Yandina Community Gardens

41 Farrell street, Yandina

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Flourishing Future For Yandina Community Gardens

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What is our focus?

Earlier this year the YCG Management Committee completed a review of our strategic plan.  The process provided an opportunity for our organisation to reflect on our vision and purpose and systematically plan for our future.  There was much passionate discussion had during this process as our committed and visionary volunteer management team joined hearts and minds to commit to a flourishing future for Yandina Community Gardens.

A summary of our plan is included in Table 1. A copy is available in the Bluehouse.

Table 1 – Summary of Strategic Plan

Our vision is to be a leading knowledge and demonstration hub for sustainable living utilising the philosophies and principles of permaculture.  Towards achieving this goal, we have defined a number of key projects to achieve over the next 12 months.  We have already achieved a couple of these, including:

  • Increase in the number of workshops,
  • Development of factsheets (available on our website),
  • Implementation of a volunteer induction program; and
  • Conducted a review of the garden design.

The processes with the shop, nursery, house, and garden have also been reviewed and improved.

The garden design review was facilitated by Morag Gamble over a series of six workshops at the gardens from July through September.  We had 30 participants and Morag stepped us through a process much like a mini Permaculture Design Certificate course.  The end product – a new permaculture site design – is finalised and available to view in the Bluehouse.

The central element within this design is the development of an outdoor/indoor education centre on the currently underutilised bitumen space next to the carpark. This supports our key focus of increasing our reach and scope of our education and training workshops. Our current space within the Bluehouse is limited to 40 participants and most of our workshops are sold out.  The newly built space will encompass a shop, commercial kitchen / café space, toilets and seating for approximately 150 people.  We also plan to develop an art/creativity hub and enhanced spaces for children throughout our site.

We have exciting plans for our future here at the gardens and we ask all of you to continue your support and join us to stand strong as guardians of a more sustainable earth.   

Colleen Bichel

President

Honorary Life Member Takes Us Down Memory Lane

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Linda Mahony, one of our honorary life members recounts the Gardens history at the members’ event held in December.

In 2001, interested residents requested a plot of land from Maroochy Shire Council to set up a community garden.  On 12th May 2002, this became a reality when Council donated a disused bitumen-covered basketball court and tennis courts to the group as the ‘ideal’ place to set up their veggie gardens, and so, the Maroochy Community Permaculture Group was born. The original membership was 6 active members and 12 financial members. The gardens were also the first permaculture gardens set up on the Sunshine Coast and we’re still the only group that operates as a display/educational garden – all others operate under the ‘lease a plot’ system.

In 2002, the gardens were established on the old tennis courts under the care of a full-time manager. The main entrance was via the gate in the side fence alongside the park.  This area also contained the old tennis clubhouse, which comprised of a kitchen, toilet and shower, and a large meeting room. This shed was in a very sad state of disrepair and needed a lot of work to bring it up to scratch. It was demolished in 2007 due to termite infestation and asbestos.

In August 2003, the ‘Community Jobs Project’(CJP) started work on the ‘little house’ which had been moved on-site on the newly leased block of land across the car park from the basketball court. This house is now over 100 years old and has seen life in a few different streets of Yandina in its time. The “CJP” work brought the house up to the point where it could be used as the new office and training area and, after the paint job on the exterior, it became known forevermore as The Blue House.

In 2003, the original cob oven was built with help from Bob Cameron of Rockcote and it was replaced in 2005 due to termite attack, again with Bob Cameron’s amazingly generous help.

In 2004, the gardens put on a weekend of music, food and artisan stalls, known as Permafest.  It was so successful, that it was repeated the following year.  Because Yandina residents did not know much about the happenings behind all the trees at the Gardens, it was felt that these Permafest events gave the locals the impression that permaculture was all about unwashed, dreadlocked hippies.

In 2008, Council, through a series of workshops held over a number of weekends, built the straw bale structure to replace the old tennis shed. This structure provided kitchen and shade facilities for the workers in the garden.

In 2009, a federal water grant provided for the aquaponics system and water tanks to help ease the reliance on town water.  A grant from Council to make the Blue House more sustainable was also received and this provided solar water and power systems as well as the pergola over the kitchen on the western side of the house.

