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Darebin Backyard harvest

FestivalProgram

Celebrating local food . Sharing food growing knowledge and skills across generations and cultures.

www.darebin.vic.gov.au/backyardharvest 21 – 29 November 2015 About the Darebin Backyard Harvest Festival

Darebin’s popular Backyard Harvest Festival, presented by Darebin City Council in partnership with Darebin Ethnic Communities Council has been inspiring home every year since 2011. The main festival is held in the spring planting season, motivating gardeners all over Darebin to sow a veritable feast of herbs and vegies for the summer harvest. A ‘mini’ Backyard Harvest Festival celebrating the autumn harvest was introduced in May 2015. This festival is all about local residents sharing skills and knowledge to help each other grow fresh fruit and vegetables at home. Many families and cultural groups have been cultivating abundant food gardens in Darebin for years, and this festival showcases and celebrate their achievements. Previous festival goers have told us they feel inspired and ‘Damian provided lots of enriched by the cross generational and cross cultural practical information for sharing of and food preparation skills. setting up a system and taking This year 16 of Darebin’s residential fruit and vegetable incremental steps toward gardens will be open for display, and there are six different living more sustainably. Many workshops to attend on everything from permaculture, ideas were shared among the to keeping bees and tree grafting. group. I really appreciated the encouragement to ‘have a go’!

Register on-line at www.darebin.vic.gov.au/backyardharvest Or contact Alice Potter on 8470 8465 or email [email protected]

2 Darebin Backyard harvest Festival Darebin Backyard Harvest Festival Program Guide 2015

Time Event Location Page Saturday 21 November 9:30 – 11:30am Backyard Beekeeping The Gleeson Building, 4 Darebin Parklands 12:00 – 1:00pm Minh’s Vietnamese Preston 5 1:30 – 2:30pm Antony’s Greek Garden Reservoir 5 3:00 – 4:00pm George and Marika’s Mini Reservoir 6 Sunday 22 November 10:00 – 11:00am Harry’s Micro Garden Northcote 7 11:30am – 12:30pm Citrus and Apple Tree Aerial Layering and Northcote 7 Grafting Workshop 1:00 – 2:00pm Steve and George’s Mini Suburban Farm Reservoir 8 2:30 – 3:30pm Fruit Tree Selection and Care Reservoir 8 4:00 – 5:00pm Fotios and Effy’s Mediterranean Garden Preston 9 Monday 23 November 6:00 – 7:00pm Kim’s Recycled Renters Garden Reservoir 9 Tuesday 24 November 6:00 – 7:00pm Angelo’s Fertile Food Forest Preston 10 Wednesday 25 November 6:00 – 7:00pm Wicking Bed Workshop Reservoir 10 Saturday 28 November 10:00 – 11:00am Robbie’s Aquaponics Garden Thornbury 11 11:30am – 12:30pm Introduction to Aquaponics Workshop Thornbury 11 1:00 – 2:00pm Edible and Medicinal Identification All Nations Park, 12 and Use Northcote 2:30 – 3:30pm Kat’s Small Scale Urban Farm Northcote 12 4:00 – 5:00pm Small Space Vegie Patch Design Workshop Northcote 13 Sunday 29 November 10:00 – 11:00am Permaculture Garden Talk 1: Food Forests Preston 14 11:30am – 12:30pm Permaculture Garden Talk 2: Enhancing Reservoir 14 Biodiversity 1:00 – 2:00pm Permaculture Garden Talk 3: Design Reservoir 15 2:30 – 4:30pm Sharing Homegrown Food Reservoir 13

21 – 29 November 2015 3 Backyard Beekeeping with Benedict Hughes, the Practical Beekeeper This interactive, hands on and informal workshop will cover the bee life cycle, starting a new hive, beekeeping equipment, hive management and honey extraction. Suitable for both beginners and the more experienced beekeeper, or anyone who is interested to learn more about backyard beekeeping and urban honey production. Participants will receive a full set of handouts.

Saturday 21 November 9:30 – 11:30am The Gleeson Building, Darebin Parklands, end Separation Street, Alphington. $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

4 Darebin Backyard harvest Festival Minh’s Vietnamese Garden Minh has designed his garden to supply a wide range of fruits and vegetables, especially the all year round fresh ingredients he and his wife Lien use in their Vietnamese cooking. They will explain the importance of seasonal vegetables and herbs that contain the ‘yin and the yang’ to provide a balance in the dishes that is most beneficial for the body. This fully organic garden uses sheep manure and mushroom for fertiliser, and features compost bins and rainwater tanks.

