We are excited to bring you several fabulous and free workshops happening at the Bellingen Autumn Plant Fair this Saturday 9 March 2024.
Bookings are preferred so please call Kaz on 0419 218800 to book your seat, or simply send a sms with your full name, mobile and the workshop you would like to attend. Alternatively, you could luck it and just rock up. If there is room, you will get in.
The workshop space is just off Park St, at site 98 on our stall map below
SUMMARY
8:30am Wet sclerophyll gardening with Ross Macleay
9am Getting started with backyard chickens with Jennie Fenton
9:30 Landcare- getting down and a bit dirty with Jason John
10am Harmony in Growth: Explore the magic of Healthy Soil, Edible Perennials and Food Forests with Joseph Fairburn
11am Cooking with local ingredients (including cooking demo) with Sean Toohey and Mala- Colmer
12 noon: Northbank Community Garden, strategic planning for food resilience
Close 1pm
WORKSHOP DETAILS
Title: Wet Sclerophyll Gardening in the Bellinger Valley
Presenter: Ross Macleay: Local botanist, bush regenerator, writer.
Outline: In a valley where native wet sclerophyll forests face many threats, why not use the local plants in a garden design that is no threat to those forests. Use the local grasses, ferns and shrubs, which are often already growing on a site, to help forge a new local garden culture, instead of importing designs and plants from elsewhere.
Themes: Beauty, fire, weeds, mowing, native fauna, species, structure, bush regeneration, food
Link: https://northbankinstitute.blogspot.com/?m=1
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Title: Getting Started with Backyard Chickens
Presenter: Jennie Fenton
Outline: Backyard chickens are one of the most rewarding undertakings for young and old alike. Many people embark on a chicken adventure for eggs, as pets, or as part of a journey toward greater self-sufficiency. This workshop will introduce these wonderful animals, rules and regulations, care, health and housing.
Presenter(s) Bio: Jennie is doing mixed farming on a small holding (1 hectare), dubbed Microfarming. She also focusses on repurposing materials on-farm. Tallowood Rise is home to humans, dogs, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, vegetables, fruit, medicine, fibre and a host of biodiversity. Jennie aims to demonstrate that small diverse farms are doable and part of the solution to sustainably being human.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/BellingenTallowoods #microfarming #recycledfarming
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Title: Landcare- getting down and a bit dirty
Presenter: Jason John
Outline: Groups! Gatherings! Grants! Find out how to get involved with Landcare in the Shire, and ways we may be able to assist you. Learn about the groups you can join, or how to start one, and how to enroll in a couple of schemes which may give you access to funding.
Presenter Bio: Jason John is the part-time coordinator for Bellinger Landcare, and before he started benefited from joining a local group, where he met like minded people and picked up tips for caring for his own property and found out how to apply for a grant for his own property.
Link: bellingerlandcare.org.au
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Title: Harmony In Growth: Explore the magic of Healthy Soil, Edible Perennials and Food Forests
Presenter: Joseph Fairburn of Golden Dawn Permaculture
Outline: “Harmony in Nature: Unveiling the Magic of Soil, Perennials, and Food Forests” is an immersive journey exploring the intricate soil food web, the resilience of perennial crops, and the abundance of food forests, inspiring participants to cultivate sustainable gardens grounded in harmony with the natural world.
Joseph’s Bio: Joseph Fairburn has been on the journey of understanding how to build healthy soils for the past decade through exploring different methods and working with an array of mentors and cultures from around the world. Using his love of soil as the foundation in his passion for growing food and medicine sovereignty, Joseph draws cultivation inspiration from the teachings of Permaculture, Biodynamics, Successional Agroforestry and Regenerative Farming.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/golden.dawn.permaculture/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D
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Title: Cooking with local ingredients
Presenters: Sean Toohey and Mala Colmer
Outline: So many of us have gardens that at times of the year produce a glut of common foods. Sean and Mala love cooking with local ingredients and want to share some of their favourite recipes for those ingredients that overflow, like pumpkin, citrus and kale. This workshop will include a cooking demonstration.
Sean & Mala bio: Sean and Mala have been cooking together for a few years now. Sean is passionate about quality and taste and draws on over six decades of hands-on food preparation. Mala is a teenager who has always loved eating but discovered a few years ago she also loves cooking. She lives with cerebral palsy so, along with Sean and others, Mala has been adapting kitchen gear and being creative to pursue this passion.
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Title: Strategic planning for food resilience
Presenters: Northbank Community Garden Members
Outline: Established in 2008, the Northbank Community Garden (NCG) in North Bellingen ranges over 5 acres and includes various structures, fruit trees and food and medicine gardens. The organisation is community run and currently undertaking strategic planning. This is your opportunity to contribute to local food resilience and this wonderful community asset.
Presenter’s bio: NCG committee members with strategic planning supporters.
Link: www.facebook.com/NorthbankCommunityGarden?mibextid=sCpJLy
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We hope you can join one of the above workshops and let us know ahead of time. Please call Kaz on 0419 218800 or simply send a sms with your full name, mobile and the workshop you would like to attend.
Bellingen Plant Fair 