Monday, December 2, 2013

Sun and Rain and the Garden is Thriving!





December, and it's a cheer to be here!

December dates are as follows


AGM & party to follow - Friday Dec. 6 @ 5pm

Wednesday Working Bees: @9.30 am     December 4th and 18th

Wednesday meeting: @4.30pm   December  11th

Saturday working bees @ 9am December 7th and 14th and 21st

Monday, November 4, 2013

Guided Bush Tucker walk and Worm tea update


Hello Community Gardeners,

Below is a link to a guided walk on Bush Tucker and Bush Medicine plants. It is at Blackbutt Forest and is guided by Terry Rankmore who helped out with the plant selection on our own Hillside Native Food Forest. This is an opportunity not to be missed.



http://www.landcareillawarra.org.au/2013/10/free-bush-tucker/

We are also happily using our new backpack sprayer to spread our delicious worm tea around the garden. Eddie's work maintaining the worm farms has been wonderful and the resulting worm tea is now a tonic for our fruit and vegies.

 
Tea anyone? - Great work Eddie

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Gardening in November



Tomatoes, eggplants, capsicums, zucchini, cucumbers, watermelon, beans and potatoes are just some of the vegetables we have planted recently. Many of our fruit trees are flowering and fruiting - chocolate pudding fruit, mango, fig and many more.

Many of our regulars have been helping with weeding and watering but we would always welcome some new faces. Come and visit us on a Saturday morning and have a look around. We are located between the sporting fields and Blue Haven.

Dates for November

Saturday Working Bees - 2nd, 9th, 16th and 30th,  9am

Wednesday Working Bees - 6th, 20th at 9.30

Wednesday General Meetings - 13th, 27th at 4.30

Governance Meeting - 21st November


The AGM will be held on Friday 6th December at 5pm. This will double as our Christmas gathering with a party to follow at 6pm.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Hot Summer Coming!

All hands will be needed this summer to help water and mulch the garden if the dryness that is forecast eventuates. The bounteous harvest above was from a day in late October 2011. Garden produce is shared by all who help to care for it. Hopefully such a delicious looking photo will encourage new members to the garden. October dates are as follows:  Wednesday working bee: 9.30am on October 16th. Wednesday meetings: 4.30pm, October 9th and 23rd. Saturday working bees 9.30am on October 12th and 19th.  Hope to see you there.

Opportunities in October

Visit the Community Garden in October for the opportunity to make new friends and learn new skills.
We will be planting, propagating, potting up and of course, harvesting.

We had a very successful plant stall near Woolies on 7th September and since we still have many plants to sell we are going to have another stall in the main street. The date and location will be posted on this blog soon. If you missed out on the last stall, visit us at our next one for great bargains.

Dates for October

Saturday Working Bees -  5th, 12th and 19th October, 9am

Wednesday Working Bees - 2nd and 16th October at 9.30 am

Wednesday General Meetings - 9th and 23rd October

Governance Committee Meeting - 17th October, 6.30 at the garden

Monday, September 2, 2013

Spring in Earnest!

Encouraged by NSW's warmest winter on record, growth in the garden is gathering speed again.
There will be casual gardening only on 7th September as the usual working bee gives way to a plant stall fundraiser.  Come and join us at one of these garden gatherings this month:
Wednesday Working Bees, 4th and 18th September, 9.30 am.
Wednesday General Meetings, 11th and 25th September, 4.30 pm
Saturday Working Bees, 14th and 21st September, 9 am
Governance Members meeting 19th September, 6.30pm - venue to be arranged.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Last Month of Winter!

Planning and propagating continues for our street stall on September 7, All donations of plant stock welcome.Our August schedule is as follows:
Wednesday 7th August,         general meeting, 4:30pm       
Wednesday 14th August        working bee (from around 9.30-10 am)
Wednesday 21st August,       general meeting, 4:30pm
Wednesday 28th August        working bee (from around 9.30-10 am)
Saturdays 3rd, 10th, 17th, 31st August  Working Bees 9.30 am   but NOT 24th August

Monday, July 1, 2013

Drop By In July


It may be chilly, but working in the garden is a great way to warm up. This Winter we need your help to propagate stock for a fundraiser plant stall in        September. Our schedule in July is as follows:
Wednesdays    3rd. working bee mid morning
                       10th. general meeting 4.30pm
                       17th. working bee mid morning
                       24th. general meeting 4.30pm
                       31st. working bee mid morning
Thursday         18th.  governance members meeting 6pm
Saturdays         6th, 13th, 20th -Working bees from 9.30am.
                        27th - Crop Planning meeting 11am.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Seriously Shareable

I promised to share the recipe for the dip I made for today's morning tea at the garden.
So here it is,  Rosemary Carrot and White Bean Dip ....  Enjoy!




Ingredients
1 can cannellini, or butter beans
4  peeled and roughly chopped carrots
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon sea salt
2-inch sprig rosemary (broken up a bit)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
½  teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon Sriracha chilli sauce ( or other hot sweet chilli sauce)

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 200°C.  Prepare a medium size baking dish.
2. Rinse beans and set aside to drain.
3. Steam carrots for 3 minutes.
4. Place carrots, olive oil, sea salt and garlic in baking dish and stir to coat. Add drained beans and rosemary sprigs, mixing the sprigs under the veggies a bit.  Place in oven and roast for 20 minutes Remove from oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
4. After cooling period, remove rosemary sprigs and place roasted carrot/bean mixture along with all other ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Puree until very smooth. If mixture is too thick, add more water, until you reach a spreadable consistency.

