Welcome to the final edition of E-News for 2020.  No doubt its been a challenging year for so many of you and phew that this year is coming to a close.  We wish all of you the very best of health and wellbeing over the weeks ahead and a positive and happy start to 2021!

Thank you for your ongoing interest and support for Northey Street City Farm.

We hope you enjoy this newsletter.

Last chance to get your tickets for the Summer Solstice Cabaret TONIGHT!

Check out the program:

Mainstage

6:45pm Welcome and official opening

7:15pm Summer Solstice Ceremony Cacao and Ecstatic Dance Ritual with Adrian Mornay

8:00pm Zormiwasa African Drumming Performance with Students of Talkin the Drum, directed by Elliot Orr

8:30pm Helly Hoops LED Hoop Show

9:00pm Kairos Kin Electronic Dance Rappers Blue MC (ex Potbelleez) and Kazm (ex Dubmarine)

Free Permaculture Workshops in the City Farm Nursery

7:00pm Summer Gardening - How to keep your garden growing well in Summer with Lucy Hurrey, a Nursery Worker and Permaculture Educator

7:30pm Well Preserved – Learn how to pickle vegetables with Camilla Tulley, a food lover, farmer fan-girl and fair food activist

8:00pm The Impacts and Rise of Consumption Capitalism in the 21C with Dr Michelle Maloney, Convenor of the Australian Earth Law Alliance and the Director of the New Economy Network Australia

8:30pm Pleasure and Healing Through Connection with the Body with Susan Stark, a Sexological Bodyworker, Somatic Sex Educator and Counsellor

Free Arts Workshops in the Mandala Space all Night including:

Earth Arts for Children

Affirmation Writing for the Tree of Life

Community Mandala Creation

Only pre-sale tickets available for safe covid planning.

To grab your ticket/s follow this link.  On sale until 6:30pm today.

Look forward to celebrating Summer Solstice with you!

CITY FARM NURSERY 

Shopping for Green presents this year? 

Well we have something special for you.  A Sale BEFORE Christmas.  

On Sunday 20 December, City Farm Nursery is taking 10% off all plants, seeds, potting mix and fertilisers. (books not included).  Looking for stocking fillers as well ?  How about a packet of seeds, bees wax or perhaps some local honey.  We've got you sorted. 

Would you like to gift someone something but a little unsure what to get?  That's OK we are too, so perhaps a Gift Voucher is a good alternative.  They can be purchased online or at the Nursery next time you visit.

We would like to extend our thanks to everyone for your ongoing support this year.  Thank you for your patience and understanding during such a difficult time.  It was a challenge for all and we hope that spending time in your garden has offered you moments of solace, inspiration and re-connection. 

City Farm Nursery looks forward to seeing you in the New year.

The Nursery opening hours from Christmas Eve until the 8 January are as follows:

Don’t miss our Christmas Market on Sunday the 20th of December where you can get all your Christmas food and ethical gifts.  

Go organic, sustainable, and ethical this Christmas.  Make it a New Year's Resolution.  Bring the kids and let them play at the free earth arts stall.  Our markets are family friendly and set in a delightful permaculture garden.  Avoid the big shopping centres and support your local organic farmers and ethical gift makers.  Buy a plant for someone for Xmas and get 10% off from the City Farm Nursery.  See you on the 20th for the Northey Street Christmas Market.  

The markets are open every Sunday in December and January to help you make organic, sustainable and ethical choices into the New Year!

On Tuesday, I was pleased to deliver a tray of native rainforest species, Cryptocarya microneura (Murrogun) seedlings to a local not-for-profit native nursery, Save Our Waterways Now (SOWN).  I collected the seeds from The Gap (Enoggera Creek) about 2 months ago.

Auspiciously, the nursery manager had just raised at the management committee meeting that they were unable to source these seeds / seedlings for quite some time but luckily, this year happened to be bumper crop year!

These rainforest seeds were soaked for 24 hours in water (much like other rainforest species) and after being sown in a tray of potting mix, germinated after more than a month (rainforest species can take a long time to germinate!).

Northey Street volunteers then transplanted these seedlings into tube stocks and were then delivered to the SOWN Nursery.  Thanks again to NSCF and SOWN volunteers for the excellent work you do!

SOWN provides quality native seedlings to our local community and through our membership with the organisation, we have been able to get hold of many of their seedlings which were planted into the bush regeneration area along Breakfast Creek.

So, in a nutshell, we 1) collected the seeds from local catchment area, 2) propagated the seeds, and 3) distributed to community members within the catchment area through SOWN.  By sourcing seeds from local native trees (that are well established) we are ensuring that seedlings we plant are going to be adapted to our climatic conditions.  This is one way we can practice local forest regeneration and certainly a great way to get to know our native vegetation.  SOWN provides great education on local native plants so check their website and consider becoming a member!

The link to their website is here.

Ko, Farm Manager

EARTH KIDS

The final Earth Kids program for the year is being held this week.  We are really grateful that we missed just one school holiday program due to the pandemic, and that we have been able to run all the other programs with some minor adjustments. It has been wonderful to see the children loving their time outdoors and their excitement and curiosity in discovering the animals and plants at the farm.

The next Earth Kids school holiday program will be run from Wednesday 7 April to Friday 9 April. Bookings for this program will open early in the new year. The next Earth Kids homeschool program will be run in term 2.  Stay tuned for the dates.

Tours and School Visits

Tours and school activities have been back in action, and our booking schedule for terms 1 and 2 is filling up.  If you would like to bring your school group or any other group to the farm, go to our website:

School groups here: 

Non-school groups here: 

Join Bob Mud to get creative with the Earth

Earth Arts is free outdoor learning through creative play engaging with the planet by means of earth, air, fire and water while encouraging diversity and cultural inclusion.

Get active and come on down to the village green at Northey Street to participate in the fun and learning and laughter.   Join in with these informal, hands-on activities:

• Help out or just get muddy at the Earth Arts stall on Sundays from 7am until everyone leaves. These are interactive, no cost activities using found clay, natural and recycled materials.
• Earth Arts activities, music and more on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9am (including all through January)

Children attending activities at the Farm must be supervised by a responsible adult at all times.

(Donations for preparation appreciated)

Further information about the playgroup is available on Facebook here.

ADULT EDUCATION

We have so many wonderful workshops coming up next year. You can check our full schedule for Jan to March by clicking on this link.  

Below you can find specific links to our February workshops.

View all upcoming Workshops HERE.

NB: onsite workshops will observe social distancing requirements.

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.  

We also have an Australian First Nations Scholarship Fund and if you wish to donate to this please donate HERE and then contact Adnan, E: finance@nscf.org.au to confirm this is where you would like your donation to land.

As a not for profit charity, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.

VOLUNTEERS

You can get involved with our vibrant Farm community by becoming a volunteer.  Volunteer areas include farming, nursery, construction and kitchen.  We also occasionally need people with professional or trade skills (even off-site help, if you can’t get to the farm): building, electrical, plumbing, welding, accounting, legal, to name a few.

Keep an eye on our social media and website for updates about volunteer opportunities.

ALLOTMENTS

Northey Street City Farm’s Allotment Gardens are the perfect opportunity to get started! Grow your own organic food, learn from others and share in this wonderful inner city community! If you would like to put your name down for an allotment please email: info@nscf.org.au

FARM TOURS

We run free tours of our nursery, gardens and orchards. This is a great way to learn more about Northey Street City Farm.  

Please contact Ronni:  educationandsupport.mgr@nscf.org.au if you would like to arrange a guided tour.

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