Volunteer Week

We’ve been contacted by a few local community newspapers recentley to promote National Volunteer Week.

Tribes of visitors….

The garden has been visited by a number of students and staff from all over the campus recently.

Long term Garden crew member Praveen Elango took Anna Tayler from the Careers Centre and Cheryl Kim from Enactus for a brief tour last week. Praveen is currently working to set up a vegie garden at Clontarf Aboriginal College. YAY Prav!!

Matthew Bell from the School of Environment & Agriculture came through the garden the other day with his little shovel, dug several holes and took away a soil sample…….Looking forward to the results after some analysis…

Yesterday 14 students from Product & Interior Design took a brief tour as part of their studies. The tour was arranged by Curtins Sustainability Office.

 

 

 

May Busy Bee…this saturday!

We’ve had many huge mushrooms over the month. We are yet to find out if they are edible..awaiting confirmation..

We have grown well over a dozen pumpkins this summer, mainly from seeds from our compost scraps.These have been used in group get togethers generally.

Our oranges seem to be taking an eternity to ripen…

Its that time of year when strawberries set out to multiply “by division”..little runners are being planted into pots..next to the host “mother” plant.

Our very first Mandarin..

Our three Pawpaws have taken off since planting only a few months ago.

Our lemon tree is finally setting larger volumes of fruit as the tree gets older.

Eggplant flowers are appearing..

Kumquat flowers too…

…and Pepino…

…could we possibly grow any more pumpkins?….

Many chillies means its saucemaking time…before it gets too cold and there are no chilies in winter…

The succulent young leaves of sweet potato are lightly tossed in Sambal & garlic oil to make a delicious green dish…

The choko vine is rambling around the upper levels of the garden..

A very pretty flower from the drumstick tree…

We are yet to discover what this vine produces apart from this stunniing lace flower..

Thanks to Curtins Office of Sustainability, we now have an awesome new electric “ReCycle” bike complete with trailer, to pick up green waste and coffee grounds from the Uni Delis and coffee shops…

APRIL Busy Bee!

Welcome Party 2013

Every year we welcome new members to our garden team. This year we hired a Pizza Oven, students brought their own special dishes and we even tried out a few electric bikes. When the sun went down, we lit a fire and found time to make lots of new friends. A fabulous evening.

Fires have always been a great way to make new friends.

Little Fin shows off his new “Fire Dance”….

A beautiful Summers night for a Party.

Testing out the Electric Bikes.

Len from Future Students goes for a test drive while Fin gives chase…

Helmets ON!…Vroom Vroom…

Praveen, Sam & Denise from the School of Health and Nutrition get chatting over the Vegie Kebab BBQ..

Andrew from Housing Services makes the best Vegie Curry Puffs..

Sam from the Green Reps program plays some great lounge & chill tracks through the evening..

Lots of time to catch up with old and new friends.

Thanks to Ben, Anna and Raph for creating Pizza Bases and seeing them through to our hungry tummies…

Fin & Cameron

Emilie & Leon get the pizza production line rolling..

Cannot Speak…Mouth Full…

New Garden Volunteer Daniel came to the garden for the first time the night before and took home one of our Pumpkins. He returned the next day to the Party with this awesome rice dish.

Nom, Nom, Nom…

The Pizza production line in full swing..

Our smallest guest..

Tanti finds time to plant a few sweet potatoes that have started growing in her kitchen cupboard..

Khoi from Vickery House joins in the Party.

Put this in your diary now!…

Our 1st Semester Welcome Party promises to be bigger and better than ever! New students and old, Staff & members of the surrounding Community are invited to attend and enjoy a sunset gathering in our garden. We’ll be lighting a Woodfired Pizza Oven & a few experts will be on hand to show you how to make your own. We’ll supply the bases & toppings. Hope to see you there. PLEASE RSVP so we have an idea of numbers for catering. Message below or email us.

Love your Pizza?…you’ll love this…

Pizza & Gardening Fans! This Saturday (amongst other things), we will be learning how to make a thin & crispy pizza base just like the Italians! Be early to see the process from start to finish and take home a few bases to make your own… There’ll be lots of other things to do as we prepare the garden for 1st semester.