Spring 2016 Inside This Issue... Costa and the Sustainability Awards return to Darebin • Sustainability Awards 2016 • Grow you own! - what to plant in resident, John Nicholau. John was spring nominated not just because he is a champion home food grower, • Darebin’s Backyard Harvest but because of the great work Festival he does in sharing his gardening • All Nations Kitchen Garden turns know-how and produce through two his community connections at • A new Community Garden for the Greek Federation, and as a East Preston pioneer of the Darebin Backyard Harvest Festival. • Community Leaders in Sustainability course The 2014 House and Garden • Reground turns coffee waste into category winner, Northcote garden food Do you know someone who resident Meg Montague, said she has done great work for the • Solar Bulk Buy program was honoured to win the award, environment and the community, and excited to meet so many other • Council’s Greenhouse Gas and deserves some recognition? committed community members Emissions reduced It could be you! Why not nominate and hear about their projects at the • Maximising the financial return of them, or yourself, for the 2016 Awards Night. your solar PV system Darebin and Banyule Sustainability Awards. • Ride 2 Work Day “There’s a strong sense that we are all working towards the same • Spring bike workshops The City of Darebin and Banyule thing, but everyone’s ideas and • Darebin and Vichealth Walk to Sustainability Awards will approaches are quite unique. School in 2016 recognise and celebrate the It is a very inspiring night,” Ms environmental and sustainable • Compost lasagna Montague said. living achievements of residents, • Save buckets of water! community groups, schools The Awards will be hosted by • You can recycle it and businesses within the Gardening Australia’s Costa • Detox your home Cities of Darebin and Banyule. Georgiadis and held on Thursday There are many projects, 24 November at Preston City Hall. • Saving the Merri grasslands events and activities which • St Raphael’s school sustainability bring people together and form The 2016 categories are Local program part of the transformation to a Hero, House and Garden, • Eating out can be such a waste! more sustainable society. The Community Organisation, Local Sustainability Awards is a way of • Upcoming events Business, Education, and acknowledging and appreciating Community Environment Project. some of the people involved and letting them know how important Nominations close at 5pm on they are in our communities. Monday 10th October. Download a nomination form at www. The Awards were last held in sustainablecommunities.vic.gov.au 2014, when the Local Hero or call 8470 8405. category was won by Reservoir Grow your own food SUSTAINABLE FOOD & GARDENING - what to plant in Darebin Backyard Harvest Festival 19 – 27 November spring Vegetables and herbs grown The ever popular Darebin Backyard also hold workshops on a wide range at home are often more Harvest Festival is back for a fifth of topics such as keeping chooks, nutritious and fresh, and so amazing year, celebrating local water harvesting, grafting fruit trees, better for your health. It is food gardens and the sharing of setting up an aquaponics system and also better for the environment home food growing traditions across keeping quails. We are welcoming if you grow your own as this generations and cultures. Delivered some new gardeners to the festival reduces chemical use in soils, in partnership by Darebin City Council this year, including neighbours living food miles and packaging. and Darebin Ethnic Communities around the corner from each other Here is a list of vegetables Council (DECC), the festival is taking who share gardening skills and and herbs which you can plant place on weekends and weekday knowledge to create a wonderful in your veggie garden during evenings from 19 – 27 November, sense of community revolving around the winter months. to help inspire people to create their growing and eating home grown own food garden this spring. Our food. The detailed program and * Basil talented home gardeners will not bookings will be available from mid * Beans (bush and climbing) only generously donate their time to October at www.darebin.vic.gov.au/ * Capsicum open their garden for tours, but will backyardharvest * Celery * Corn * Cucumber * Eggplant * Fennel * Rockmelon * Tomato * Zucchini For a copy of our vegetable and herb growing guide - Sow What When - visit www.darebin.vic.gov.au/ en/Darebin-Living/Caring- for-the-environment/ The All Nations Kitchen Garden Turns Two! Established in 2014, the All Nations Kitchen Garden is an urban food demonstration site located in All Nations Park, Separation Street, Northcote (behind Northcote Plaza and opposite Santa Maria College). A passionate and dedicated group of local residents have been caring for the multilayered garden of fruit trees, medicinal plants and herbs. They recently celebrated the garden’s second anniversary, engaging Fruit Squad volunteers to hold a fruit tree pruning workshop. A keen