Don't you love a working bee?

The chickens are murmuring as Ms Tagalong and Mr Ideasman pass the gate. Hang on, they are supposed to be inside the coop, not roosting on the water barrel or squeezed between the chair and the railway sleepers.

The two latest additions to the coop, our beautiful black (Australorp?) and another Isa Brown had been kicked out by the others and had sought refuge by flying over the fence into the garden.

Purring gently they are encouraged back into the coop. It was the end to a very hot, sweaty and busy day in the garden.

Mr Ideasman had raised the roof literally on the water tanks. Something to do with the drop/fall. Ms Tagalong who had lent a little muscle to the operation nodded sagely.

The weeds were everywhere, mostly grass, probably from immature horse manure and the rampant sweet potato covered every walkway, let alone every bed!

Many piles later and a few beds revealed self-seeded lettuce, rocket and mustard. Great, good to get a head start on winter crops.

Each working bee participant got to take home some seed trays to nurture and bring back to the next session.

Spinach, endive, celery, dill, mustard lettuce, pak choy – can’t wait!

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Heaps and heaps of work!

So there was Ms Tagalong's great opportunity to get in amongst it again. To fill those wheelbarrows and shovel and mulch. A huge great pile of  mulch ready to spread about the garden, keep in the moisture and protect from the cold.

The heap couldn't be missed. It stood huge and brown right at the garden gate. Yes, dear readers you are correct, last week on a very wet and windy day Ms Tagalong had a quick preview of the garden and its progress in 2012.

But she failed to respond to the challenge. The few brave souls who did brave the heat this weekend must have made a dent. But Ms Mova assures me there is still much to do at next week's working bee.

This is probably not a good time to admit that Ms Tagalong will not be here that weekend either. In fact you may be forgiven in thinking that she really hasn't returned home. She has of course managed to find time to go to the wonderful Hewison Street community cafe.

Let's wish for some cooler temperatures and a more available Ms Tagalong who, it must be said, is actually planting seeds (chilli, red capsicum, tomato and coriander) on her mother's deck ready to bring back to the garden and continuing to visit other gardens when she can.

'Am I to be disappointed yet again?' said Ms Mova. Ms Tagalong truly hopes not!

A question for all of you. How many barrowloads will it take to move this lot of mulch?

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Rhubarb, rhubarb again!

If you have been a faithful reader of this blog and even if you are a faithless one you might have noticed Ms Tagalong's obsession with rhubarb.

It is that time of year; the crowns of rhubarb in the garden are sprouting very large, very healthy looking leaves. Unfortunately the stalks don't live up to the promise, being short, stumpy ones with very little rhubarb colour. Luckily Ms Tagalong spied some rhubarb in the greengrocer's and managed to make some rhubarb and ginger crumble. With the addition of chopped fresh ginger and brown sugar it looked delicious ready to be covered with crumble. The lack of oats did not deter Ms Tagalong and she improvised with some muesli. If only she had checked the oven temperature! Alerted by the charcoal aroma, Ms Tagalong managed to scrape off the black peanuts and raisins off the top and it was really still rather respectable.

There was another swarm of bees in the garden this weekend, this time of a two legged variety, diligently labouring away during the hot and sweaty day. Ms Nimblefingers, particularly, was galvanised into a frenzy; maybe fueled by the wonderful homemade pizzas Little Miss Pretty and friends had concocted for the pizza oven.

Others helped turn the composts, build another, sow plants and seeds and water the new seedlings which will need regular dampening if they are to survive the long hot summer. A stinking hot day of 38 degrees this week was fortunately followed by some cooler breezes culminating in some welcoming rain. No watering needed today and a replenishment of the tanks.

Hey presto pesto!

It just takes a few willing workers, bunches of basil and a working extension cord to provide the best food we have had yet in the garden.

Our monthly cocktails in the garden has seen the advent of homemade dips, bread, snacks and cakes but to be able to snip off the basil, add the other ingredients according to whim and produce a sensational pasta pesto taste-off was wonderful.


The working bee was in full swing, tea break had been called, (actually within the first few minutes by a few shovel manning participants who shall remain nameless) but it was soon time for lunch for the ravishing oh sorry ravished, no that's not right either, workers. Ms Tagalong, nursing sore ribs from a fall on the way to bookclub the other night, stoically manned the whizzy blender, choosing this over the old mortar and pestle, and produced alternate types of pesto. We had rocket and pine nut, basil with and without garlic, chunky basil with macadamia and the very popular extra, extra garlic also with macadamia.

Apart from a few cheeky comments about meatless lunches the crew tucked in and helped by the fantastic weather the day was declared a wonderful success.


