This month we're preparing for the Australasian Permaculture Convergence, supporting a local verge planting in West End, planting salt-tolerant native plants in our north east gardens and looking forward to our Monthly Night Market.  We're also collecting feedback about the Farm this month, we'd love to hear from you!

ORGANIC STREET FOOD NIGHT MARKET

This Friday Night's Organic Street Food Market is free and has a First Nation line up with Ethan Enoch and Balairi playing. There’s a workshop on Bush foods with Dick Copeman and earth arts activities for the kids. Organic food, cold ale, cider and kombucha on tap and ethical stalls. All set in Northey St City Farm’s beautiful permaculture gardens. Register for a free ticket now.

Next month we will be holding our Monthly Organic Street Food Market on Friday March the 20th for the Autumn Equinox with a Holistic Healing and Natural Art Theme. For information on upcoming night markets find the event on Facebook.

AUSTRALASIAN PERMACULTURE CONVERGENCE

The Australasian Permaculture Convergence is only seven weeks away! Join us from the 20^th-23^rd of April at Camp PGL Kindilan at Redland Bay for four days of inspiring speakers, performers, book launches, yoga, conversations and building new and old friendships. 

Workshop topics include Working with First Nations Custodians, Agroforestry, Food Sovereignty, Bush Medicine, Permaculture for Refugees and many more. The keynote workshops are:

• Earth Activist Training - Starhawk
• Natural Sequence Farming - Stuart Andrews
• Fair Share in the Anthropocene - Robyn Francis
• Permaculture and the climate emergency in the Australian context - David Holmgren

Tickets are available on EventBrite and include all meals and refreshments. Meals will be provided in a buffet style with vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options.  Accommodation is available in shared rooms or in the camping grounds.  To learn more, visit the APC website:

• Speakers and Workshops
• Tickets
• Accommodation
• Meals
• Location and Transport

COMMUNITY GARDENS AND PERMACULTURE FESTIVAL

Sunday the 19th of April from 8am to 12.30pm

The day prior to the start of the APC we’ll be hosting a Community Gardens and Permaculture Festival at Northey Street City Farm. The Festival will showcase community gardens from around the region as well as sustainable living in cities. Come and visit an established permaculture demonstration site and attend a free Farm tour on the day. You can also sample delicious organic breakfasts from the food vendors in the market. A bus has been organised to take people to the APC at Redland Bay after the Festival (book your place on the bus on EventBrite).

PRE-AND POST APC TOURS AND WORKSHOPS

There will be a number of courses and tours running before and after the APC, learn more on our website:

• Courses
• Tours

VERGE PLANTING WORKSHOP

We are proud to support a local verge planting in collaboration with Jonathan Sri, Misha and Gabriel from the Gabba Ward. Come and show your support on Saturday morning the 14th of March on Crowther street in West End. Grab a shovel, meet the neighbours and stay for lunch.

SALT TOLERANT PLANTING IN NE CORNER

Tree team volunteers and WEX crew members braved the rain to plant up the north-east corner of the Farm site. An old mango tree and a bamboo clump were removed from the site recently because they were dying, probably due to salt in the soil from king tides. They were replaced with salt tolerant native plants, including a beach alectryon, a tuckeroo, two sweet wattles and ground covers including warrigal greens, coastal boobialla and pigface. Some of the plants are bushfood plants and some are also butterfly host plants.

As the planting progressed, a king tide rose along the gutters next to the site, highlighting the risk of salt contamination (see picture). While king tides have periodically come up into Victoria St ever since the Farm started, they are gradually becoming higher due to sea level rise linked to climate change. If this trend continues, more Farm trees could be affected along the Victoria St boundary in the future.

Dick Copeman, Tree Team Convenor and Management Committee member.

FEBRUARY FEEDBACK

Every February we like to hear from you to get feedback about what we are doing well and how we can improve the Farm for you. Please take a couple of minutes to let us know what you think.

EARTH KIDS

The Autumn Earth Kids school holiday program and the Autumn homeschool Earth Kids programs are open for bookings.

