AUGUST 2024

Saturday 31 August – 2024 Trivia night supporting Kariong Eco Garden
5-8pm in Kariong Hall. Book a table of 4-6 people $50 or book individual tickets $10 each: https://events.humanitix.com/2024-trivia-night-supporting-kariong-eco-garden

Saturday 14 September 2024 – ECO DEMO DAY in Kariong ARTS BARN and ECO GARDEN. Solar oven cooking, vege seedlings for sale, music and food. Kariong residents register your solar power to be included in the Kariong Kilowatt Counter. 10am – 4pm. To coincide with Local Government Elections – Kariong Hall is a Polling Booth. Come and visit after voting.

Saturday and Sunday 21 & 22 September PLANT LOVERS FAIR, Kariong Mountains High School. Visit the Permaculture Central Coast stall and say hello.

Saturday 12 October BIRDS IN OUR BACKYARDS – Citizen Science workshop 10.30am -12noon in the Eco Garden. Bookings link on website in September.

Sunday 13 October WOYTOPIA FESTIVAL, Woy Woy South Public School
9am – 4pm Find out more: https://woytopia.org/ Don’t miss it!

Saturday 9 November FAMILY FIRST AID in the Garden 10.30am – 12.30pm in the Eco Garden. Bookings link on website in October. Family First Aid course with Karben Training Solutions with a Certificate of Attendance.

For more information and to volunteer at any of our events call Lisa 0429 431 889

JULY 2024

Kariong Eco Garden News

July – November 2024

ECO KIDS WORKSHOP with Eco-Artist Rachel Bunney
Have you ever noticed how many bird species come to visit or even live in your garden? As we people build more and more houses and take away more and more bushland, the birds have no choice but to come to our gardens to eat, breed and play. There are big birds and small birds, birds around only at night and lots of birds around in the day. Some birds we love but there are others we wish would go away. Some birds we make into our friends and some are fun to watch play.In this drawing workshop we will talk about the different birds in our neighbourhoods, hear stories and learn ways we can create welcoming habitats for our fine feathered friends.

Date: Saturday 13 July 2024

Time: 10.30am – 12noon

Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/birds-of-our-backyards-a-drawing-and-more-workshop-with-rachel-bunney

Kariong Eco Garden Wiggly Worms stall at Central Coast Kids Day Out – Celebrate Trees on NATIONAL TREE DAY with The Lorax and the help reduce waste to landfill with the ECO FAIRIES

Venue: Narara Valley High School

Date: Sunday 28 July 2024

Time: 10am – 4pm
Tickets: https://www.cckdo.org/

Morning Tea to CELEBRATE 19 YEARS OF KARIONG ECO GARDEN growing in Dandaloo St, Kariong

Kariong Eco Garden is celebrating 19 years since we started on our current site in Dandaloo Street, Kariong, with a motion of Gosford Council and an ECO Festival in Winter 2005.

We have been harvesting rainwater, generating renewable energy, composting organic waste, growing habitat for wildlife and healthy food for humans since the very beginning. Volunteers tend the garden every Monday morning and every second Saturday each month. We provide a venue for nature play programs and run eco workshops. Come along to get some ideas or lend a hand.

Date: Monday 29 July 2024

Time: 11am

Bring: a plate of food to share

ANNUAL KEG TRIVIA NIGHT FUNDRAISER

Venue: Kariong Hall

Date: Saturday 31 August 2024

Time: 5.00pm – 8.00pm

Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/2024-trivia-night-supporting-kariong-eco-garden

FUTURE SOONER Citizens Inquiry into the Health Effects of Coal

Venue: Halekulani (Budgewoi) Bowling club

Date: Sunday 25 August 2024

Time: 1pm-5pm

Details: https://www.facebook.com/groups/400706917962265

ECO DEMO DAY

Venue: Arts Barn and Eco Garden, 2 Dandaloo St, Kariong

Date: Saturday 14 September (Local Government Election day – vote in Kariong Hall)

Time: 10am – 4pm

Details to come – contact us to volunteer on the day. Plants for sale, live music, solar info and solar oven demonstration…

Birds in our Backyards – Citizen Science and making your garden bird friendly

Date: Saturday 12 October 2024

Time: 10.30am – 12noon

Bookings will be available in August. funds raised will go to bird conservation.