Saturday 21 November 12:00 – 1:00pm Private garden in Preston (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

Antony’s Greek Garden This garden reflects a piece of Greek culture in Reservoir. A giant cactus (called a prickly pear) is a key feature of the garden landscape. Established in 1975, when Antony first came to Australia and now devotedly tended in his retirement, this garden includes a variety of seasonal and perennial edible fruits and produce. It also features chooks and a brick oven used in the past for making bread, integral to Greek cuisine. The garden is sustained with natural fertilisers and rainwater from large tanks.

Saturday 21 November 1:30 – 2:30pm Private garden in Reservoir (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

21 – 29 November 2015 5 George and Marika’s Mini Market Garden With higher density living, George and Marika’s backyard is an increasingly rare example of a large area completely given over to edible in the style of a mini market garden. George and Marika have nurtured their highly productive garden for over 5 years and are passionate promoters of home food growing. Their garden supplies them with virtually all their fresh food all year round – plus excess to share! This is one of the festivals largest and most prolific gardens, featuring an orchard, mature grapevines, large vegetable beds, and a composting system. George will generously share his and creative organic pest control techniques during the tour.

Saturday 21 November 3:00 – 4:00pm Private garden in Reservoir (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

6 Darebin Backyard harvest Festival Harry’s Micro Citrus and Orchard Garden Apple Tree Harry is passionate about gardening in small Aerial Layering spaces and has been lovingly tending his fully organic micro orchard garden for 12 years. At and Grafting 72 square metres, this garden demonstrates you don’t need a large plot of land to grow a wide Workshop with variety of fruits and vegetables. Harry planned, constructed and planted the garden with his Harry Kalathas daughter to encourage science concepts through organic gardening. Clever grafting methods There’s nothing more satisfying than propagating yield citruses, apples, and stone your own . In this workshop Harry will fruits. The all year rotation of herbs and seasonal demonstrate two propagating techniques: basic vegetables supplement the food requirements of a aerial layering and grafting for citrus and apple family of five. trees. You will gain an understanding of the tools and equipment and seasonal timing requirements for each technique as well as how to take care of grafts and propagated plants during their initial growing period.

Sunday 22 November Sunday 22 November 10:00 – 11:00am 11:30am – 12:30pm Private Garden in Northcote Private Garden in Northcote (address provided on booking) (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

21 – 29 November 2015 7 Steve and Fruit Tree George’s Mini Selection and Suburban Farm Care Workshop Steve and George have transformed their home with Steve and to a suburban mini-farm in just a few years. They are the recipients of a highly commended award George for their sustainable house and garden in the 2014 Darebin Sustainability awards. Featuring over 80 Steve and George will take participants through fruit and nut trees, raised vegetable and herb beds, the many tasty and easy to grow heritage and bees and chickens, and using lots of salvaged contemporary fruit tree varieties, and how to materials, the garden is constantly evolving, spread your harvest over many months. A range of reflecting the couple’s enthusiasm and willingness fruit tree types and forms will be displayed – dwarf, to try new ideas and methods. The result is a front spindle trees, vase shaped, espalier and step-over. and which produces an amazing You will receive tips on fruit tree care, pruning and variety and abundance of fresh food all year round. training trees for fruit production.

Sunday 22 November Sunday 22 November 1:00 – 2:00pm 2:30 – 3:30pm Private Garden in Reservoir Private Garden in Reservoir (address provided on booking) (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

8 Darebin Backyard harvest Festival Fotios and Effy’s Mediterranean Garden Established 33 years ago, this garden is passionately tended by Fotios and Effy in their retirement. It features a cleverly grafted tree which produces 3 kinds of . Fotios believes in recycling, which is evident in the materials used to make the hot house and garden borders. This farm-let style garden produces fresh organic produce all year round, with tomatoes his speciality. Fotios believes his tomatoes are now a unique variety, because he has been saving seeds for 33 years. Seed saving selects for fruit best suited to local conditions, optimising flavour and quality, and helps preserve genetic diversity. The garden uses rain water tanks and homemade compost mixed with animal manure.

