I have a new project -helping at the children's community centre playground!

Recently I responded to a call out on social media for a person to help a community centre for children develop their garden with more vegetables and fruits.  I spend a couple of hours each week at the garden. There are two areas -one for little toddles and babies and one for the 3-4 year olds. 

They already have some good infrastructure. They have two chickens! There are two large rainwater tanks, a worm farm and an irrigation system.

The bones of the garden are already set up -shady trees, paths for little feet and trikes, logs for balancing on, sheds for storing play equipment. To the north -through the fence- is a school with a spare block of land, which may one day become a community garden. 

It has been really interesting to work in another garden than my own! I have been putting the permaculture principles I have studied privately (not done a PDC) into action. One of the best things I did was take a sketchbook and try to draw what I could see of the garden -it helped me identify the watering scheme and its possible problems, the big trees on the boundary and the shade they provide, the opportunities to get more plants in the ground and where. 

There are three raised garden beds. One of them had three very stressed eggplants in it. I built a rough shade structure over it to give it a break from the baking sun, and put some dwarf beans in, just to help with nitrogen fixing and to fill up the bed. I was pleased that some of them have come up after just one week! 

The other two raised beds are even drier and more dead than this one! We need COMPOST and MULCH before we can plant anything in them. 

Apparently the irrigation system failed over the summer - I think between Christmas and New Year, when the centre was closed and we had that distressingly hot 8 day period of extreme weather. Several trees died -a couple of young citrus and an dwarf apple. In an institutional garden, unlike a domestic setting, there was no-one to notice that things were going wrong. The centre needs a back up plan! 

There is a covered play area with a solid roof which could be another opportunity for rainwater harvesting, and a couple of big sheds, which could also have gutters and tanks added. Maybe if there were some more volunteers like me, we could have keys to the garden and go and check when the centre staff are not working, and use the water from the water tanks to make sure the garden stays alive? 

I have been working on reviving the compost system. There was one compost bin, which was about a third full of very dry weedy stuff. As well as the buckets of prunings I can bring from home, I was given several buckets of roughly made compost from a neighbour- and the plastic bin they had been in! One of these buckets of compost  I spread on an empty raised bed, and the others I have added to the compost bin. Today someone has offered me three bags of shredded paper, which will add to the bin I am filling. The new bin will be used when the first is full, so we can have one filling and one turning. 

The staff are working on an application for a grant to help us get some tools and some plants. 

In the middle of the dreadful news from Ukraine, and the IPCC report, and the terrible floods on Australia's east coast, this project has been a blessing. 

Here are some recommendations for you 

I read and enjoyed this book by Fritjof Capra

You might also like this one from the ABC 

How to grow liveable worlds  

"Forget everything you thought a garden was. And everything you thought a gardener was supposed to do. Your job in the Planthroposcene is to stage plant/people conspiracies to keep this planet liveable and breathable. Your primary commitment will be to support plant growth".

Living without hot water, and other adventures

Today is the 7th day we have had no hot water! The solar hot water system we put in just over 4 years ago stopped working, and when we got the plumber out he discovered the stainless steel tank had corroded and was leaking. This meant that we needed a replacement ceramic tank -which is now the standard- and that was a warranty job from the manufacturer.

Time passed.

Our washing machine and dishwasher can create their own hot water if we need them to, so we could get most of our household cleaning done with just a kettle full of hot water and a squirt of dishwashing liquid.

Showering was not so easy!  DD cleverly worked out that a kettle full of hot water, when added in little bits to a jug full of cold water -just enough to warm the water- could be used to wash the hair when you are standing in the shower -pouring over your head and thus approximating the effect of a shower but with much less water. One whole kettle full equals about 6 jugs of water! Effective in a way, but we all miss the showers we used to have.

Today a big truck turned up with a HIAB facility to lift the new tank over the roof and into place.

HOORAY! They say that a period of deprivation like this can increase our happiness many times over -I am sure that the next few weeks of hot showers will be very much appreciated!