FAMILY FIRST AID IN THE GARDEN

Date: Saturday 9 November 2024

Time: 10.30am – 12.30pm

Family First Aid course with Karben Training Solutions
with a Certificate of Attendance – no formal qualification.Bookings on Humanitix will be available in September.

This course could help save the life of a loved one, friend or neighbour.
This course is aimed for school-aged children and their adult/s.

Topics:

recognise an emergency situation
call 000
apply the DRSABCD method
provide basic care to a casualty
bandages, abrasions, snake bite
bites & stings
allergic reactions eg to insects, plants

WOYTOPIA

Venue: Woy Woy South School

Date: Sunday 13 October

Time: 9am – 4pm

More Information: https://woytopia.org/

SOME WAYS TO SUPPORT THE ECO GARDEN

All donations, no matter how small, are always welcome!

We are with Bendigo Bank and our BSB is 633-000; Account No: 154480586; Account name: Kariong Eco Garden. (Please include your surname and ‘Membership’ or ‘Donation’ in the description)

If you make a deposit please email us to tell us so we can issue you with a receipt. Our email address is kariongecogarden@gmail.com (use SUBJECT: MEMBERSHIP or DONATION)

MEMBERSHIP PAYMENTS CAN ALSO BE MADE AT ANY ECO GARDEN EVENT OR WORKING BEE.

Active Member (Volunteer): $5/year (receive member discounts at all tic

Supporter: $20/year (you are entitled to a member discount at four ticketed events)

Sponsor: $100/year (we can arrange to have a small plaque made to put on a post in the garden)

APRIL 2024

Upcoming Workshops at Kariong Eco Garden:

Bringing Back that Good Fire

Date: Saturday 13 April 2024

Time: 11am – 1pm (tour of bushland behind Eco Garden from 10am)

Kariong Eco Garden volunteers have been committed to caring for Country since we got permission to start our community garden on the current site in 2005.

We are custodians of a small area of bushland behind the Eco Garden, which is connected to a large area of bushland surrounding Kariong and stretching into Brisbane Water National Park and land owned by Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council.

Could this land be cared for in the way it has been for thousands of years before colonisation, using Aboriginal knowledge and cultural burning practices?

What would that look like? How could it work?

We have invited speakers from:

Firesticks Alliance – https://www.firesticks.org.au/…
National Parks and Wildlife Service
Kariong Bushfire Brigade
Central Coast Council
Greater Sydney Local Land Services

and invited local bloodline custodians and the Land Council to attend and offer information.

We hope that this workshop will help our community learn more about cultural burning and how it contributes to healthy communities and healthy landscapes.

As it says in our Welcome Shelter: We acknowledge with respect the Indigenous custodians of this land and work with their spirits caring for mother earth.

Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/bringing-back-that-good-fire

Acknowledgement: banner image and more information from https://www.latrobe.edu.au/new…

FUTURE EVENTS: Save the Dates!

REPAIR CAFE – EVERY 3rd SUNDAY of the month (Feb – Nov) – includes Swap Table & opportunity to book a Second Hand Sunday stall in Autumn and Spring.

Venue: Kariong Hall, 2 Dandaloo St (next to Eco Garden)

Dates: Sundays 21 April, 19 May, 16 June, 21 July, 18 August, 15 September, 20 October and 17 November

Time: 10am – 1pm

HARVEST FESTIVAL – Saturday 8 June and Sunday 9 June (NO KEG EVENTS)

For more information: https://www.lovecentralcoast.com/events/harvest-festival-2024

ECO FAERIE & GREEN PIRATE TRAINING

Venue: Kariong Eco Garden

Dates: Sundays 16 June and 21 July

Time: 11am – 1pm

ECO KIDS WORKSHOP with Eco-Artist Rachel Bunney

Date: Saturday 13 July 2024

Time: 10.30am – 12noon

Details and Booking link to come.