Little Miss Pretty sat recording all the events and smashing macadamias, Red and her husband fell to with gusto and enthusiasm (or was that after the red wine totty?) despite the distinct lack of bacon, Ms Nimble Fingers worked like a trooper as did Ms Magic Fingers, despatching the rather large pile of lawn clippings onto the last bed. They were ably assisted by Mr Ukelele and Mr Ideasman


Ms Ishabaw, Red and Paint Pot Pat diligently weeded, planted out and chatted amongst the beds. And Ms Mova? She was moving of course. Forking, digging and moving piles of grass, earth and mulch along the outside fence to the garden. Ms Tagalong did say that it might be easier to just lay paper down and pile manure and cuttings on top but Ms Mova likes digging and that's all there is to it!


And as if the day could not have been more perfect for Little Miss Pretty a saddle necked russet and white guinea pig was perambulating along the gutter by the community garden. Cajoling and sheer ingenuity coaxed it from under a parked car and the guinea pig, already named Jiggles, had an instant new home. Anyone missing pets should contact Pets R Us. Whatever will it be next?

Ms Tagalong crowned the day by using up the last of the tamarillos and making a savoury roast tamarillo tart served with spinach, avocado and chick pea salad. Just had to include the photo for your delectation!

Another tall story!

So the manure story goes on- we are now encouraging the growth of our youngsters by letting them shovel the lovely stuff into barrows. I swear they were taller when they finished!

I received a comment about the toxicity of rhubarb leaves and whether I was pulling people's legs about feeding them to the lovely ladies who are so happily laying these days. Well, actually it seems as though the jury is out. Doing a little research I found some conflicting advice. Considering that the chances of us having any rhubarb to make into rhubarb crumble are pretty remote, I don't think we will worry too much about it yet!

Today, our working bee day, was such a glorious day, with so much accomplished and so many happy, smiling faces and laughing children. Thank you to all the contributors and workers. They planted and watered, sawed and bashed apart, rode and ran all day. Good sleep tonight, I feel. Having planted out the fruit trees we have we are still looking for pawpaws and as many passionfruits as we can have! A mulberry would be good too. The roof is on the top tanks and now we need some rain to fill them. We estimated that we used about 100 litres of water today for watering and potting so we will have 2 months water when they are full. Someone mentioned that a wet spring is forecast which would be ideal but when has a gardener's life been easy?

So a lovely salad of mixed greens, radishes and tomatoes together with some muffins made with spinach and dill from the garden were consumed for lunch together with a disappearing stash of Mr Ideasman's Anzac biscuits! I shall have to make some more! Okay, okay they were storebought.

Community centres come in all shapes and sizes and we think our garden is a good one! With plans afoot for a movie night, a music night and a possible long table meal we are bursting with good ideas as well as good produce. Little Miss Pretty was spotted eating baby broad beans straight from the pod. She who never touches greens at home!

So for those who liked the muffins, here is the recipe link courtesy of Taste.
Sitting having a cup of tea and congratulating ourselves on a day well done we were asked for some dill by two teenage boys, Ms Tagalong, who prides herself on knowing everything gestured behind her and the dill was picked. A few minutes later they returned saying, no they thought that might be fennel. Closer inspection found the dill plant but I thought it was interesting how alike they are and what are the differences besides the smell of course. So are you wiser now? I am not sure I am and feel that I can be excused for confusing them, so perhaps Ms Tagalong doesn't know everything!

Work, work, work

I suppose you could say we had a quiet working bee. No raucous barbeque, no profanities during the high installation of the remaining roofing for water collection. Frog spawn was placed carefully in the bathtub. In fact, everyone planted, dug, swept, pruned and hauled mulch with great restraint. Well nearly everyone, two young interlopers thought the garden might be a good locale to sip on cider and watch the others working. You just can't get good help these days!

Curious and willing children pounded oyster shells into grit for the chickens. A lean-to was made to shelter chicken food. Ms Sweeper had the garden looking smart and tidy until a little fixer tried out the hole digger, its inaugural outing, just to see how far he could dig and dropped the soil out onto the pristine concrete! What's a garden without a little soil? Paint Pot Pat brought some wonderfully painted boards as plant markers. Pick these; seeds; seed plant do not pick and so on just to guide the multitudes visiting the garden.

So the first workshop was held. The guest speaker arrived. The chicken leaflets, printed surreptiously at work, were ready to be distributed. The sun was shining. But where were the attendants? It was a pity that our wonderful people on the chicken roster were not able to attend and ensure they are caring properly for our ladies.

So are we imposing our ideas on the gardeners? Are they telling us they don't want any workshops? Ms Mova and Ms Tagalong will have to reconsider their ideas. We will perhaps try one more with the next working bee and request RSVPs beforehand. That said, it was a beautiful weekend weatherwise and people may have had lots of other things to do.