In the meantime DH is getting into the swing of his new non-paid work routines.  He got a bit of a cold and a cough, so wasn't able to go with me to a wonderful WA Symphony Orchestra concert - we bought seats in the choir, which is behind the orchestra- they are cheaper seats -and this is the view as the hall filled up!

The music was absolutely wonderful! 

DH was well enough however  to come to the May Day march down at the Fremantle Esplanade. May Day is a big commemoration for the union movement. This one was also the centenary of the Fremantle Wharf Crisis of 1919 in which a unionist named Tom Edwards was killed by police during a riot during an industrial dispute. 

We marched with the AMWU! 

I also handed out 'how to vote cards' at Joondalup this weekend for the 'change the rules' campaign.

One of my mother's day gifts was a pair of ceramic hanging pots with some pelargoniums to hang at the front door. I used the occasion to re-arrange the pot display there - this is quite a good place for pots where I can monitor their progress. DH is doing very well with his orchids -one has sent out another big spike of flowers -you can see it on the right of the photo -and there are two more on the way. Some of these plants get to be indoor plants from time to time -and the indoor plants need to come out here to have a spell in the fresh air and shade/sunshine as they require. 

I also got Bonnie Hunter's new book "String Frenzy" and some fabulous new fabric along with a cute little pincushion elephant for Mother's day along with a video call with the grandchildren! 

By the way, I have added a couple of recipes to the page From My Kitchen- a marinaded eggplant recipe and a very yummy kaffir lime treatment for cashews. I found these recipes 'somewhere'- probably in one of the books I have been reading from the library. I often bring home recipe books because there is often one or more recipes which strike me as interesting.  Check them out! 

Community building

I have been involved in community groups all my adult life. I have been the initiator of some, volunteered in others, taken roles as diverse as Chairperson or President, secretary, treasurer, and coordinator of volunteers. In some cases I was a paid employee of a not for profit association, in other cases I was a volunteer.

Now that I am retired, it is natural that being part of a community group would be included in my mix of volunteer activities. I have a long standing relationship with CARAD -the Centre for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees here in Perth, but my volunteer role there came to a natural end last weekend. There may be other opportunities for me there in the future of course.

I thought I might move in another direction for the next little while, so I went to the West Australian Quilters' Association AGM last week, and was duly appointed to the editor role of their printed quarterly magazine. I have done something like this in my professional life -although the last 20 years have been about on-line publishing rather than in hard copy. They needed someone, I thought I could do it, and so the whirlwind has begun -an edition needs to be in the hands of members by the first week in December, so I am working with the current editor on this as we effect a hand over of responsibility. It is a great way to meet people!

 I have joined the Community Quilters group which is part of this large and active association, which makes quilts for donation to a variety of organisations supporting individuals in need. They run quilting bees every two months, and in between time the Sewing Days make blocks and people donate their quilts, and fabrics, and the end result was over 1000 quilts were donated in the last financial year -an enormous effort.

I just hope that I can keep some time for the other activities I love to do, including creating my own quilts. This one below has got to the stage of putting the borders on. It is made of shirt fabric and will be given to the widow of the man whose shirts have gone into the quilt, as a memory quilt.

Not all of the shirts were cotton, and the construction of the top has caused some concern, but it has gone together well enough so I really want to move on and finish this up. Trouble is, I keep doing fun things and not staying home long enough to sew much!

For example, we have enjoyed lots of fun days with the grandchildren and their parents whilst they were in Perth recently. Precious times 

Then the sun came out and spring arrived, so of course we had to get back into our beach walks! 

Then there are the obligatory days making bread, or cakes, or gardening. The garden is amazing at the moment, so full of life. It is beginning to look 'full' -everything growing into everything else.

.
The quince tree is covered in blossom, so I am hoping that this year the storms won't blow the blossom away, and that we can protect it from pests so that we can have those huge, heavy fragrant quinces to play with in autumn.

Life is good, and I am grateful.