FUTURE SOONER Citizens Inquiry into the Health Effects of Coal

Venue: Halekulani (Budgewoi) Bowling club

Date: Sunday 25 August 2024

Time: 1pm-5pm

IMAGE SOURCE: https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2024/03/call-to-close-eraring-power-station-in-2025-over-health-concerns/

PROPOSED Family First Aid in Garden

Date: TO BE CONFIRMED – 10 AUGUST OR 9 NOVEMBER

Time: 10.30am – 12.30pm

PRE-ORDER – Proposed Family First Aid course with Karben Training Solutions
with a Certificate of Attendance – no formal qualification.

This course could help save the life of a loved one, friend or neighbour.
This course is aimed for school-aged children and their adult/s.

Guide to Australian Insect Bites

Topics:

recognise an emergency situation
call 000
apply the DRSABCD method
provide basic care to a casualty
bandages, abrasions, snake bite
bites & stings
allergic reactions eg to insects, plants

IMAGE SOURCE: https://lfafirstresponse.com.au/blog/guide-to-australian-insect-bites/

CELEBRATE SOLAR DAY

Venue: Arts Barn and Eco Garden, 2 Dandaloo St, Kariong

Date: Saturday 14 September (2nd Saturday and Local Government Election day – vote in Kariong Hall)

Time: 10am – 4pm

Woytopia

WOYTOPIA

Venue: Woy Woy South School

Date: Sunday 13 October

Time: 9am – 4pm

More Information: https://woytopia.org/

December 2023-January 2024

Mini ECO Shop in ECO-ARTS BARN, 2 DANDALOO ST, KARIONG
Wednesday 20 December & Thursday 21 December, 12.30pm – 4.15pm

Looking for some Christmas gifts that are locally made?

Spiral Compost Tool – Stainless Steel
$49 at Kimbriki – our Price $45 (just 3 left!)
The Rolls Royce of Compost mixing tools! Hand made in Sydney.
Aeration/mixing is the KEY to successful composting.

Boomerang Bags $5- $10 – lots to choose from, all unique – great way to wrap a gift!

EARTHCARE games $60-$74 ($5 from every game sold goes to Kariong Eco Garden)
https://www.earthcaregame.org/ Mindfully made on the Central Coast. Ages 6-106.

Summer Solstice/ End of Year Christmas Gathering in the Eco Garden
Thursday 21 December 6pm.
Bring a plate of food to share.

WHAT’S ON JANUARY 2024

Monday 8 January 2024 10.00am to 1 pm
Volunteers return to:
Planting, watering, weeding & having cuppas!
Come and join us 🙂

And for the children this school holiday…
Monday 15 January 2024 10.30am to Noon
Make Recycled Paper
Any age and for the whole family
Children must be accompanied by a grown up
Gold coin donation

Monday 22 January 2024 10.30am to Noon
Screen Print your OWN T-shirt with our logo
Any age and for the whole family
Children must be accompanied by a grown up
Gold coin donation

Monday 29 January 2024 10.00am to 1 pm
Volunteers – all ages – we have kids tools too:
Planting, watering, weeding & having cuppas!
Come and join us 🙂

AUGUST 2023

FOR THE LOVE OF BIRDS workshop with Kaye Pointer

Saturday 12 August 2023 – 10.30 – 11.30am

Find out more and book your tickets:
https://events.humanitix.com/for-the-love-of-birds-2023

FUNDRAISING TRIVIA NIGHT

Saturday 19 August 2023, 6-8pm in Kariong Hall, Dandaloo St, Kariong

Find out more and buy your tickets:
https://events.humanitix.com/2023-trivia-night-supporting-kariong-eco-garden

May 2023

Stall at Central Coast Kids Day Out – Sunday 7 May at Narara Valley High School

Pop in and lend a hand or say hello as we show the kids wonderful worms or help them make a yarn butterfly or yarn turtle. Buy a Kariong Eco Garden t-shirt or Boomerang Bag or fruit & vege bags. 10am – 3pm. Adults $12 Kids $7 (under 1 year old free) Family $35. All day entertainment. Free rides and shows after entry. Find out more at https://www.cckdo.org/.

