A very keen group of 8 people from the Clyde Community Nursery came on Friday 8th July 2016. It was a minus 5 frost so they probably felt very at home!
I was lucky to attend their inaugural working bee at Clyde in April 2016 mainly as we have some mutual members of both nurseries who informed us about it – Maggie and Stephen! I was most impressed with the high number of volunteers who were there working away at the old DOC nursery at the railhead in Clyde. The group were steadily making progress uncovering the structures and plants that had been neglected in the last little while.
I had been told the group had also been seed collecting and were keen to learn about propagation from cuttings so Bill Nagle arranged a visit here.
The group came armed with scrumptious treats for morning tea (they put us to shame actually!) and we toured the nursery and restoration area while our vollies carted gravel and did cuttings under Linda’s charge! After lunch Chris and Linda ran a cuttings workshop using a wide range of plant species, before the group headed off back to Clyde later in the afternoon.
Some comments from Bill and Connie were “Great learning, great company, great weather and a great example of what can be done with knowledge, commitment and enthusiasm. What a wonderful inspiration for us”.
We will be closing the nursery for winter on 22 July 2016 – re-opening late September. To celebrate the end of season (and it’s actually my birthday!) and look forward to spring come along, bring some morning tea, have a chat and catch up with friends.
We have some great workshops coming up at the Community Nursery – see below. For Apple pruning and grafting workshops bookings are required – first in first served. Please book by emailing Chris at with the workshop name in the subject line.
Apple Pruning Workshop with the Guytons at Otatara – Sunday 24 July 2016 (morning). Booking Essential (Limited to 20 people,$5)
Apple Grafting Workshops with the Guytons at Otatara – Thursday 22 September 2016 (afternoon) and Saturday 24 September 2016 (afternoon). Booking Essential (Each workshop limited to 10 people - $20 including a grafted tree. More grafted trees to purchase on the day $5 each).
Bee Friendly Workshop for families with Southland Bee Society – activities for children, bee advice, planting for bees – Sunday 25 September 2016 – 10am-noon.
The Nursery has had quite a bit of publicity lately
The second Workshop was as successful as the first with everyone who attended giving excellent feedback. The workshop commenced with Chris introducing Honorlea and the Community Nursery facilities. Honorlea gave an introduction about working with Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territories in Australia (a fascinating story in itself), then her training as a formulation chemist, and the course outline for the day. Each person then introduced themselves and another network of very interesting people was formed. First to be made were the moisturising bars, which take longest to set, then the lip balm. After morning tea a walk around the garden revealed native and introduced plants of use in body products, but more importantly the need to be able to identify any plant you plan to use – for food, for cosmetics or for medicinal use. The Community Nursery is an ideal place to learn about many plants and Friday morning volunteer sessions are one opportunity to learn as well as other specialist workshops such as foraging and plant identification.
After an amazing shared lunch, the session got more hands-on with everyone making their own products, choosing their own combinations of ingredients and essential oils to create their own salt scrubs and bath salts.
Another workshop is planned for Saturday 18 October 2016 so if you are interested in registering your interest email Chris.
Some comments from this and the May workshop are as follows:
‘very well run and informative, thank you for the day’
’Brilliant! thank you’
’We got more than $60 worth of product, learning, entertainment and lunch!’
’Was really a great workshop, thank you so much for offering your knowledge - was really fun’
It started on the Friday at the Nursery with preparations – hollowing out swedes, track tidying and star preparation!
Saturday dawned with a beautiful sunrise and I captured the first light hitting the bush - “our place”. Then it seemed to be a day of food preparation ready for the children’s KCC event at 5pm, organised by Bronwyn. Art, stories, quiet time, star gazing, toasting marshmallows and sparklers were some of the fun activities. The rain and the fact that we couldn’t see an actual star didn’t dampen the enthusiasm one bit – and proved the worth of the Education Centre again.
Later, friends came for our traditional swede carving for lanterns (thanks Beatty!), good food to share – from home-made mulled wine and cider (from our own apples), foraged fritters, scones and cakes. It is a time for reflection – remembering the good times of the year departed, and the not so good, the people who came and left during the year, rejoicing in last year’s harvest and looking forward to the new season, and sharing it all with friends and family. Chris
