Permaculture Sydney North - 2014 Feb Newsletter

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President's Report

The year has well and truly begun! It really is an exciting time for me as the now President of PSN because I would like to really try and bring the organization back to the members as much as possible – and let me say, that is NOT being critical of the past, but we all come to these roles with different ideas and opportunities.

Firstly, last year was an incredibly challenging time for the group as we lost a great deal of history and service from the committee. That said, these things happen in volunteer groups, and it’s important that I recognise the enormous effort put in by past President, Monique Unger in holding the group together and setting the pathways forward. Likewise, the contributions from the committee and other attendant roles was wonderful.

Secondly, I am a strong believer in volunteer groups knowing that they are volunteers, and consequently contributors to a joint cause, and that the expectations and outcomes should be pushed back to the group as much as possible for contribution, participation and direction. As I noted last year, the only way we will succeed into the future is to have as much participation and action from ALL the members as possible.

So what does this mean?

It means that if there are things to be done and activities to be undertaken, I would like a “hands on” approach where members have a real opportunity to contribute and participate so the load is shared and, truth be known, that we create a more vibrant and involved organization over time where people know they can create, act and benefit from greater involvement and participation.

If there are ideas to be developed, activities to be planned, skills to support the group over all or connections to be made, it really is a group thing, not just a committee thing! This is Permaculture, so don’t sit on the sidelines, DIG IN and support the greater good!

Please come along to the first group meeting on Monday 18^th February at the Lindfield Seniors Hall and participate in change and development. It should be fun as well!

PSN Monthly Meeting - Monday 18 Feb 2013 @ 7:00pm

Please come along to our first group meeting of the year and participate in the change and development of our organisation. It should be fun!

Doors open at 7pm. Lindfield Community Centre, 259 Pacific Hwy, Lindfield. Just a few minutes walk from Lindfield railway station.

Don't Forget to BYO Mug

Please bring your own reusable mug/cup to all meetings.

PSN Monthly Meetings are held on the 3^rd Monday of every month.

Doors open at 7pm. Lindfield Community Centre, 259 Pacific Hwy, Lindfield. Just a few minutes walk from Lindfield railway station.

Garden Team Event - Sunday 17th Feb - Karonga School in Epping

After a long hot spell followed by the recent rain over the school holidays, the weeds and grasses have jumped into action and are well on the way to taking over the place. As Doug told me when I called in to visit the site “The kids when they face this are just overwhelmed, and don’t know where to start.” I have to say when I saw it I could sympathise.

The work needed isn’t complicated, plenty of weeding and planting of autumn crops in the two main herb and veg gardens and straightening out the chicken run. If we can get enough hands on deck and get the weeding out of the way, we can go onto planting out some native trees near the car park.

We need plenty of help to get on top of the weeds so if you can spare an hour or two on Sunday 17 February, the kids at Karonga would appreciate it.

WHAT TO BRING...

Please bring personal protection gear such as a hat, gloves, boots, sunscreen and a water bottle. If you have a favourite gardening tool, bring that too.

Lunch will need to be SELF CATERED so bring a cut lunch for you (just like being back at school) and a bit extra to share. I will see if I can provide some music to work to.

Please register here to attend this event.

PSN Open Garden - Chatswood- Sunday 24th February

Our garden is situated on a 557 square metre block in the middle of Chatswood.

We had been watching "Gardening Australia" and were inspired to start growing our own food by Peter Cundle. The problem was that neither of us had gardening backgrounds and didn't have the
practical confidence to actually begin. We decided to stop procrastinating and about three and a half years ago we joined Permaculture. The first year we worked with the garden team on every permablitz. The rest, as they say, is history.

We eat from the garden every day. We have planted 7 citrus trees and also have a peach, a pomegranate, a fig, a persimmon and two paw paws. There is also a blueberry hedge and sweet potatoes on the verge. Most of the production is in the front garden because of the aspect and also because we want people to see that this is something that they can do themselves.

Please register on our website or email garden@permaculturenorth.org.au if you would like to attend. The address will be provided on registration.

Hornsby Local Group News

Our first meeting of the year got off to a great start. Thank you Sylvia and Terry for your beautiful hosting and presenting. Topic Tools: What to Buy and How to Maintain Them. I was unable to attend but here is Lucinda’s feedback:

Just to let you know, today's meeting was a great success. There were almost 20 people all up, and most stayed well past the usual meeting time. We had a very good tools talk in Terry's garage and I even got two secateurs sharpened. Sylvia led the main garden tour and there were a few informal ones (and what an amazing garden it is), there were a few little working parties and lots of sitting and standing around, talking and eating the wonderful foods everyone brought along.

We started off the meeting by everyone answering a few questions. Some interesting answers came up! It went over really well; I am looking forward to next meeting!

You’d have to be happy with that!