Sunday 22 November 4:00 – 5:00pm Private Garden in Preston (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

Kim’s Recycled Renters Garden Kim hasn’t let the fact she is renting hold her back from growing food. This garden reflects Kim’s love of recycled materials, gardening in tune with the changing seasons, and growing what she loves to eat. A creative with a multitude of ideas and not enough time to try them out, Kim wants to encourage renters try food gardening no matter how big or small a home they have. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and she will entertain you with anecdotes about garden triumphs and failures, proving you don’t need to have a ‘green thumb’ to give it a go.

Monday 23 November 6:00 – 7:00pm Private Garden in Reservoir (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

21 – 29 November 2015 9 Angelo’s Fertile Food Forest Angelo is a and permaculture presenter, trainer and writer and passionate food forest advocate. His garden won a Darebin Sustainability Award in 2012, and was featured in the prestigious Open Gardens Australia event in 2014 and 2015. Angelo’s high density food forest garden produces a huge diversity of food – stone fruits, berries, herbs and vegetables. What appears to be a verdant tumble of vegetation is actually strategic placement to create synergistic relationships and enhance the microclimate and growing conditions for each plant. This is also an effective pest control technique resulting in a wonderfully abundant organic garden.

Tuesday 24 November 6:00 – 7:00pm Private Garden in Preston (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

Wicking Bed Workshop with Kate from The Urban Pear Kate is a passionate gardener, cook and urban farmer. Inspired by the adventures of Tom and Barbara from ‘The Good Life’ Kate grows and tends a large veggie garden, raises chooks and keeps bees on a suburban block in Melbourne’s northern suburbs with her husband and two children. The Urban Pear is a and Permaculture Design Business which aims to draw connections between the landscape and the way we eat and live. Wicking beds are a great way to grow veggies and herbs. Watering is more efficient, raised beds are easier to access and they can be constructed from a variety of recycled materials. Join Kate for a tour and discussion of the wicking beds in her garden. Check out the materials, photos of the construction process and tips and tricks to help you build your own.

Wednesday 25 November 6:00 – 7:00pm Private Garden in Reservoir (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

10 Darebin Backyard harvest Festival Robbie’s Introduction to Aquaponics Aquaponics with Garden Robbie Kershaw Featured in his book Edible Garden Designs, You are invited to participate in a workshop where Jamie Durie writes “This family is the very model Robbie will introduce you to the basic principles of environmental awareness”. Robbie’s garden and benefits of aquaponics, provide an overview has also been in The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, of backyard style designs, the equipment you will ABC Melbourne, 3AW, Good Organic Gardening need and how to set up a system from scratch. and Sanctuary Magazine. Both front and back He will also address the common problems with yards are devoted to food production, and feature stabilising and establishing a new system, as well two aquaponics systems in which trout and as ongoing maintenance. vegetables are grown in a mutually dependent relationship, enabling both to thrive. One system is homemade while the other is a purchased kit, and both are seamlessly incorporated into rest of the garden, which produces a huge variety of vegetables and herbs. Composting and free- range chickens also contribute to this garden’s sustainability credentials.

Saturday 28 November Saturday 28 November 10:00 – 11:00am 11:30am – 12:30pm Private Garden in Thornbury Private Garden in Thornbury (address provided on booking) (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

21 – 29 November 2015 11 Edible and medicinal plant identification and use All Nations is an urban food demonstration site located in the beautiful surrounds of All Nations Park. Join Karen Sutherland from Edible Eden Design as she takes you through the variety of fruit trees, edible shrubs and groundcovers including culinary and medicinal herbs, both native to Australia and from across the world. Karen has 25 years of experience in edible gardening, and will provide a fascinating account of the history and usefulness of the garden’s plantings. They offer both sustenance and healing properties to people as well as assisting in the growth of other plants by creating micro climates, repelling pests and increasing resistance to disease.

Saturday 28 November 1:00pm – 2:00pm All Nations Kitchen Garden All Nations Park, Separation Street, Northcote (behind Northcote Plaza / opposite Santa Maria College) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

Kat’s Small Scale Urban Farm Kat Lavers is a passionate gardener, permaculture designer, trainer and facilitator. She coordinates the My Smart Garden program for Hobsons Bay City Council, runs Green Steps training for Monash University and has taught permaculture in Australia and Mongolia. Her house and garden, ‘The Plummery’, is a small- scale urban permaculture system. The 1/14 acre site produces almost all the vegies, herbs, fruit, mushrooms and electricity consumed by the household, as well as recycling all organic waste on site. There is also a retrofitted light earth studio made from onsite clay and scavenged materials.

