|
Date |
Chronicle |
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| 10/6/12 |
Upcoming:
To celebrate World Environment Day - BCG will be holding an open
day in conjunction with Ballina Council. This day will focus on
'Our Backyard' - and look at sustainable living practices we can do at
home to help the environment. More information to come! |
|
| 8/5/12 |
To celebrate International Composting Week we
held a
FREE composting Workshop. Students from Southern Cross K12 came to
participate and were very interested in the goings on at the
garden. They seemed very impressed with our worms! Thanks to
Michelle for conducting the workshop! |
Gallery
|
| 7/5/12 |
Short afternoon
visit to our garden from Indigenous students from Wollongbar TAFE.
Tony gave them a brief
introduction to the garden and hopefully this will be the first of many
such visits. |
|
| 19/4/12 |
Visit to the
garden by Maranoa Village, Alstonville. Residents at the village
came along and were given a talk and tour of our garden by Helen, then headed off
to lunch at a local restaurant! A pleasant visit was had by all.
We expect further visits to our garden in the future as it is a nice
morning out! |
Gallery
|
| 15/3/12 |
Visit by the Agricultural
Scientific Collections Unit of Orange Agricultural Institute.
Entomologists came along to view our garden 'bugs' and were very happy
to find a particular fruit fly that was not known to inhabit the
northern areas of NSW. We were glad to be of assistance to their
research .... but not so glad that they found the little critter
residing in our cucurbits! |
|
| 10/3/12 |
Visit to the
site by Ballina Garden Club. Great afternoon was had by all.
First a wander round, then the clubs meeting. This was
followed by a talk by BCG Treasurer, Helen, on how the Community
Garden site was developed, its operation and some future
aims/plans. After all that effort a well earned cup of tea and
coffee, and some yummy snacks. |
Gallery
|
| 5/2/12 |
Planted another
10 trees to our orchard including: Fig, 2 x Pecans, Macadamia, Longan,
Feijoa, Cherry Guava, 2 x Tamarillos & Kumquat. |
|
| 29/1/12 |
Held our first
fundraising BBQ at Bunnings Ballina. Thanks to all those who came
along and assisted. |
|
| 8/1/12 |
The first
private rental plots have begun to take shape. 18 out of 28 beds
are allocated and members are starting to grow their own!. There
are still another 5 beds (10 rental plots) to be built as time and
resources permit. |
Gallery
|
| 8/1/12 |
Welcome to the
New Year! The first working bee for the year was held today and we
managed to get 3 beds filled with soil, planted a half bed of corn,
weeded out all existing beds, and made a start on fitting out the
shipping container with racks to hang tools etc. Also signed up 3 fresh new members, welcome to Ruby,
Bea and Danny! Great day had by all. |
|
| 18/12/11 |
The Ballina Market Stall
was a success, generating much needed income via our Christmas Raffle.
Winner of the raffle was Michael from Alstonville, and second was Kim
Hoile from Sydney/Lennox Head. The raffle was drawn at our first
ever Christmas Luncheon - held at the garden. The luncheon was also a
great success with around 20 attending. |
Gallery
|
| 7/12/11 |
First AGM was
held at 7.30pm (Ballina Community Centre). New committee was
elected (see Committee Link on main menu). Minutes of the meeting
will be in the filing cabinet when endorsed. |
|
| 4/12/11 |
Official Opening Day -
Ballina Mayor, Phil Silver attended the garden to perform the official
opening. A great day out was had by all. Many thanks to all
those who have put in time week after week to achieve all that we
have. Check the gallery for more information. |
Gallery
Advocate
|
| 20/11/11 |
Attended the
Ballina Markets to promote the gardens and raise funds via our Christmas
Raffle. First prize is a choice of an Aerobin Composting System or
a Raised Garden Bed. Planted donated Bananas and Pawpaw behind the
shipping container. |
|
| 13/11/11 |
Made up our
first 'hot' compost pile in the new compost bays. Began marking
out the beds along the northern boundary, gradually moving our way
around the site! Harvested a good amount of silver beet, zucchini and
lettuce! |
|
| 6/11/11 |
Finished off a
few more raised beds, Prepared the groundwork for another 3 standard
beds. Harvested the first vegetables (zucchini) from the garden
and held our first Working Bee BBQ. All had a share of some fried
up zucchini! Great time had by all! |
Gallery
|
| 30/11/11 |
Another 5
raised beds were constructed by Ron, while Tony, Terry & Campbell
went off to obtain the two large worm farms donated to the garden by
Lake Ainsworth Sport and Recreation Centre, Francoise shovelled out the
roadbase into the next hard surface are in preparation for the beds. |
|
| 23/10/11 |
This Sunday
proved to be a huge working bee with over 15 members attending.
