Working Bee — 12 December, 2010
After the November and December rains, the growth has been phenomenal. As always, the weeds are doing well, but the vegies are thriving. Being our last working bee for the year, and the first after the monumental effort of the Open Day, we did a fairly modest morning’s work.
The first 4 rows of the commercial beds were ready for replanting. The first 2 beds of broad beans have produced huge crops. They would be a great mainstay as a storable protein, although the pods we had left on for next year’s seeds had become mouldy due to the high humidity.
The silver beet was going to seed finally, but still produced about 50 bunches of good stems. The beetroot had a few surprises lurking in the undergrowth.
The attack of the giant beetroot
The first 4 rows were made ready for replanting. The silver beet was made into a mulch.
The trellis for our climbing beans can be seen in the background with the "Moruya" beans beginning to head upwards
The broadforks got a good work out (or perhaps gave a good workout) in the morning sunshine, with the moist soil making it a satisfying task. The beds were then cultivated and reformed to a string line for the next rotation. The thankless task of whipper-snippering was tackled again by Peter and Chris, and the grass already needed mowing 4 days since it had last been cut.
While the garden work was happening, the crockery and cutlery from the River Feast that had been washed by our members was resorted and packed in boxes for next year. Harrison’s Produce once again came to the rescue with free storage space (thanks Tubby).
Boxes and boxes of "repurposed" crockery for the River Feast
With the temperature climbing and t-shirts getting sweaty early lunch was declared by common consent.
John and Jenny Bourne produced a wonderful beetroot soup from the garden and Stuart Whitelaw drew a crowd with the pocket bread making on the old ploughshare.
The kids enjoyed seeing their pocketbread made from scratch
The children once again had a ball. They made cubby houses, art works and installations, graded woodchips, played with water, climbed the grapefruit tree, and generally did what kids should do.
These are grass dolls
The grapefruit tree provided shade, a climbing challenge and possibilities for play
Lunch was shared at the long table, and some bottles of wonderful organic Rosnay wine were produced. The perfect end to a ground breaking year.
The borscht made by John & Jenny with SAGE beetroot and veg was a big hit
After every working bee, SAGE members share food, relax and enjoy each others company