Mullumbimby Community Garden Needs Your Help!

Mullumbimby Community Garden now has a crowdfunding campaign on Chuffed...Find out more HERE

DONATE HERE

Do you know what it feels like to lose an unsaved document on your computer?  Everything you've worked hard to complete; lost, in the blink of an eye.



Recently, some very dear friends of mine had those feelings amplified during the course of one night. The Mullumbimby Community Gardens, where I spent three months volunteering (February through May) lost all of their administrative belongings when fire wreaked havoc on their office.  Fire damage also affected other areas of the gardens including the Nursery, the Rotunda, and the Seed Savers Shed; all vital parts of this thriving organisation.  Eight years worth of records, files, photocopiers, and other electronic devices were destroyed.

Photo courtesy of Mullumbimby Community Gardens

All of this happened at a time when the team is preparing and ramping up for this year's Living Earth Festival.

Photo courtesy of Echo NETDAILY

Below are some images of the joy and wonder that the Mullumbimby Community Gardens offer; first, some images from the Living Earth Festival in 2013.

Photo courtesy of Mullumbimby Community Gardens

The nursery is a vital part of the MCG; seedlings are sprouted for use within the gardens and are also grown as a way to provide a small revenue stream for the gardens

The Food For All section is the most community oriented part of the gardens, where anyone from the community can come to harvest fruits and vegetables and make a donation according to what they feel the food is worth and what they can afford.

The Bunya Sustainability Fund has been an effective method of raising money for help around the gardens. Now, more than ever, the MCG needs your help.  Please make a tax deductible donation today and help the Mullumbimby Community Gardens pick up the pieces and continue preparing for this year's upcoming events.

Inspiration for Summer Shades

One important factor to remember while gardening through the summer months is the intensity of the sun on those scorching days.  Here in the Byron Shire, we've had some pretty strange weather patterns lately, with some early morning sun and heat, really strong afternoon winds, heavy rains from passing storms.  While protecting your vegetables from the wind and rain can prove worthwhile, I've really been tempted to implement a new shading system to lower the shock to some plants during the summer.  During my time volunteering at the Mullumbimby Community Gardens last week, I came across this structure...

On the left side of the frame, the shade is pulled over the top and is providing shade while still allowing any wind to pass through.  When you want to protect your plants even more, you can simply pull down the shade (at an angle) to go over the edge of the raised bed.

Growing inside is all sorts of green goodness: broccoli, silverbeet, bush beans, and a friendly reminder to respect the nature we got all of this greatness from.

So, now to build a structure similar to this one, based on the dimensions and location of the raised beds here at home; I'll keep you posted...

For now, keep track of the upcoming event I've been planning: #4Good Brekky in Mullumbimby at The Empire Cafe on Thursday 7 November.

The Living Earth Festival

Living in a community of individuals who put food first has been a motivating factor for me since moving to the Byron Shire.  The Mullumbimby Community Garden is a testament to that notion, and a prime example of how a vision and determination can create incredible things.  Welcome to one of the greatest places on earth...

The Living Earth Festival, put on by the Community Garden, took place on the first day of Spring (Sunday 1 September).  Entry by gold coin donation meant some funding for the gardeners but also easy access for the entire community...the crowds were huge.  Two keynote speakers joined the festivities: Costa Georgiadis and Jerry Coleby-Williams.

The start of the Festival began with a Street Parade; here are some of the vehicles that took part...

For anyone who is not familiar with @LockTheGate, they're a "national alliance campaigning for healthy communities and protection of our land and water resources from inappropriate coal and unconventional gas development".  Below is the Wishing Web with hundreds of messages shared by like-minded individuals who want a cleaner and greener future for all.

Add More Green certainly couldn't miss out on spreading the good word...

Bush Tucker; native plants and animals used for cooking or medicine.  The bushfood walk here doesn't contain any of the fauna (kangaroo or emu) but has plenty of native plants to snack on while you're perusing the garden.

A wonderful view from the gardens of Mt. Chincogan...the crow flies ten kilometres northwest to where I live.

After working on a design for a hemp-based vehicle while at Babson (in 2011), I've been fascinated by hemp design and development.  Below is a display set up at the Festival with information on building hemp-based affordable housing.  Hempcrete is a hemp and lime mixture that forms a lightweight yet strong building material.

The first day of Spring was shared by many local gardeners who as Costa mentioned form a community that puts food first.  That's exactly what Add More Green is looking to share with others...a community of changemakers creating a sustainable future for each other.

Les légumes de Paris

Tucked away quietly in the Parc de Bercy (PARIS 12ème) is le jardin potager de Bercy, an edible kitchen garden for kids of all ages to feel enriched with the spirit of nature.  In a city where so much is constantly happening, this garden is a simple way to get away from all the noise and consumption.  

Although there seems to be some man in the first picture, residing over the garden, the school children of Paris are actually the ones with dirty hands around these veggie beds.  Starting them young will help encourage them to be fully conscious city dwellers in the future.

In all reality, one thing that I can honestly admit that I miss is gardening.  Being in a city for another extended period of time after having learned so much all summer and then using that knowledge to get a great garden going again in Australia has halted that growth.  Seeing this jardin potager inspired me to find more ways to @addmoregreen while I am in Paris.

Another thing I have noticed while living in a city again is how difficult it is to find convenient ways of composting your edible waste.  There seems to be a really great setup going in this garden, but that's not spreading the word to a large enough audience.

There's a place for compost in it's first stage, around 2 months.

Then there is another place for compost that is ripe or mature, at the end of 6 months.

This is a really great setup to grow lettuces during the winter, it keeps them protected from weather that gets a bit too harsh, but still provides enough sun during the day to keep them energized.

There weren't too many ripe raspberries, but I found one and it was delicious.

Here are two guides to the vegetables that are provided to the Île-de-France, cultivated from the garden at Bercy: three types of cabbage, chicory, gherkin, potatoes, crosne (vegetable isn't in my dictionary, I have no clue what it is), red winter squash, lamb's lettuce, and spinach.

Vegetables provided to Paris, cultivated at the jardin potager also: onions, white gherkin, small green gherkin, big white winter squash, carrots, sorrel, and lettuce.

This was a great garden expierience, and it happened out of nowhere as Guy and I stumbled upon the jardin potager while walking through the Parc de Bercy.  The parc, home to the Maison du Jardinage, seems like a great place for a community garden in Paris...now if only we can find ways to bring them to every arrondissement.  

Victory For All

While in Boston recently, we stumbled upon the Fenway Victory Gardens.  If you check out their website you'll find out about their history and how to sign up for FGS membership.

 A great place to stop and rest for a while after a bike ride.  If you need a snack maybe you'll be lucky enough to stumble upon a gardener who you can ask to share the wealth.

For the past 70 years in Boston, the Fenway Garden Society has been able to @addmoregreen through the use of public land.

Green Machine

This is a great way to @addmoregreen in a city.  On Kensington Street in Toronto there was a vehicle being used as a planter box.