Claudia from Bunnings Warehouse came along and donated 4 trays (40
punnets) of vege seedlings that needed planting for the Bunnings
"Grow Your Own" promotion. We also managed to prepare
the area for another two garden beds due for construction and planted
another 10 fruit trees to the garden orchard. (Nashi fruit,
Mandarin, Tropical Peach, Meyer Lemon, Star Ruby Grapefruit, Bowen
Mango, Loquat, Lychee, Black Sapote, Carambola) A very busy Sunday
morning and a huge sense of achievement by
those attending! |
Gallery
|
| 22/10/11 |
The shipping
container kindly donated by Eggins Homes finally arrives on site. It is
expected that signage will adorn the southern side and our seed/shade
house will extend off the northern side. The container will be
used for much needed additional storage. |
Gallery
Eggins Homes
|
| 18/10/11 |
Water tank
plumbed in by Mark at this mid week working bee. Now we just need rain! |
|
| 13-14/10/11 |
The final
topping of gold metal dust is applied to the roadway. The 10,000
litre water tank is delivered. Just need to plumb it in now to
have water on the site! Finally! |
Gallery
|
| 9/10/11 |
Second rental
bed is constructed, soil is levelled, weeded and mulch is applied to the
first 5 beds. |
|
| 2/10/11 |
Work starts on
marking out the rental plot beds on the eastern boundary of the site. We
have our first mid week working bee on the 4th October where the first
eastern bed is constructed. |
|
| 18-25/9/11 |
Retaining wall
is finished, just the backfill to go! Richard & Wayne from Ontrac
Constructions move in with the Kubota to do the hard work and move the
pile of dirt in behind the wall and to level out the eastern edge of the
site. |
|
| 11/9/11 |
The first fruit
tree (Washington Navel orange) was planted at the working bee on site
this Sunday. One of many to come. |
Gallery
|
| 3/9/11 |
Began
construction of the retaining wall, Kevin, Simon, Suzanne and Sue in a
great effort hauling blocks, doing levels and laying the blocks! Ron
began cutting the wood in preparation for the raised timber beds with
assistance from Ken and Louise. Louise also mowed a good portion
of the grass to keep it under control until we build and mulch on
it! Samantha and Kim from Foodlinks came for their first
'official' site progress check and were really impressed with how we
were going! Thanks to all the working bee helpers. |
Gallery
|
| 28/8/11 |
Beds 9 & 10
completed, road edging 90% done with irrigation line installed to inner
edge of road. |
Gallery
|
| 21/8
11 |
Beds 7 & 8
completed and the garden edging to the roadway commenced. |
|
| 16/8/11 |
Shed
(clubhouse) finally delivered to site, construction started on 17th and
was completed by the 19th. Fantastic to have a covered area and a
facility to build from. |
Gallery
|
| 13/8/11 |
Construction of
the internal spine road, and footings for retaining wall on eastern
boundary commenced. |
Gallery
|
| 2/8/11 |
Construction of
BCG Clubhouse begins with the pouring of the 6x6m slab for the double
garage and peers for the 6x6m awning out front. Shed by Ranbuild. |
Gallery
|
| 31/7/11 |
Manager and
staff of Suncorp (Ballina Branch) present the gardens with a donation of
$500.00 as part of supporting local community projects at our working
bee on 31st July. Many thanks to Suncorp! Following working bees
on 24th and 31st July the first 5 beds are built and the roadway and
location for the next 5 beds have been marked out! Slow but steady
progress. Thanks to all who have participated so far! |
Our Sponsors
Gallery
|
| 17/7/11 |
Another
successful working be this Sunday, another bed completed with the third
bed half done and an additional bed 'dug' out ready for laying. A
further bed marked out. Measurements taken for the coming
retaining wall and the shed mark out completed. |
Gallery
|
| 2-3/7/11 |
First working bee weekend.
