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Posts from the ‘Food’ Category

Mar 2

Join us for a Pizza Oven display and netted garden tour in Gawler East – 7 March 2015, 11am to 2pm

One of our Transition Gawler Chat Group members has offered to open up their back yard to a pizza oven display and tour of their netted garden in Gawler East

If you have ever wanted to build your own pizza oven this might be the perfect opportunity to see one in action, taste pizza freshly cooked in it, learn about how it was built and even view the plans, moulds etc. which was used.

Saturday 7 March 2015 11am to 2pm
BYO pizza toppings and drinks.

RSVP by emailing TransitionGawler(at)gmail.com (replace the (at) with the @ symbol) or join the conversation at https://www.facebook.com/groups/TransitionGawlerChatGroup/permalink/372523406263194/

Remember to keep an eye on our Calendar for other events which may be of interest

May 30

Community Garden update from the Gawler Community House

 

We have recieved news from the Gawler Community House that the Community House Board decided at their last meeting that they would no longer pursue the Community Garden to be located on the parklands at the rear of the Community House.

News is that there had been issues with the council giving permission to have the soil tested as was required to progress with changing the land behind the Community House into a Community Garden.

The Community House has decided instead to create a Kitchen Garden within the current boundaries, running it as a training venture for the community, utilising the current raised garden beds and turning them into wicking beds.

The Kitchen Garden will be used to educate the Community about how to build and grow, and use edible produce using sustainable methods. It is anticipated the Community house will use the produce grown to teach Basic Cookery, as well as for Community Lunches, Xmas Dinner and possibly marketing through the Op-Shop.

If you would like to find out more or volunteer and help with the Gawler Community House’s Kitchen Garden, contact Colleen Moyne at the Gawler Community House on (08) 8522 4601 or email gawlerch@bigpond.com or via their Facebook page

 

Apr 15

Come and visit our Virtual Community Garden

We have set up a Virtual Community Garden and would love to hear your feed back. We would like it to be an interactive place, which may mean that some changes are made in the future, but this is a starting point.

Come and visit the Virtual Community Garden here

If you would like to be part of our Virtual Community Garden please feel free to email your photos to us at TransitionGawler@gmail.com.

If you would like to talk “gardening” or ask any questions, have weeds or insects identified, find out what to do with your excess produce, what to plant now,  or just get to know others in our community come along to the fortnightly Gawler Garden and Produce Share every second Saturday at Apex Park, (at the picnic BBQ’s and tables on Julian Tce, Galwer) and/or join our Facebook Group “Transition Gawler Chat Group“

Feb 4

Joe’s Connected Garden

Visit Joe’s Connected Garden this Saturday and Sunday (8th and 9th of February) for a wonderful day of information, entertainment, connection with other gardeners and low cost plant sales. Transition Gawler and Gawler NRC will be there.

Here at Transition Gawler we love seeing things like this happening, and encourage others to support people and projects like this, we hope they have a great open day, and inspire others to do something similar.

Here’ what Joe and Rosanne have to say about the connected garden (from the Joe’s Connected Garden Facebook Page):

This is a new kind of community garden where neighbours have joined together to link their gardens and share the harvests. It is not just about growing food but creating community and fostering respect for the earth and each other.

The gardens are lovingly tended by Joe Kielnerowski and Rosanne Parker assisted by friends, neighbours and local community gardeners and follow permaculture and organic principles.

We are increasingly understanding that is is impossible for two people to manage so much garden so are looking at ways of greater community involvement. We currently have some wonderful helpers who always go home with some plants or produce from the garden and hopefully information to enable them to set up their own gardens at home. We especially love mentoring families with young children.

Joe has formal tertiary qualifications in urban pemaculture design and is available for garden design projects.

In February 2013 nearly 1000 people came through as part of Open Gardens Australia and we would like to put on other events with an educational and conscious living focus. Please let us know what you would like! Suggestions are short courses on gardening and permaculture, film, music or meditation gatherings, discussion groups etc. There is also a small nursery specialising in warm/dry climate fruits, succulents and bromeliads. This is not a commercial operation but to raise money for the considerable expenses, especially water, of maintaining large gardens. We are members of the Rare Fruit Society of SA and grow a very large variety of fruit including Mediterranean, native, subtropical and exotics.

For inquiries re events in the garden, speaking engagements or to arrange purchases from the nursery please call Rosanne on 0402 140 219. Location of gardens is Elizabeth Grove, half hour north of Adelaide, South Australia.

Next Open Garden opening on 8 and 9 February 2014 – join us for a wonderful day of information, entertainment, connection with other gardeners and low cost plant sales.