In 2010, the gardens were the recipients of the Sunshine Coast Council’s ‘Glossies’ award for Edible Landscapes and this award brought in lots of attention and visitors to the gardens.

In 2010 we received a 1-year grant from SCC through the Environment Levy to run free workshops covering all aspects of sustainable living and then in 2011, we successfully applied for a 3-year grant to continue this program – this grant gave the gardens just over $18,000 a year for the three years.

Also, in 2011, Maroochy Community Permaculture Group Inc decided – for legal reasons – to change its name to Yandina Community Gardens, as this was the name most people used when referring to the Gardens.

Over the years, the Gardens has established itself as a premier educational facility and we have been able to entice people of the calibre of Costa Georgiadis, Jerry Coleby-Williams and Annette McFarlane to come and spend the day with us at our Open Days, generously giving freely of their time, knowledge and expertise to our many visitors.

There have been many changes to the original design over the years, and there is now a new plan in place to bring in more changes over the next five or so years. To read more about the strategy click here

Thanks For The Dedication And Service To Our Organisation

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At the member function in December 3 of our members were awarded honorary life membership for their dedication, commitment, and service to our organisation. Penny Foster, Linda Mahony, and Doug Mahony have been with the gardens for many years and are important advisors to the management committee through the ‘Garden Sub-committee’. They bring with them the wisdom of the Gardens’ history and many years of knowledge and service. We are so grateful for your continued service to our organisation and thank you for your advice and dedication.

Linda also gave us an account of the gardens’ history, click here to read.

Yandina Community Gardens Celebrates Another Successful Year

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Members and volunteers came together to celebrate another year of success. As per our tradition, we fired up the pizza oven and Trevor and Tom made us some delicious Pizzas. Despite the intermittent rain, we gathered in the Blue House to hear from our president about the organisation strategy & new garden design, Janenne Brown spoke about the volunteer induction program and how volunteers are now able to find the right spot in the organisation, Gayle Richens & Amber Grimley spoke about the planned kids and seniors program, we gave out awards and connected with each other.  Volunteers that had given 100 hours or more were gifted 2 free workshops and we made 3 awards of life membership. There was a lot of talking, fun, and laughter. Thanks go to the members, volunteers, and management committee for a great year.

Click here to read more on the strategy and new garden design

Click here to read more about the life member awards

Pepino Melon Citrus Salad

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Ingredients

2 Pepino melons, peeled, seeds removed and cubed

1 large navel orange, peeled and segmented

1 blood orange, peeled and segmented

½ medium red onion, thinly sliced into half moons

10-12 kalamata olvies, pitted and chopped

Freshly picked violets and pansies for color

Fresh salad greens

Fresh mint leaves, chives and basil, chopped (about ¼ cup total)

Olive oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Salt, freshly ground pepper, to taste

Method

Mix the first five ingredients and toss with the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, fresh herbs, salt, and pepper.

Toss in the fresh flowers.

Serve over a bed of fresh spring greens.

Categories

Tags

biochar chop & drop compost composting Edible Greens edible leaves edible seeds edible tubers Event food waste food waste loop ground cover insect attracting Kids event Kids program know your plants Learning Living sustainably Management Committee medicinal plants medicine member event Morag Gamble native stingless bees Nutrient Dense Food Open garden visit Permaculture Plant plants Recipe Recipes Subtropical Greens Support plants Sustainable Building sustainable living Tropical greens volunteer water plant Wax-wrap making wax-wraps Workshop workshops Worm Farming Yandina Community Garden Yandina community Gardens

Permaculture People

Elizabeth Fekonia - Permaculture Real Food
Anne Gibson - The Micro Gardener
Morag Gamble - Our Permaculture Life
Dee Humphreys - Eatin Garden Edible Garden Tours

Acknowledgement of country

Yandina Community Gardens acknowledges and pays respect to the Traditional Owners of the land, the Gubbi Gubbi (Kabi Kabi) people, past and present and emerging. We recognise and wish to learn from their spiritual and cultural connection to the land.