Garden bed mark out and garden bed formation. Those who
participated in the inaugural working bee were: James
Alcock, Marli Ayres, Marian Byrne, Ken Cordray, Sally Del Perugia,
Max Gilbert, Mal Lowe, Tony Meldrum, Nathan O'Brien, Therese
O'Brien, Neridah Pickering, Martin Puusep, Simon Scott, Helen
Sissons, John Smith, Bob Stammers, Caroline Stammers, Kevin Strong,
Sophie Tomkins, David Walsh, Suzanne Walsh. Thank you to all
who participated. |
Building
Raised
Garden Bed
|
| 19/6/11 |
Open
day for the community. Display for garden plan, sausage sizzle and
raffle held on site to celebrate gaining site access and the beginning
of development. Winner of the Vegetable Tray raffle - Kevin Strong,
congratulations! |
Advocate
Gallery |
| 13/6/11 |
Uploaded
finalised BCG Version 1- OHS Policy & User Information, Operational
Rules & Procedures, Conflict Resolution Policy, Form Kit, and new
schedule of fees for both Memberships and Plot Rentals to the
Online BCG Filing Cabinet |
Filing
Cabinet |
| 26/5/11 |
First order
issued to commence the garden fence! Finally there will be something on
the site! |
Gallery |
| 24/5/11 |
First funding
contract signed with Northern Rivers Foodlinks & the NSW
Environmental Trust, managed by Clarence Valley Council. |
|
| 15/5/11 |
Commencement of
site peg out for garden design to begin garden. |
|
| 9/4/11 |
Site access
constructed over drainage culvert. |
Gallery |
| 29/3/11 |
Southern
boundary pegged out with council. |
Gallery |
| 15/12/10 |
Christmas get together. Barefoot Bowling. |
Gallery |
| 20/10/10 |
Presentation to
Ballina Chamber of Commerce on garden progress. |
Gallery |
| 1/8/10 |
Second on-site
meeting held to start a membership drive and bring those parties already
expressing interest an update on what is happening with the site.
Approx 30 memberships were taken and the BCG Committee ran it's first
mini raffle of a Navel Orange tree, won by Mr Bruce Truscott, who
kindly donated the prize back to be raffled again! |
Gallery |
| 27/7/10 |
Committee meet
on site with Geoff Lawton and some students (both Australian and
International) of the Permaculture
Research Institute for discussions on site potential and how to
progress with design. Lots of great ideas thrown around to find a
starting point in the most miserable weather Ballina could produce! |
|
| 27/7/10 |
The Gardens'
Certificate of Association (making us an Inc!) arrived, now we can
really get moving! |
|
| 18/7/10 |
A market stall
at the local Ballina Market was run to inform more members of the
community about the garden and invite people to the next on-site
information day. Children were encouraged to have a go at drawing
a garden logo. |
Gallery |
| 14
/7/10 |
The first
formal meeting of the elected committee took place at the Ballina
Community Centre. |
|
| 30/6/10 |
A meeting was
held to form an incorporated association to manage the garden. The first
committee was established. |
|
| 20
/6/10 |
An on-site meeting was held inviting interested residents to have a look at the proposed site and fill in survey forms of what they would like to get out of the garden. Over 50 keen would-be community
gardeners attended to check out the site and have a say. |
Gallery |
| Pre
June 2010 |
A potential site was
identified with the help of Ballina Council's Open Space and Reserves Manager. The site is located on the corner of Swift Street and Clarence Street, Ballina, between Fripp Oval and Saunders Oval. |
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