FERN AVE DAY

As usual we all gathered at Fern Ave Community Garden straw bale house for our seedsavers get together for February, yesterday. I don't call it a 'meeting' in this post because we don't have a hierarchy or committee or agenda, just a group of vegetable gardeners coming together to see each other and share seeds, plants, ideas and stories. It is a beautiful thing. One by one we stand up and do show-and-tell. Here is a little about each of yesterday's group, left to right around the photos.Some regulars weren't there - I hope they got the email.


Glenys has a few acres at Carey Gully, which I have written about previously where she grows vegetables and berries in a beautiful setting. She is also part of the Wednesday gardening group and is an all-round great person. Recently she went to a yoga and Ayurveidic (where is spell check when you need it?) weekend and has taken charge of her future health and fitness from that time on.


Bob and Maggie have a regular-sized back yard with an extraordinary number of different vegetables and herbs growing in every nook and cranny. Of course there has to be some room left for the 2 beautiful dogs to romp around. They also have taken charge of their food intake and health in recent years and both glow from within.


Brett never stops smiling and has wonderful and creative ideas about how to grow food 'on' a rented house block - his landlord won't let him plant anything 'in' the soil!! Later in autumn we are going there for a visit and I will write more then. Brett brought me some lemon verbena seeds that I hope to germinate in spring as I just love that plant.


Cathy is a relatively new member who only started gardening when she found herself without a job. Now she belongs to our group as well as the herb society and can't believe its taken her so long to find her place.Cathy made a powerful pesto dip that we all loved and I was lucky enough to bring the rest home.


Kath has a plot at Fern Ave and lives in a townhouse with, what looks to me from her photos, like a pretty little garden but with not much room to grow vegetables.However she has 1 enormous pumpkin vine overtaking everything - don't we all! Kath is always fun and does a lot for Fern Ave. Recently she has started up a Seeds to Share box for the gardeners there.


Cath ( if you forget someone's name around here just call them C/Kath(y)) describes her section of her garden as 'The Lunatic Fringe' because husband Rob's passion is for growing hundreds of kilograms of the most beautiful tomatoes you have ever seen and this takes priority. Cath is full of energy and fun and, what's more, brought me some of those tomatoes! Cath brought some Mexican tarragon which looks and smells robust and I look forward to trying to get it to root.


Then there is Lauren and Deb who is hidden by some things on the table. Lauren is originally from the USA and has found a perfect match with her enthusiasm to become Deb's weekly helper, as Lauren lives in an apartment and Deb has 10 acres of Nirvana to nurture. Deb has everything money can't buy and needs nothing money can buy. She shares so much with us and when I arrived home I found a couple of little packets of seed in my bag from Deb that she has heard that I might like to grow. Deb is also the maker of the best limoncello ever !


Last in the line, but definitely not least, is Chook, standing up in the photo, and baby Peter (in the pram). Chook is getting into this whole food growing thing faster than a speeding bullet and recently gave me the sweetest cucmber I have ever eaten. She has a pumpkin vine growing up a wire and right over the top of her driveway and a magnificent pumkin hangs down in the middle, something that husband Chris has to dodge daily on his bike! Her cute little puppy Marly(?) is a bit scared of the chooks - lets hope she stays that way.

Then there was (me) Kate, next to Glenys. Kate is a crazy woman who lives and breathes food gardening and blogging. She loves all these people dearly and can't believe it has taken a lifetime of solitary gardening to find them all, right here a few kilometres from home. Read anecdotes for an insight into Kate's life and thoughts.

I can't find all the posts about these people to link to but I will keep on searching later, when I finish for the day. I am going early to my mother's to tidy up her garden. She won't let me do it normally but I know she is going out this morning so I will sneak in while she's not there.