Earth Kids School Holiday Program dates 2020:

• Autumn – 14^th to 16^th April (earlybird tickets on sale until March 23rd)
• Winter – 30^th June to 2^nd July
• Spring – 22^nd to 24^th September
• Summer: 15^th to 17^th December
  

Earth Kids Homeschool Program dates 2020:

• Tuesdays in term 2 - May 12^th to June 16^th (earlybird tickets on sale until April 12th)
• Fridays in term 4 - dates TBC
  

Click here for more information and bookings

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS FOR TEACHERS
This year we are offering two professional development workshops for teachers:

• Outdoor Learning and the Curriculum: Friday June 5th
• Successful School Gardening: Saturday August 1st

Click here for more information.  For any enquiries, please contact Emma at education@nscf.org.au

TOURS & SCHOOL ACTIVITIES AT THE FARM

We are taking bookings for Farm visits for 2020. We conduct tours for groups of all ages!

• Click here to learn more about school tours
• Click here to learn more about tours for other groups, including out of school hours groups, tertiary education groups, and any other group

Although we had some rainy days, the markets were still full of wonderful people stocking up on their organic rainbow hauls. The fruit and veg has been sensational with all the rain making the produce plump and sweet! Try some produce this month and taste the difference.

It always feels good to know your money is going to local organic farmers.

Yoga has started back at the Farm with the Ecolust Yoga crew and it will be running every Sunday at 7.30am for $10.

We have a great new loose leaf tea stall Basque Apothecary selling top quality organic tea. Lavender, Echinacea, Nettle, Camomile, are just some of the teas you can purchase in bulk. Visit them this week and stock up for your wholesome cups of tea and tinctures.

We had a fun Ukulele Circle where people came to learn the Ukulele and play along to some great tunes with Jacqui Pearce. It was so good we may run them once a month!

As the intense heat dies down slowly it's time to get back in the garden. Replenish soil with fresh compost and don't forget to liquid feed your crops early in the morning or late afternoon.  We sell 'GROW' a certified organic plant based fertiliser which we highly recommend! You can refill the bottle for half price when you run out.

Keep checking for pests as the humidity is still very high.

We are still looking for second hand plain t-shirts and tea towels for merchandise, please donate to the Nursery next time you are in.

The Nursery is looking for more regular Volunteers. Duties include watering, potting up, pruning, fertilising, visual merch, and general nursery maintenance. No experience necessary, please contact nursery@nscf.org.au for more details.

The bees have been busy and we have honey again at the Nursery. We wont be harvesting for another month so if you need a top up of Local honey BYO jar and we'll fill it up for you or you can take one of ours. YUM.

We have a great range of Bushtucker in right now, Hardy, perfect for our climate and low maintenance, come and check it out!

As we anticipate the cooler months ahead, here are a list of seeds to sow to get you started on your next seasonal crops.

Seeds to sow in March:

Beans, beetroot, brazilian spinach, capsicum, carrot, chilli, chives, cucumber, daikon radish, fennel, garlic bulbs, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, onions, pak choy, parsley, parsnip, potatoes, radish, rocket, silverbeet, snake beans, spring onions, turnips, and tomatoes.

Hope to see you in the Nursery soon!

LUNCH BREAK

Did you know that we make lunch for all our volunteers and staff from Tuesday to Thursday?  We all sit down and share the meal together.  If you'd like to become a volunteer, come along to our Tuesday Farm Tour and Volunteer Induction any Tuesday at 9.30am and find out how you can get involved.

WEDNESDAY TALKS

Free talks for staff and volunteers are held from 1pm every Wednesday except the third Wednesdays of each month. They cover a range of practical and/or thought-provoking topics, and we’ll be sharing notes from some of them on our blog.  

At a recent Wednesday Talk at the Farm, Belinda Kau shared some tips on first aid for wildlife from her experience as a wildlife carer.

EARTH ARTS PLAY GROUP

On Tuesdays and Fridays from 10am and at the Sunday Organic Farmers Market from 7am until everyone leaves, a children’s playgroup meets at the Farm to give their kids the opportunity to have some free nature connection. All children and carers are welcome! 

FARM MEMBERSHIP
Did you know you can get a 10% discount at our Nursery by becoming a member of our Farm?   We love to see people supporting the Farm by becoming members. You can become a member on our website, at the Nursery or by contacting the Office on 07 3857 8775 or at info@nscf.org.au.

FARM DONATIONS
The Farm does not rely on Government Funding for its operations. We operate as a social enterprise running the City Farm Nursery, Sunday Organic Farmers Market, and Permaculture Education. We appreciate the financial support of our community, if you are able please donate by visiting our website. As a not for profit charity, all donations over $2 are tax deductible. Thank you so much!

We've migrated to MailerLite for our E-News.  Please let us know if you received this in error or if you see any problems!