Serve at room temperature with crackers and/or fresh veggies.


Thursday, May 23, 2013

Join us in June

Many thanks to Maria and Denise who promoted the garden at the recent Volunteers Expo. We have made some valuable contacts.
There is plenty of work to keep members warm as the weather cools....Our schedule of events throughout June is as follows.

Saturday Morning Working Bees: 1st, 8th, 15th and 29th June from 9.00 am, bring some morning tea or a gold coin donation.      Note no working bee on the 22nd June

Wednesday Working Bees: Mornings of 12th and 26th June from 9.30 am.

Wednesday Garden Meetings: 5th and 19th June at 4.30 pm.

Governance Members Meeting:  26th June at 5.30 pm.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Meeting Up In May

Thanks to all of you who keep our garden going, every little bit helps.

The schedule of formal gatherings at the garden throughout May is as follows.....

Saturday Morning Working Bees: 4th , 11th and 18th May from 9.00 am, bring some morning tea or a gold coin donation.      On 4th May in the afternoon, share pizza with us for a gold coin donation.

Wednesday Working Bees: Mornings of 1st and 15th and 29th May from 9.30 am.

Wednesday Garden Meetings: 8th and 22nd May at 4.30 pm.

Governance Members Meeting:  15th May at 5.30 pm.

See You Soon!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

April's Entertainment


Kiama Community Garden is fund-raising with the Entertainment book.The new edition can be viewed at the garden from Saturday April 6, We'll also be gardening until about midday, and sharing morning tea together! Use this link to preview the Sth Coast Entertainment book : http://www.entertainmentbook.com.au/home
To purchase, the link to our order page is: https://www.entertainmentbook.com.au/orderbooks/2811g54


Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Gardening in April

We are planting seedlings of beetroot, lettuce, sugarloaf cabbage, dill, peas and many more. At the moment there are butter beans and green beans galore to be harvested. We have trimmed the bana grass to let in more sun.

Meetings for April

Saturday morning working bees - 13th and 20th April with morning tea mid morning.

Wednesday working bees - 3rd and 17th April from 9:30am or come along at a time that you prefer.

Wednesday general meetings - 10th and 24th April at 4:30pm

Governance meeting- 17th April at 5:30pm.



Look forward to seeing you soon . . . 

A New Crop of Authors

At last there will be far fewer reasons for our blog being out of date.

Welcome to Julie, Maria and Gabriella our newest enthusiastic bloggers.

Autumn is a great time for gardening and  there will be plenty of activity at the garden over the next couple of months as fallow beds are planted  and existing plantings maintained.

Please come and help us refresh the garden over the weeks ahead.


The seedlings have hardened off and are ready to go!
We Won!!!!!!
Congratulations to all our Great gardeners.

Kiama Community Gardens won the community garden category of the Kiama Garden Club's competitio for the second year running.  Fantastic!!!!

The garden looked beautiful on the day that Hazel & Rob judged.  Come to the garden on Saturday April 6th & help us keep it beautiful, enjoy a wonderful morning tea & chat & take home some lovely fresh vegies.

See you there.  We start about 9am.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Hello all,
 
The garden is ready for some TLC.
 
This Saturday 2nd February in the garden we will be:

  • Planting out the new bed on the top terrace with Zucchinis
  • Planting out the new bed in the middle terrace with beetroot seedlings etc from the hot house
  • Constructing another pallet compost bay near the top gate
  • Watering
  • Feeding the worms
  • Weeding
  • Harvesting
  • Enjoying morning tea & chat
We will be starting from 8:30.
 
As always, please enter the garden from the Kiama Sports Fields. Parking is in the Kiama Leisure Centre car park or in Thompson St near the end of Bong Bong St. Please wear sturdy shoes and gardening clothes. Please bring a hat, gloves and a tasty treat to share for morning tea (a gold coin donation box available in lieu of bringing food). Hope to see you there.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Happy New Year Community Gardeners!


 







Natures Fireworks!!!

Have you made a New Year's Resolution to:

  • Eat more healthily
  • Get more exercise
  • Help out in the community more
  • Expand your circle of friends
  • Develop a new interest
  • Grow more of your own food
  • Have more fun this year

Well, Kiama Community Garden is the place to be this year.

The garden offers all the above and much more. Anyone can join in. There are ways to contribute from the highly energetic to the more gentle, both in the garden and in the organising of the garden.

Garden members share much more from the garden than just delicious healthy produce (though  this is a big drawcard), we also share knowledge, friendship, plants from home, and aspirations for the garden and our community.

In 2013 the garden is becoming incorporated and with this come new challenges and opportunities. Now is the time to get involved and help our garden grow.

Our next Working Bee is on Saturday 2nd February from 8:30.

As always, please enter the garden from the Kiama Sports Fields. Parking is in the Kiama Leisure Centre car park or in Thompson St near the end of Bong Bong St. Please wear sturdy shoes and gardening clothes. Please bring a hat, gloves and a tasty treat to share for morning tea (a gold coin donation box available in lieu of bringing food). Hope to see you there.