group of about 12 local residents were shown how to deal with gall wasp and borer, and prune to maximise tree health and fruit yield. Participants were rewarded for their efforts with a beautiful chocolate mud birthday cake. To get involved with the All Nations Kitchen Garden, drop by the site on the first Sunday of the month when the group hold their regular working bees, or contact Lee Tozzi on [email protected] or 8470 8392 Page 2 A New Community Garden for East Preston Darebin Council has joined with the Pavilion School in Sylvester Grove, Reground helps Preston to create a new shared public space for the community to enjoy, grow cafés turn coffee food and connect with their neighbours. waste into garden Located on the Pavilion School grounds at the corner of Dean and Gray food! New environmental start- Streets, the garden is in the final stages of construction. With a border of fruit up Reground collects trees, 15 raised wicking beds for vegetables and herbs, storage container and coffee grounds from shelter, seating, composting bays and a children’s sand pit, the garden has cafes and restaurants in been designed as a welcoming space to meet with friends and neighbours. Darebin at a competitive A group of local residents has formed to take care of the garden which rate and delivers them free they have named ‘Sylvester Hive’ (‘Sylvester’ is derived from the Latin for to community and home ‘woodland’ and ‘Hive’ denotes a place where people meet and connect). gardens. There are over The group meet regularly to discuss and agree on how the garden is to be 380 cafés and restaurants managed, used, planted and harvested, and are looking forward to making the in Darebin, which generate most of this fantastic community asset. Among the first orders of business is to an estimated 19,000 kg of purchase plants for the first Spring planting which will take place on Sunday 11 coffee ground waste per September from 12 noon. All welcome (bring a plate for a potluck lunch). year. Founder Ninna Larsen is passionate about putting If you are interested in being involved with the garden, please contact Hendrik this great organic resource Falk at [email protected] [email protected] or 0420 353 572 to good use. It is a source of nitrogen, great for growing vegetables and mushrooms, and brilliant in compost and worm farms. Reground provides advice to users on getting the most out of their coffee grounds and supports community gardens to become a coffee ground distribution and education centre for local gardeners. She finds customers as close to businesses as possible helping build a sense of community connection around this great SUSTAINABLE HOMES & COMMUNITIES environmental initiative. Darebin residents and Community Leaders in Sustainability – applications businesses can contact open now Reground at ninna@ Darebin City Council is offering a WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME? reground.com.au to organise free environmental training course in • Free training a collection service or free late 2016 for people who have ideas delivery. • Increased knowledge and skills in for environmental projects in their running projects and environmental It is great to see Reground community. sustainability adding to the growing The course runs from October to • Expanded knowledge and networks awareness and options for December 2016 and aims to support in your community repurposing organic waste community members to take the lead like coffee grounds. You can on creating environmental change. • New friends who care about also pick up your free coffee community and environment There will be 8 workshops on grounds from Tasties Café, topics like project management, • A lot of fun 356 High Street Preston leadership, grant writing, marketing To apply and more information (Phone 9470 2260) and and communication, effective group visit www.sustainablecommunities. The Kiln Café, 85C Clyde work as well a range of aspects of vic.gov.au, email info@ Street Thornbury (Phone environmental sustainability. The sustainablecommunities.vic.gov.au or 0403 089 408), as part of course also includes two field trips to call 8470 8405. the ‘Café to Garden’ coffee local places of national environmental Applications close Monday 12th grounds giveaway which has significance, and participants will be September, 2016. been taking place over the supported to lead or take part in an last 9 months. Call to check environmental project. first then bring your own container and let staff know before helping yourself. Page 3 Last chance to take ENERGY AND CLIMATE advantage of the Darebin Solar Bulk Down Down, Council’s Greenhouse Emissions are Down! Buy 2015-16 has seen the most 52% reduction in emissions from Our Solar Bulk Buy program significant reduction in greenhouse streetlights. 4% of building emissions offers homeowners and gas emissions achieved in Council’s were avoided through the installation businesses in Darebin the operations, in the history of of 220kWs of solar PV installed on opportunity to purchase Council’s energy efficiency program.