Melton Sustainable Living Group

On Saturday, the Melton Sustainable Living Group had its monthly meeting, which also included a workshop about container gardening for renters, and the yearly harvest festival.  All members were encouraged to bring along stuff they have grown, preserved or made to swap or sell.  I took along this basket of goodies. It contained 2 dozen home laid eggs, a jar of cherry jam, a jar of feijoa jam, some eggplants, a bunch of spring onions, two bags of grated Parmesan cheese, and 200gms of Komijnekass.  On the way past the garden I threw in 5 green and yellow capsicums (peppers), which filled up the basket. Suffice to say, the meeting/workshop/harvest festival was good fun, and Stacey put on a great workshop.  Once it was time for tea and scones, the food swap started.  The eggs and cheese when straight away, as did the cherry jam.  I ended selling most of it, but swapped the spring onions for some ying and yang bean seeds, and the feijoa ja...

The group got together for our monthly meeting this afternoon, and we had a great time learning about how Michael keeps his garden green during the summer months even with the scorching temperatures we have here in Melton.  He has a fantastic irrigation system set up that is all fed by rainwater and the bi-weekly mains water we are allowed whilst on water restrictions. Just last Saturday his garden featured on Vasili’s Garden which airs on the community Channel 31.  It used to be shown on SBS. Here is the write up about what Vasili thought about Michael’s garden; and here is the 25 minute episode which was very entertaining and the entire family got involved. Here are some photos taken by Kim during the workshop. Some of the members listening intently to Michael, The proud gardener! Green everywhere. The runner bean bed. The broad beans are still going. H...

If Barack Obama can have a veggie patch, why can't Kevin Rudd! It took a lot of campaigning by many concerned citizens who voiced their opinion at EatTheView.org. They made such an impact that Michelle Obama actually turned over the first sod in the garden herself. Many American families are following suit and have begun to plant ' Recession Gardens '. The First Lady even appeared on Oprah to tout the benefits of growing your own organic vegetables. Now that the President of the USA and family has an organic supply of yummy vegetables in the Whitehouse's yard, there should be no reason why our Kev can't rip up some of the lawn at the Lodge (the official residence of the Prime Minister of Australia), and put in a veggie patch just like the one that Peter Cundall made at the Royal Botanical Garden in Hobart. After all, the upkeep of the Lodge is paid for by Australian taxpayers dollars, so technically it belongs to all Australians. Just look at all that potential ve...

Don’t forget that our next meeting will be held this Saturday, 23rd May from 1400-1600. For prospective members or interested people, please drop me an email me at the groups email address listed in the sidebar for the address details. We will be focusing on growing your own food. In these troubled times, there is no better time to start your own veggie patch or patio garden, and reap the rewards of the sound investment of your own food security. We will be getting our hands dirty, and everyone will get a small something to take home with them after the workshop. I am looking forward to the afternoon. Also, members please remember to send all apologies to David by Thursday. Kind regards, Gavin Webber, President.

People often ask me why I grow my own food.  I simply reply that it gives me freedom.  I can eat fresh, wholesome food straight from the garden, in the sound knowledge that it did not come from far away, or was raised using pesticides,herbicides or fossil fuels.  I am providing food for my family’s needs.  What could be more sustainable than that? Here is a good example.  The Dervaes family who live in Pasadena, CA in the USA that have achieved amazing things on the same sized suburban block that many Australians own.  Theirs is a 809 square metre block and just about every single scrap of land is used to grow food.  It is a very inspiring story. And a longer video about the family and their Path to Freedom; Did you notice they they didn’t have any rainwater tanks?  Somehow I think that if any of us went to this extreme, we would have to have a 50,000 litre tank squirreled away somewhere! Anyway, sorry about the mass of date changes ...