ROLL UP, ROLL UP it’s Waterworks Harvest Fair time again!!!

Calling all you wonderful valley people who would like to help set up our second Harvest Fair about fun, food and sustainable living – it’s on Sunday March 28. Click HERE to see poster.

I am hostessing weekly morning teas (with scones) 10am at my house (144 Waterworks Rd) every Wednesday before the fair.

Amanda Sully (sully.amanda@gmail.com)

Please come if you are able to put in some real time and energy as we need your help!!!

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Two working bees in November and the community garden (28 beds) is now all planted with its first crop of beans and spuds. Thanks to everyone who came along. Contact is Jonah.

Its that lovely time of year, so here are three delightful garden enterprises.

• Food in my backyard:
If you are new to gardening, or need help, Christine and Juliet from FIMBY run a neat little local (South Hobart) enterprise that is proving to be really popular. Have a look at their friendly website

• Tarremah Growers:
Catherine in Fern Tree advises that they have for sale a fabulous range of tomato seedlings, including those vanishing old tasty varieties. No website sorry, but you can download their tomato catalogue here and place an order.

• Woodbridge Fruit Trees:
Too late for fruit tree planting now, but do keep this one in mind. For close to 30 years this family group has been preserving old fruit tree varieties on dwarf stock suitable for home gardens. Great varieties and a big range of fruiting times. Take a look at their website and place your order before next Winter.

Many thanks to Claudia and Jason and family for use of their home for the belated formal launch of our climate project on Sunday (August 30).

We were blessed with a brief break in the continuous wet weather (as NSW sizzles in mid-Summer temperatures, breaking all records for August).

Here is a replica of the little garden signs that participating households will be displaying in their front yards.

This comes with a commitment: to reduce the household’s carbon footprint by 5% minimum per year. We aim to do everything we can to ensure that this commitment can be easily met, and that task will keep us very busy for the coming year!

And thanks too to Nel Smit, a community representative on Tasmania’s Climate Action Council, who launched the project for us on Sunday.

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Sustainable houses throughout Australia will be opening their doors for you to look inside on Sunday 13th September.

See the real benefits of sustainable housing up close. Learn what you can do with your own home. Meet the professionals and find out about useful products.

Check out the sustainable house day website for house locations in Hobart area. Admission to all houses is free.

Hi community gardeners,

Now is time to get a compost going, and many hands make light work. Stuart and Jonah will be making compost at 12:00 this Saturday (August 1) above 137 Waterworks Rd.

If you can spare an hour and would like to join in, please bring along:

- A fork or shovel
- As much organic stuff as you can. (Grass clippings, weeds, Autumn leaves are great. No food scraps or woody stuff please.)

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Saturday 16th was bleak, showery day, but we turned out in numbers for the ‘turing the first sod’, at community garden. It’s a very sunny spot and the soil is good.

The cabbages and carrots will have a great view of the mountain.

Contact for the garden will be Trish Moran.

Thanks to all who came, especially Trish for organising the day and The Graddons whose land has been made available.

We have recently bought a Bokashi bucket for our food waste in the kitchen.

We find this a really good invention. The bokashi bucket is a clean and non-smelly way of disposing of organic waste at home. The bokashi mix actually smells quite nice, almost like sour dough bread.

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It happened at our group gardening meeting. Gazing lazily at a sunflower, Stuart G suddenly broke into a mad scientist type of smile. We knew then he had an inspiration that would save the world.

And the stroke of genius is? Well everybody knows how sunflowers track the sun across the sky. And… well… technology buffs have tried all sorts of ways to get solar panels to track the sun across the sky. There, you have it!

Care to calculate the power output from a hectare of micro solar panels attached to sunflowers and connected to the power grid?

Food. What we eat and where we get it from is perhaps more important than solar power… or how you get around.

For an insight, read this story: 8 Ways to Join the Local Food Movement.

And this one too.

And this third one tells about the power of the commercial food industry.

(The food basket, pictured, was exhibited at our Harvest Fair)

Click HERE to hear it.

WATERWORKS HARVEST FAIR SUNDAY 29TH 2-5PM
To Celebrate Opportunities of a Simpler Life

Fresh produce and preserves, kids’ games, sustainability initiatives, sausage/ tofu sizzle, and fire engine all part of inaugural Harvest Fair

Hundreds of people are expected to attend Sunday’s Waterworks Harvest Fair to enjoy fresh locally-grown produce and preserves, sustainable community initiatives, and fun activities for kids.

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We’re having a cake stall at the fair. So….. could you please let me know if you can make a cake, cakes, slice or biscuits by e-mailing me, or feedback on website (below).

All offerings will need to be labelled with the type of cake, list of ingredients and maker’s christian name. (Health Department does not allow fresh cream to be in cakes sold.) All profits from stall will go towards reimbursing our costs from the fair (bus hire/ paper for printing etc)

Janine at 164