The highlight of today was definitely Geoff Lawton’s lecture and knowledge sharing. The day was packed with information and you could literally feel the intellectual activity in the air. 85 minds thinking collectively about how to be better humans. That’s gotta have the ability to move mountains!
The most memorable moment of today was walking into the room (I was a bit early) and finding Bill Mollison seating at the desk. I didn’t expect it, and my heart made a little leap. Bill gave me a long look, I smiled back and took a seat in the second row.
The day has finally arrived for the 2010 Permaculture Design Course with Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton. What lied ahead was a journey from Sydney to Melbourne to meet and learn from these two extraordinary Permaculture teachers. I suppose the natural thing would have been to travel by plane, but I chose the “slow travel” instead and opted for a train.
And so, at 7:30 am I boarded a CountryLink train and we were off.
I woke up on Saturday morning to the sounds of howling wind and rain. I though, “Oh man, this is the day we are visiting Sydney gardens!” I was tempted to crawl back under the warm blankets, but to my surprise the day turned out to be very mild, and even cozy.
On Saturday, September 4 2010, few gardeners from Glebe Community Gardens (including myself) visited two fellow Sydney Community Gardens in an effort to research their methods and understand what successes can be applied at our garden.
Angel Street Permaculture Garden and Newtown Community Garden are a mere 10-minute walk away from each other, but they could not be more different (described below) in their approaches to community gardening. Both are successful and productive, and both have lot’s to teach us about community and abundance.
City of Sydney has graciously sponsored a series of Sydney Community Garden tours, which is a fantastic opportunity to learn and get inspired. My partner and I have been fortunate to join one of the groups on Sunday May 2, 2010.
The tour started with all of us meeting up at Greg Hewish Memorial Community Garden, located on the corner of Ogden Lane and Marriott Street in Redfern. As soon as we walked in, we felt a sense of order and strict alignment at this Community Garden. It utilises raised beds to cater to people with handicaps, and it is thoughtfully divided by graveled paths and brick walls.
Here we began our learning as well. First, we met Russ Grayson who fed us loads of useful information throughout the tour (this information is making its way slowly to this website). We walked around and took some photos, and shortly after loaded into a 21-seatter bus, sponsored by the City of Sydney.
Here we also met Annie Walker, who is the City of Sydney liaison on the subject of Community Gardens. She is wonderful and super pleasant to talk to, and I do believe this tour is largely her achievement. Thank you!