Garden Bed Workshop/ Working Bee – Saturday 13 May, 9am – 1pm at KEG – Learn about Hugelkultur, Wicking and Esther Dean Style No-dig garden beds. $5 donation.

Hugelkultur Garden bed benefits include: no/low cost, all-natural materials, carbon storing good water retention. John R (Woy Woy Community Garden volunteer) will teach us how these gardens work and we will set up the first of four in our garden.

Woy Woy Community Garden Hugelkultur Garden under construction

Wicking beds have an inbuilt reservoir of water which waters veggies from the bottom up – the way they like it!! They are an easy working height using a lot less water and minimal work to maintain once set up.

Rosie (Founder of Laguna Earth House) will be our teacher on the day and has been growing food organically for 50 years. She now has a local productive veggie garden with raised and wicking beds.

She will demonstrate the simplicity of set up in this hands-on workshop.

This is what our new wicking beds will be made of – two halves of a 1000L plastic tank.

This is what Rosie’s wicking beds look like.

Link to book in for the Garden Bed Workshop/ Autumn working bee: https://events.humanitix.com/garden-bed-contruction-workshop-autumn-working-bee

april 2023

IT’S NEARLY EASTER!

Saturday 1/4/2023 ECO ART – Bilby workshop with Rachel Bunney

10.30-12noon (bookings essential $15/young person or $10/young person for 2 or more and accompanying adult free.

Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/beloved-bilbies-1-april-2023

Volunteers working bee will happen concurrently 10am – 1pm

SCHOOL HOLIDAY WORKSHOP

Monday 17/4/2023 ECO ART – Orangutan workshop with Rachel Bunney

10.30-12noon (bookings essential $15/young person or 2 for $20 and accompanying adult free. Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/copy-of-orang-utans-and-their-forest-home-a-children-s-eco-art-workshop-with-rachel-bunney-umlb071d

Volunteer working bee will happen concurrently 10am – 1pm

october 2022

Our Annual General Meeting is taking place at the Eco Garden on Monday 24 October 2022 at 12noon. Come and join us and bring a plate to share for lunch after the meeting. All positions will be declared vacant. Many hands make light work!

WOYTOPIA is on Sunday 30 October 2022 at Woy Woy South Public School and will be an awesome day. Come and visit our stall or plan ahead to volunteer with us. Call Lisa if you would be happy to help out for an hour or so. Lisa 0429 431 889.

Don’t miss the inaugural Central Coast Edible Garden Trail on 19 & 20 November 2022. Kariong Eco Garden are one of the many places hosting visitors. We will have tours of the garden on Sunday 20/11/22 at 10.20am, 11.30am, 12.30pm and 1.30pm.

REPAIR CAFE – the last one for the year in on Sunday 20 November 10am – 1pm in Kariong Hall. Bring your items to be repaired or your bike to be serviced – volunteers help with sewing, tool sharpening, woodwork, jewellery repairs and you make a donation. There is also a SWAP TABLE for items you would like to swap.

On 12 September 2022 Kariong Public School Year 6 students came to Kariong Eco Garden for an ECO Day where they learned from Tracey Howie, Jake Cassar and artists Rachel Bunney and Lisa McArthur-Edwards.

Tracey Howie taught the Year 6 students about the First Peoples where we live.

Kariong PS Year 6 students enjoyed an ECO day which included learning from Jake Cassar.

If you are interested in the kinds of things we are doing to promote sustainability come and visit any Monday morning or monthly Saturday working bee. Volunteers always welcome and extra working bee days or meetings can be arranged.

We are also advocating for a Re-use and Repair Centre/ Service on the Central Coast and fully support Central Coast Council’s plans to introduce a Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) collection service.