You may recall that since lateish last year Hornsby members are becoming more involved in various ways in the running of the group, the idea being to share the load, give leadership opportunities. succession planning, increase depth of interest/leadership/knowledge, variety/fun etc. It is interesting to note already that this meeting was entirely arranged and conducted by the fearless meeting planners Jacqui, Jenny, Kerry, Lucinda and Richard. Congrats on a great meeting and A Big Thankyou.

March 9 – next Hornsby Meeting – Berowra

PART A:

The formal meeting will be preceeded by an 11am BANANA CIRCLE small working party with lunch provided at around 1pm. We need only 3 people including some men who like mattocking: we will be removing old banana trees first. You’ll get plenty of rest: there’s only room for one mattocker at a time!

PART B:

The formal meeting will commence at 2pm: PEST CONTROL TRICKS AND TIPS and the meeting planners advise as follows:

Join Hornsby local group for an afternoon discussing pest control in the garden naturally. Learn from and with each other how to identify good bugs from bad bugs and how to keep pests under control without using harmful sprays. We will write up our solutions into a series of pest fact sheets.

This discussion will be followed by a 30 min permabee in Jacqui’s garden. Here we will be making a new banana circle.

ENQUIRIES: Want to know more about the Hornsby Local Group? Please email Kay at hornsby_coord@permaculturenorth.org.au

		Seed Savers Monthly Meet with Peter Pezzolesi Seed Savers meet on the 4th Saturday of every month from 9am-12 noon at the Bidjiwong Community Nursery in Baulkham Hills. (Rear of Ted Horwood Reserve carpark, off Renown Rd, opposite the sports club). All PSN members are welcome. You'll meet great people, learn a lot about cleaning seed, propagating, how to recognise and save seeds, heaps of growing tips and herbal remedies from Robyn and other knowledgeable people. We can share our seeds with you and would love for you to share some of your special heirloom seeds with us. Peter Pezzolesi Seed Savers Co-ordinator Phone 0412 817 605

		West Pymble Community Garden If you’ve been reading about the wonderful world of Community Gardens and thought “Wouldn’t it be great to have a Community Garden nearby where I can be involved?” Well, now you can, if you’re in the Kuringgai area. There is a fledgling community garden located at the rear of the local shopping centre in West Pymble. It lies on Ku-ring-gai council land, is council supported and is a great opportunity for locals in the area to be a part of their ‘own’ community garden. If you live in a suburb nearby we would love you to join up and become involved. In 2011 the Kuringgai council was approached by the TV program Better Homes and Gardens to identify and provide a site to use for a TV segment on building a community garden. The garden was subsequently designed, built, and filmed by the TV crew, and then handed over to the ‘community’. A few West Pymble locals have since then been active in small upgrades and ongoing maintenance, but mostly it has remained fairly low-key. Recently the Garden has been fortunate to have received substantial support from Council who have built a first-class shed, complete with water and power, plus supplied a new water tap to a convenient location in the current garden. In addition to this, the Garden was awarded a grant of $1000 from the environment levy. This has been allocated by the members to be used on a drip irrigation system, which has already been purchased and is undergoing installation. While this community garden has not been established using Permaculture design or principles, it is a great opportunity for interested and active locals to become involved and begin to apply these, and also to be a part of its expansion and transformation. It should also be noted that this is a very informal place. There are no membership fees, and there is no committee. At the moment we have a coordinator and an infrastructure team and our main communication is through a monthly newsletter. We currently meet every Saturday morning at 10am, and on Tuesdays there is a Kids Gardening group at 330pm during term times. The garden location is Philip Lane, West Pymble. If you’d like to be added to the newsletter distribution please contact the garden via email: westpymblecommunitygarden@yahoo.com.au Or contact Rowan Bouttell at rowanjb@yahoo.com if you have any questions.

		The Better Planning Network The Better Planning Network is a network of local communities, organisations and individuals striving to achieve a fair planning system for NSW. The Better Planning Network is not affiliated with any political party and recognises that: Community engagement in decision-making is essential at every stage of the planning and development process. Protecting our natural and cultural heritage is... fundamental to the wellbeing of our communities. Development must put local residents and communities first. Strategic planning must be evidence-based. Development must comply with strategic planning instruments. Infrastructure goes hand in hand with development. We have a campaign website that you can view at http://betterplanningnetwork.good.do We have a Facebook page Like us and follow the page for regular updates on upcoming events. We have a Twitter account Follow us at http://twitter.com/BettPlanNetwork for all the juicy, minute by minute news… And...Don't forget to tell all your friends and recommend us! Thanks for your support Corinne Fisher, Better Planning Network

		Welcome new PSN members A big welcome to all new members since our December meeting For details on local group monthly meetings please refer to the noticeboard or email your local group coordinator or check out the new re-occuring events page (PSN diary) here.

PSN Facebook

Our facebook page is rocking! It's an excellent place for finding out what's going on in and around our area in a broader context.

You can interact with like minded permies to share ideas, pose questions, post interesting articles and find out what courses and events are happening in our region and around the world.

If you would like help in setting up a facebook login please email feedback@permaculturenorth.org.au