By Shirley James, PCC Secretary
Hope you all enjoyed the talk about Hemp at the last Information Night. It is a great pity that we cannot make use of such a wonderful resource in Australia because of restrictions on growing it when it is a type of hemp, without the drug properties. It certainly seems to be less harmful to the environment than cotton.
There were quite a few people at the first monthly activity on 25th May at Alexia’s property at Jilliby and what a lovely property it was! It nestles in among the hills with a stream bordering the forest. We had a lovely time finding edges as we walked around the paddocks. When we entered the rainforest and stood in a magical spot among trees and vines a feeling of tranquillity crept into your mind and body. We also spent some time discussing how edges applied to social permaculture and this was an interesting experience and I think that some of us were confronted with a new slant on edges that we had not previously fully explored.
No doubt you are all enjoying the rain we are having. It is certainly good for our gardens even if it is a bit difficult to get the washing dry. We seem to have quite a lot of lemons at the moment, as I guess a lot of you have, so I have preserved some and I think they look quite attractive in their jars. If some of you have a surplus of Strawberry Guavas they make a very nice jam. I Googled a recipe and although it is a bit fiddly it isn’t hard. Sometimes it is hard to think of ways to use your surplus and not waste it. Naturally you can give it to others but they frequently have too much themselves so if you have some ideas about this share them around at next week’s Information Night.
The next Information Night is on Tuesday 17th June, and Sandra Norman will talk about Biodynamics. This should be an interesting and useful talk for us all. Sandra’s long time gardening experience should be of great value to us and I can imagine that many of us will have questions for her. Hope you can all come along on Tuesday and remember to bring your own mug and a plate to share if you possibly can. Thanks to all those who brought such yummy food last month. We all enjoyed chatting over a delicious supper.