Saturday 28 November 2:30 – 3:30pm Private Garden in Northcote (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

12 Darebin Backyard harvest Festival Small Space Vegie Patch Design workshop with Kat Lavers In this workshop Kat will show you how to apply permaculture design to get an incredible yield from a small plot. Starting with zone and sector analysis and designing access and layout, we’ll move right through to choosing space and labour-saving vegies and planting design and timing - using examples from Kat’s own amazing small space garden that supplies most of the vegies for a small household from just 20m2!

Saturday 28 November 4:00 – 5:00pm Private Garden in Northcote (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

Sharing Homegrown Food with Luigi, Emanuela and Carla These two very different food gardens in a Reservoir neighbourhood completely embody a generous food sharing spirit. The tour starts at Luigi and Emanuela’s, where from the moment you arrive, your gregarious and hospitable hosts will entertain you with gardening and food preserving knowledge and stories as they showcase their abundant Mediterranean inspired garden, home built hothouse, food preserving area and backyard pizza oven. The tour finishes around the corner at Carla’s, who has divided her backyard into sections to accommodate her growing young family and energetic working dogs. The small north facing garden includes a vegie patch, berry and passionfruit vines, multiple fruit trees, interspersed with hardy natives and flowers. Carla also manages Reservoir’s ‘Food is Free’ sharing table which is located on the nature strip in front of her home.

Sunday 29 November 2:30 – 4:30pm Private Gardens in Reservoir (addresses provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

21 – 29 November 2015 13 Permaculture Garden Bike Tour

Sunday 29 November All day Permaculture Garden Talk 2: Enhancing Biodiversity with Damian Curtain Damian has been enthusiastically practicing permaculture since he attended a talk by permaculture co-founder Bill Mollison in 1977. He is also involved in Permaculture Garden Talk 1: Food Forests with Angelo Eliades Passionate food forest advocate Angelo Eliades from Deep Green Permaculture will demonstrate how a conventional backyard has been transformed into a thriving, productive biodiverse demonstration permaculture food forest garden with over 30 fruit trees, dozens of berries, multitudes of medicinal herbs as well as plenty of exotic edibles from around the world and native bush food plants too.

Sunday 29 November 10:00 – 11:00am Private Garden in Preston (address provided on booking) $10 / $5 Concession (children free) Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

14 Darebin Backyard harvest Festival Why not leave the car at home on Sunday 29 November and plan a fun day riding to the 3 permaculture gardens open in Preston and Reservoir? Each garden will feature a talk on a different aspect of permaculture and are a comfortable riding distance apart, with one possible route taking in part of the beautiful Darebin Creek trail. Purchase tickets to all 3 Permaculture Garden Talks, then contact us for a suggested self-guided cycling route. You will need a reasonable level of fitness and confidence with on road riding.

replanting native vegetation on Herring Island in inner suburban Melbourne. What permaculture and bush regeneration have in common is that they both aim to establish biodiversity whether building up microbes in the soil, integrating chooks and fruit trees or attracting wildlife to the garden. The complex mix of species form mutually beneficial relationships, all performing multiple functions such as nutrient cycling, pollination or pest control. Damian’s garden reflects his love of growing food for both humans and local native species.

Permaculture Garden Talk 3: Permaculture Design with Kate Pospisil Are you keen to incorporate permaculture design principles into your garden? Not sure how to translate the principles into on-ground actions? Join Kate from The Urban Pear in her garden to explore permaculture design decision making tools including • Zones and ‘oftenest nearest’ • ‘Scale of Permanence’ or What to consider first? • Needs, functions and products (functional analysis) Sunday 29 November • Making connections 11:30am – 12:30pm Private Garden in Reservoir (address provided on booking) Sunday 29 November $10 / $5 Concession 1:00 – 2:00pm (children free) Private Garden in Reservoir (address provided on booking) Tickets: www.darebin.vic $10 / $5 Concession (children free) .gov.au/backyardharvest Tickets: www.darebin.vic .gov.au/backyardharvest

21 – 29 November 2015 15 CITY OF DAREBIN National Relay Speak your Service language

TTY dial 133 677 or T 8470 8470 274 Gower Street, Preston Speak & Listen PO Box 91, Preston, Vic 3072 1300 555 727 T 8470 8888 F 8470 8877 or iprelay.com.au E [email protected] then enter darebin.vic.gov.au 03 8470 8888