This time last Friday night, I had the best time hosting a trivia night as part of the Morwell Rose Festival, alongside Dirtgirl and Scrapboy. The thing I want to highlight here is the incredible work that’s done by council staff in their sustainability, environment and conservation teams. I have the opportunity to work with so many incredibly passionate individuals who are really working as full-time science communicators, coordinating, managing and driving events that help to build connection between the people in their municipalities and the landscapes that they live in.
The sustainability team at Latrobe City Council are a fantastic group of people and they put together the beautifully crafted quiz questions and for the better part of three hours, a packed room enjoyed a fun evening, but at the same time, learnt a lot. Thanks so much to the whole team for the heart and spirit that you put into your work because the next day it was all systems go at the festival and there were so many great local enterprises and specialists running stalls and workshops and talks to make the event what it was.
One of my highlights at the Rose Festival is that I get a chance to stand with two rose specialists and judge the homegrown rose competition. This is so much fun because it’s truly an intergenerational event where there were children bringing their roses in as well as veteran gardeners and everyone in between. The best part is the wonderful advice that the specialist judges share and even though they’re not judging at like a hard-core rose society event, they get to explain the details behind why they choose the roses they choose to get a first second or third place.
And I get to pick a Costa’s Choice across the categories as well which is always good fun!
That afternoon, I got to participate in a fantastic community conversation called, ‘What If’. The thinking behind it is that we think outside the circle of our usual thoughts and possibilities and say ‘what if’ we were to do this for the town, or ‘what if’ we were to approach business like this, or ‘what if’ we were to have an open space network with tiny houses on it that people could rent and do a district walk along the open space networks and watercourses. Cate McQuillen is a fantastic thinker and creator when it comes to this sort of activity, having been the brainchild along with her partner behind Dirtgirlworld. Together with Dirtgirl and Scrapboy, we drew ideas and thoughts and creativity out of a large cross-section of the local crowd and it was such a liberating process to let go of the straitjackets that are all around us and think about what the valley and the district and the region could be. Big thanks to everyone who put their guard down and opened up the world of WHAT IF?
Now I’m sure I’ve told you a few weeks ago, how I’m more than happy to jump on the end of a roller and a cutting brush and do some painting, and that’s exactly what I got up to when I came back to Melbourne from Morwell. I find I can really get in the zone and just slip into a momentum cutting along the edge between a wall and the ceiling or around a door or window and then getting on the end of the roller and joining between the floor cut and the ceiling cut. Early that morning, I also went across town to do a bit of furniture moving, but while I was waiting, I went for a walk through the South Melbourne Markets. There’s something in my Greek blood about marketplaces, regardless of where I am. Before I knew it, I was deep in the market looking at the produce and the providores and meeting people while I waited to be picked up. It was a fun little interlude and hello again to all the people who came up to say hello!
This week I also headed down to the Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria for some filming.
You may remember me talking about this project when I first went to the launch and they literally built a farm (or at least all the garden beds) in 24 hours. And a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned I went to the second birthday of the Farm My School project at the Bellarine Secondary College. Well, the good news is that after two years, the project is really starting to reach deeper and deeper into the school and the local community which gives us the chance to talk to more people and hear about what it’s achieving not about what it intends to do. I can’t wait for you to see this story when it goes to air.
But one of the best things I got to do yesterday, was to revisit one of the schools in the Bellarine called Surfside Primary School which I first visited eight years ago, to have a look at their wonderful school garden that was growing from strength to strength. My ongoing and regular visits were for a council project called ‘Future Proofing Geelong’. For me, it’s all about the synergies, and when I was filming the day before yesterday at the high school, one of the students there had been a part of the Surfside Primary School Garden and she spoke so articulately about what that school garden meant to her in primary school and how being a part of the Farm My School project and seeing what that means to her understanding of the importance of food and your health and the health of the environment and the health of community, literally had me and our production team in tears as we interviewed her while we were planting onions! I spent the entire day at the school yesterday, first of all speaking to a full assembly, but then being a part of their kitchen garden program with the garden educators and being taken around the garden by the kitchen garden and sustainability captains and garden team. The pride of the students in the garden and the project that they had created for Pollinator Week was just fantastic and the energy and excitement across the day and the whole school had me tingling with pride in their work and their leadership.
After leaving the school yesterday afternoon, I had a fantastic drive through Bacchus Marsh and the ranges outside Melbourne up to and through Pyalong to Nagambie where I’m part of a workshop and talk today for the local community who are still on the recovery road from the big floods that came through here recently. I’m standing here looking at the Goulburn River flow by the trees with the morning sunrise bouncing off the water. It’s a beautiful scene, the temperature is fresh and I’m looking forward to the day ahead.
It’s not too late to participate in FrogID Week and National Pollinator Week.These citizen science-based projects are such a fantastic way to create new streams and threads of science communication across all generations in our community. Check out the links and get involved over the weekend because every bit of data counts.
Now I hope you’re sitting down, because this week on the show, our1500th episode is going to air! I just want to take a moment and think about the time the effort, the care, the passion, the sweat the tears, the stress, the smiles, the laughs, the tears, the excitement and most of all, the individuals who have been involved and behind the reaching of this milestone for Gardening Australia. For any show to traverse so much change across so many years and generations, is a simply sensational achievement.
And standing so tall in this achievement (and you’ll notice this in the links for this week’s show because I am standing next to them) is none other than Jane Edmanson. She has been the lighthouse that has kept shining since day one of the show. I mean, what an incredible constant and anchor she has been over 3 ½ decades! I can’t speak highly enough about her presence and what it has meant to the show for so long. We had a fantastic day filming in Sydney and you’ll get to see it on the show this week. Hip hip hurray to everyone that has made Gardening Australia what it is!
While I’m in Melbourne, I’m going to get along to the MCG and catch one of the WBBL Cricket matches tonight. And I’m looking forward to spending some time at home in the garden to catch up with my two little gardening buddies in my street Max and Alyssa and do some planting on their nature strip. I’ll share some pictures in coming weeks.
Have a great weekend in the garden whatever the weather and I’ll yarn with you next week!
Costa
Posted 15 Nov 202415 Nov 2024Fri 15 Nov 2024 at 1:00am, updated 15 Nov 202415 Nov 2024Fri 15 Nov 2024 at 3:56am