A Kitchen Garden in Every Blue Mountains Home

In February 2008 Cittaslow - Katoomba/Blue Mountains plans to launch an ambitious but very exciting project "A Kitchen Garden in Every Blue Mountains Home". As part of this project two members of the Blue Mountains Permaculture Network, Susan Girard and Lizzie Connor, conducted two free pilot workshops for beginners at the Blue Mountains Community Garden's Festival of Joy on 20 October. They were based on creating and maintaining a simple container-garden in a re-used styrofoam box with 10 easy-grow summer vegetables.

Lizzie and Sue prepared and presented the workshops as part of their work on Cittaslow's Kitchen Garden Project sub-committee; BMCC funded some bulk potting mix; and participants were also asked to donate $5 to go towards the cost of the seedlings. Three other members of Blue Mountains Permaculture Network, Vickie Walker, Belinda Selke and Maryanne Bell, also came along to help in various ways.

The workshops were aimed at people who had no vegetable growing experience, and were either renting or had no garden space. Information was distributed by flyers at community centres, the Korowal Eco-Fest, and by email to interested groups (including the Network's email list). Both were booked out and the participants gave enthusiastic evaluations. Several have been active in email Q&A since.

A word on our choice of container-gardens. This was the suggestion of another member of the sub-committee, John McNaull, but Lizzie and Sue embraced the opportunity to explore this way into growing food. The aim was for beginners to learn about how vegetables grow and what problems might occur, rather than for them to learn about sustainability as such.

David Holmgren's first two designer principles were the focus: Observe and Interact (easier if the plants are close to the house and within sight) and Catch and Store Energy (seeing how plants catch and store energy from sun, water and fertile soil). His third principle: Obtain a Yield, was relevant in the sense of beginning to understand what's involved in getting one. And his fourth principle: Apply self-regulation and accept feedback, was the underlying motivation for the whole project and for participants' attendance.

JUST ABOUT TO START
On Saturday 1 December Lizzie hosted a follow-up morning tea, which 6 people attended and for which 8 gave their apologies. They discussed what they had learnt so far and what they would like to do in the future, and also did a quick tour of Lizzie's container garden and larger garden in drizzling rain. 20 people have booked in for a shared harvest lunch at the Katoomba Community Gardens on 16 February 2008, with 2 apologies, and that morning we are also conducting a no-dig-garden workshop, at which we expect about 10 people.

The Cittaslow sub-committee is also planning another series of beginners workshops in March based on growing winter vegetables in containers. On Saturday 8 December Lizzie and Sue are conducting a similar workshop for 40 graduates of BMCC's Earth Works courses in 2007. BMCC are funding the costs of the workshop materials and also a modest fee for the two presenters.

We hope this will be just the start of an ongoing collaboration. If you haven't attended the Earth Works courses yet, we really recommend them, particularly the tour of Katoomba's Waste Management Facility (you also get a free compost bin). Email Lizzie for more information about this project.

Lizzie and Susan