jokes

Empty wall, full paint tins, lots of energy and ideas.



Judy admiring the result



Kwaku and Julia with four of the artists, the others were having a game of "Tip"

Please Mr Occ Health and Safety, don't look now!!

Students from Mayfield East Public School's Thursday Art group painted Aboriginal icons and other symbols on the wall facing the garden. This was a lovely cooperative project between the St Andrews church who hosted it, the gardeners who coordinated it, the Rotary Club of Newcastle Enterprise which funded it and the students and staff of the school.

Hello Blog, it's been a while

Principal Alan and his off-sider worked like troupers and got on the base coat of green at the bottom and blue at the top. The students will paint the eucalypt bushland on it next week after the rain has stopped and the wall has dried out again

Gosh, reading the last couple of posts I sound a bit whiny about being busy - better than being bored!

Email from friend Russell. Here's a link to the website for a group in Aberdeen, Scotland, where he lives. Bet he misses the warmth of an Aussie Winter!!  Aberdeen Voice - Making The People's Voices Heard  . 

In  a rush of blood to the head we put in a Volunteer Grants application for equipment suitable for people with mobility problems or using a wheelchair. Of all the community gardens I've visited, not many have much to offer people with disabilities for ACTIVE participation versus passively enjoying a nice place. Ours is like that but it is very new so we have to work towards change. Each physical challenge has its own specific needs. People talking together using sign languages need a wider path than someone in a wheel chair as they are looking at each others face and hands and must walk side by side. Had a very good day a couple of years ago with  people with low or no vision at the Newcastle City Council's Greening Centre in a propagation and general gardening day. Some had been blind from birth, others had various degrees of vision acquired later in life. The word disability should be used very very seldom. Say,  "This is the question, let's work out the answer" and "disability" disappears. The most important thing to do is ask the person with the "disability" what is the answer. Teeny teeny things can be a barrier and often all that is needed is just an equally teeny teeny bit of forethought and the problem evaporates. A garden which has no barriers is a better garden for everyone.

It's been a while!!

Too busy, too everything, been away then had some other obligations over Easter and the following weekend, so now for a little restful blurbing. We had a couple of weeks in Perth and boy, are we so fortunate to have the rainfall we get. The West Australians were, and still are, fed up with day after day after day after day of  "fine sunny day" weather forecasts and were beginning to plead with TV and radio presenters to stop saying those hated words - please!!  There are Community Gardens in WA but they must be heartbreaking if not impossible to maintain with 10 minutes of watering allowed on two days a week. Didn't get to see any as we were too involved with other places and people.
Last Saturday we planted many many Purple King cabbage seedlings, cauliflower, two kinds of Kale, ranunculus and peas. The neighbour has moved out and is renting his house, so he told us the pumpkins spilling over the fence are ours for the taking - genuine Queensland Blue. New recruit Peter headed home with a nice big one tucked under his arm.

More photos from our Placemaking BBQ

Peter brought a huge tray of buns and cakes

THAT bush!!

The bare brick wall behind the revellers will be painted with a mural by the students of Mayfield East Public School, with financial and other support from the Rotary Club of Newcastle Enterprise

The passion fruit vine, zinnias, late zucchinis and alyssum do well in this bed.