Did you know there is a Central coast Council in Tasmania? This is their information about a FOGO service they introduced in 2019: http://www.centralcoast.tas.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/FOGO-17092019.pdf

SEPTEMBER 2022

OUR SEPTEMBER WORKSHOP:

The Attraction of Birds

Saturday 10 September 2022

1 – 3pm

(following working bee 10am – 12.30pm)

Cost: $10 non-members. $5 active members or supporter members, or young people

Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/for-the-love-of-birds

Local birders Kaye and Margaret Pointer will share their love of birds and gardening in a family friendly workshop.

Learn about:

local birds
how you can make your garden and suburb a great place for birds and wildlife
the benefits of recording and sharing bird observations
their habitats and how you can assist
how to provide safe nesting environments and materials for local birds.

The workshop will include a short gentle walk to see what birds are in the bush behind and around the Eco Garden.

Please wear enclosed shoes and bring a hat and water bottle.

There will be a bird inspired craft activity.

More about Kaye and Margaret:

The love of birds is in the blood. Both Kaye’s and Margaret’s interests started before they walked. They are two of the founding members of Central Coast Branch of Birding NSW (27 years) and are involved in guiding bird outings, and education on the Central Coast. They have participated in many surveys monitoring, or searching for birds including rare and endangered species. They have teamed up with other local birders over more than 20 years in the annual Twitchathon, to fundraise for bird conservation projects. Kaye and Margaret will knock back other activities to go birding in the garden, or across the Central Coast!

The workshop follows the monthly garden working bee from 10am – 12.30pm. Feel free to come early and lend a hand or just enjoy a picnic lunch in the garden.
For more information please call Lisa 0429 431 889.

WORKING BEE at the garden: Saturday 10 September 2022, 10am – 12.30pm

We will be preparing the bush circle for Kariong Public School Year 6 students’ visit and weeding the labyrinth path. BYO hat, water, picnic lunch and stay for the bird workshop if you can. You are welcome to bring something to share for morning tea – it is always a highlight of the working bees.

OTHER LOCAL ECO EVENTS

Community Environment Network: Love Trees Love COSS event /weekend.

Community Day Saturday 17 September 10am – 3pm at Ourimbah campus of university of Newcastle. KEG is having a stall. Volunteers needed; https://cen.org.au/events/cen-event-list/733-love-trees-love-coss

COSS Crawl Sunday 18 September https://cen.org.au/events/cen-event-list/732-coss-crawl-love-trees-love-coss

Narara Eco Village Experience weekend 30 September – 2 October (3 October optional), https://nararaecovillage.com/narara-ecovillage-experience-weekend-october-2022/

WOYTOPIA – Sustainable Living Festival – Sunday 30 October 2022, 9am-4pm at Woy Woy South PS. https://woytopia.org/ KEG is having a stall – volunteers needed

Sustainable Future Festival, 10-13 November at Mingara – stay tuned for details.

For more information and to volunteer at one of our stalls, call Lisa 0429 431 889

January – June 2021

We have been repairing one of the raised gardens beds, weeding the labyrinth path, removing some of the vigorous native raspberry, planting silverbeet, onions and beetroot, doing path and drain maintenance. We have some great new workshops planned for the rest of the year. Time for some more planting, cooking and eating!

Wanda had fun clearing the drain in the Snazzy Snake Path!

Rob and Vince with repaired raised garden bed

We hosted 120 students from Central Coast Sports College who took part in ADAM activities to understand the essential things to make good compost – ALIVENESS, DIVERSITY, AIR & MOISTURE.

PEG Nature Playgroup has visited the ECO garden on several occasions.

We played the EARTHCARE game – see www.earthcaregame.org to check it out.

SUP & Yoga with Tina started Wednesday morning yoga in the garden at 9.30am

Central Coast Quakers meets at the garden every 1st and 3rd Sunday at 10am.

Troubadours meet at the garden every 1st Sunday from 1pm for folk music.