Written by Another informative gathering was held at the Art Gallery, with few newcomers to the group, which was great to see. The gathering always starts with the Harvest Swap and this one was overflowing with strawberry runners and sweet potato slips – which was handy as it’s a good time to plant both. Fruit, veg and plants were also in the swap.
We went around the room as usual, with everyone having a chance to ask questions, share information and learn – there’s always opportunities to learn more. Some people have had trouble with dragon fruit this year with many not setting fruit, but then others had good crops! Discussion on this – the flowers may only be fertile at night and pollinated by a moth and not bees. Somone wondered whether microbats play a part in the pollination of them too.
Ariana (I hope I got this name right) was one of the newbies and is relatively new to permaculture. She has a block at Pie Creek and is just starting work on her permaculture plan. She’s planning on do community projects based around health and wellbeing, so we’ll be keen to watch that evolve.
Anne gave a demonstration on making seedling pots out of banana or arrowroot fronds. This would be good to trial now so we know how they will go if we choose to use these for our biodegradable planting pots for the Off Grid Expo. Feedback next month will be great if you get a chance to do some. A question was raised regarding what seed raising mix and plants that we’ll be using for the expo. This needs more discussion and planning.
Mothar Mountain Community Day is held on the first Saturday of each month. We have been selling seeds there and have previously talked about setting up a Group stall at the market, so more discussion needs to be had on this. Pete said that Aaron from Lulu’s Perch was the guest speaker last time and he is doing a PDC soon if anyone is interested.
The Seed Saver Group made over 200 packets this month. It’s good to see that we’re getting good turnover. We need people to start/continue to save seeds so that we can be selling our own seeds rather than buying from Green Harvest. Some seeds will always need to be bought, especially things like cauliflower and carrots, but it would be good if more people could save and share them. The varieties are increasing and seeing as we have a good stock, we are hoping to put seeds in the library to promote both the Gympie Permaculture Group and the Seed Savers Group.
March/April is the time to plant strawberries, potatoes white and sweet if you don’t get frosts, Garlic is traditionally planted around Anzac Day in this region. If you’re frost free, tomatoes are a good option. Serge plants his sweet potatoes and strawberries in sawdust. The sweet potatoes have been huge and the sawdust makes them easy to dig and clean as well. And of course now is the time to start planting the winter vegetables.
There were so many other snippets of great info, too much to write up in this blog post. The gathering is a good example of the ethics of permaculture – we discuss ways that we are caring for the earth, we share our harvests and by coming together as a community we are caring for us….the people. See you next month – the first Monday of the month – from 6pm. Bring along any excess produce or plants to swap, a plate of nutritious food to share for supper and your questions and knowledge.