Nov 16

A Transition Christmas Pledge

If you have been into any shopping center recently you would have sensed that Christmas is just around the corner.

With that it is expected that you will spend an astronomical amount of money on an extraordinary amount of things you don’t need. And all that “Stuff” will come packaged in a multitude of plastics and boxes, which will fill your recycling bins to the brim for the next few collections (if it is recyclable).

This Christmas will you embrace the consumerist attitude we are all lead to believe we must have, or will you buy meaningful and useful gifts, from local businesses (or make your own) and celebrate being with family and loved ones and focus on the things that money can’t buy?

Jun 30

Great turnout for the first Gawler Garden and Produce Share

Saturday morning was such an uplifting and socialable gathering for the first Gawler Garden and Produce Share. I spent the moring roaming the garden for excess produce that was ready for picking, in the hope that I would swap it for something else that I’m not currently growing.

After bundling my produce together the kids and I jumped on our bikes and headed down to Apex Park on Julian Terrace and met up with other backyard growers for a lovely chat and food swap.

Well done to Heather Brown, Vanessa Henly and Jill Young for getting this great initiative up and running.

I managed to swap my rocket, parsley, oranges and chillie sauce for some duck eggs, quince jelly, spinach and kale and a jar of honey. Score!!

I’m really looking forward to next share in a months time (the last Saturday of every month in winter). If anyone has rhubarb I’ll be looking for some. In fact Vanessa and Heather have started using the Transition Gawler facebook chat page as a place to list what you have to share or what you might be looking for. It was all so easy, friendly and no maney changing hands.

For details on when the next one is happening check HERE!

Jun 25

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Gawler Garden and Produce Share

Food swapIt’s  time to start sharing what excess produce you have. Spread the word about the Gawer Garden and Produce Share.

For details on when the next one is happening check HERE!

Feb 20

1 Comment

Grow your own chook forage

Article taken from “Australian Organic Gardening Recource Guide”

It is to your advantage to grow some food for the chooks as this will reduce feed bills & also provide the chickens with a healthy, varied diet. The chickens will be happier provided with both shade and entertainment.

Combine poultry forages with your orchard by simply placing extra plants for chicken forage in amongst the fruit trees. the orchard will need to be well established before the chooks are allowed to free range to prevent damage to youung trees.

A continuous ground cover should always be present, if the ground is being completely bared, then you have too many chooks for the area. In urban areas where space is limited then plant your chook forages in the chicken run, but give protection from the chooks and their continuous scratching.

Scattering logs, concrete pavers or rocks across the top of the  root zones will help prevent the roots being damaged by constant scratching. Alternatively you can fence off part of the run to allow time for plants to establish, A chook system with multiple runs will allow you to cycle crops of greens for the chickens, in rotation.

www.greenharvest.com.au

Dec 15

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Journey of a coffee bean

Like many of you, I require a regular supply of coffee to contribute meaningfully to society. As I discovered after I had my first child (now a strapping 9 year old lad) cups of tea with teabags where much harder to make onehanded while balancing a grizzly child on the other hip. In the bleary mornings of early parenthood, instant coffee was quicker and easier to make, and has remained on my kitchen bench ever since. In my quest to eat more locally, changing habits one step at a time, I read the back of my coffee jar, it was imported to Australia from the Netherlands, and was made from ‘imported’ beans.

Whoa there nellie!! So I think this means coffee beans were imported to the Netherlands, (from where?), and then the instant coffee was sent to Australia from the Netherlands a whopping distance of 15,870 km (and that’s if you travel in a straight line!) That seems to be a ridiculous journey for a cup of coffee. There has to be a better source of my morning beverage.

I am now on a mission to find a supply of coffee with less frequent flyer points than me. On one hand fairtrade coffee beans are available, with these at least easily located. I also bought a hand powered coffee grinder, with an attached air-tight storage canister, and now not only am I saving power, but am also building up a powerful arm muscles, when I don’t dump the grinder in visitors laps, telling them to earn their keep!

A quick internet search found coffee growers in the northern NSW region, most of whom seen to grow, process and package their own beans. This reduces the distance travelled to around 2000 km but doesn’t exactly pass the ‘local’ test! Maybe I will have to move to Byron Bay instead?

I will keep you posted on my coffee quest, but if anybody out there has more information, I would love to hear from you.

Nov 23

Waterwise vegies over summer

If you are thinking of putting in a veggie patch at this time of year or any time really you would be crazy not to build a ‘wicking’ garden bed. The idea it to construct the bed with a reservoir of water under the soil so that plants are watered from underneath as the water works its way up through the soil by capillary action. More information and a printable handout is available if you look under What is Transition/Food/home grown.