Isn't nature wonderful? Primary schoolchildren at the Botanical Gardens in Sydney were chasing around spying flora and fauna at the start of Science Week. A duck paddling in a pond was observed by one to be 'a dusty moron'! Mr Ideasman and I laughed out loud and I don't think I will ever look at a dusky moorhen the same and neither will her friends and family as the comment appeared on national TV!

So how are we doing in the community? A lovely story reached my ears this week. Two young primary girls came down to feed the chickens but became intrigued with the amount of produce they might be able to put on their own plates. Back home they went for a container and proudly collected, washed and ate a collection of lettuce leaves, sugar snap peas, radishes and tiny tomatoes. Roll on the appreciation for low food miles!

We are growing!

Ideasman was amazed at all the new visitors who wandered into the garden last week. New residents to the area, lonesome schoolchildren, sons and daughters of community members, couples interested in fresh vegetables, organic produce and the community spirit. Well, we have plenty of that here!

We have plans too, plans for the next year of the garden. Naked calendars for fundraising are so passe, but I must admit, Ms Mova and I shook around the idea, canvassed the gardeners and thought of some lovely prospects but dismissed it for some other outstanding, original idea. Just what that is, I am not sure, necessity being the mother of invention or whatever.. We are in the process of arranging a series of workshops to coincide with the working bees. Tricky planning! You must come to the workshop and oh there just happens to be a working bee on the same day! I mustn't malign our wonderful membership; we have a very willing cohort of gardeners turning up on those days. I am sure you have read about our working bee exploits over the year and can attest to how much we have accomplished. So we are thinking of a chicken workshop (rest easy Ms NimbleFingers, we are not showing you how to ring chickens necks, pluck them or cook them) but how to ensure that they keep laying. I am glad to report that one or two of the new ladies seems to be beginning to perform. But that was said in a whisper, just in case they hear and decide not to!

Ideas so far are workshops on herbs, weed identification and maybe a series of workshops from the wonderful treefrog permaculture group working locally. Let us know what you think but I can feel my teaching hat is firmly on and it's time for education folks!

Paint Pot Pat has been busy too. The wooden table looking very much the worse for wear has been transformed, dipped into cinammon chocolate, very smart. Mr Ideasman has fixed the bottom piping to the three water tanks, beautifully flowing from one to tother and we have a tap at the end! Ms Tagalong has to get a move on and chase up the promised reticulation system from our lovely local sponsors who won't get named until it is installed!! I saw a small sink in our pile of stuff to work with and thought how good to install that off the top tanks as a hand washer when working. Careful, Mr Ideasman, Ms Tagalong might become Ms Ideaswoman. Oh, I forgot, that is happening soon isn't it?

Shed Knowledge

The best brains of the area came together on Saturday to resurrect the storm-blownshed, piece together the conundrum of the shade shed and to work out how best to raise the tanks for gravity feed. A few head scratchings, 'my idea is better than yours' but brawn prevailed and we were off. Suddenly Ms Mova, who of course was orchestrating the whole event without seeming to, didn't even need to direct operations. The whole moved as one, but each with his own 'to do' list.

The hard core of the group were there plus many others. They came from far and wide to lend their skills. We had ring-ins. Brothers and sisters came for a short time and spent the day flexing long-forgotten skills. Little Miss Pretty chalk-painted artistic creations on the concrete.> She was so glad we had made a cubby-house for her. It (the shade-house) was soon parked with sit-on toys and bikes.

Ms Tagalong managed to flit around doing a bit of everything and nothing much. She does have an incredible knack of starting a project and leaving everyone else midway to get on with it! She did however wield the angle grinder with incredible aplomb. Ms Mova fell back on her journalistic talents and recorded a pictorial history of the day.

The ladies (chooks)probably fared the best as they unexpectedly gained a whole new area to forage in. Metal fencing of the recently purloined variety soon found a use as a new delineator of chook area and lo and behold we now have room for about 20 chooks!

Hunters and gatherers were foraging in the garden for seeds and fruits to sow next season. Planters and weeders were digging and turning. Sweepers were sweeping. Nail extractors were working on the recycled timbers. Such a satisfying job, even if half of it might be burnt in the brazier at the next get-together. Ms Caterer Extraordinaire was dispensing tea and coffee and at the appropriate time, womaning the barbeque with flair. The working bee threatened to sink into a let's enjoy the lovely day sitting here chatting and drinking but Ms Tagalong soon put a stop to that and admonished everyone in her dredged up school marm voice that the party was over and let's get back to work. And we did.

The practically destroyed, don't think we can do much with this shed was suddenly transformed by a couple of very capable brains, full of shed knowledge. Personal Trainer, who is more used to cracking the cycling whip over two very leisurely riders, pointed out that the knowledge within the shed might have increased when they stepped out of it but hey it's only going to be used for worn out tools.

As the sun set over the yard arm or over the coal loader arm really, we packed away, tidied and sat enjoying the last rays with a glass in hand admiring everyone else's handywork. What a successful day!