Hi everyone, we’re back on deck today (Monday). We hope you had a lovely Easter and school break. If you sent enquiries through over the holidays that we haven’t answered already, Kalimna will get back to you tomorrow (Tuesday) when she’s in the office.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be working on some of the bigger picture things - including working with Lee on our next feature artist for the Alphington Neighbourhood Gallery (on the fence), finalising the podcast studio, and getting the raised gardens up and running (I need to head out to Bulleen Art and Garden for a dwarf lime for the centre of the new round garden as a starting point). Also I need to line up a time with Darebin Council to deliver some fresh tanbark for the front garden … and I must order the new cubby house, deck and sandpit to complete the toddler play space out there as well.

Yikes, I feel busy already! We’ve got lots of exciting new plans for term 2 and we’re looking forward to sharing them with you over the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

And don’t forget that we have morning tea on the corner every Friday at 11.30am. Come along for a cuppa and cake and chat. We’d love to see you.

Join us for morning tea on the corner every Friday morning from 11.30am.

Our seed library has been restocked lately and there are lots of lovely daffodil bulbs you can collect, and a variety of herbs and leafy greens as well.

If you are contemplating some gardening in the school holidays why not pop past and take a look at the seeds our community is sharing?

And don’t forget to collect seeds from your own garden to share with others. Drying them out and packaging them up could be a lovely project to do with you kids (or grandkids) in the school holidays!

A second coat on Wednesday … and the second wall started as well. Thanks Manu for stopping by and rolling your sleeves up for a while! It’s starting to really come together now don’t you think?

We’ve had an exciting week in our front garden this week with Mark and Mark from Pacific Australis Landscapes here finishing off all the big things that were in the pipeline before COVID put a halt to plans.

They’ve rearranged the rocks in our front garden to create some small seating areas, and have made room for a third raised garden bed (round this time). These garden beds will form the centre of what we hope will be an even more productive community garden. They are connected up to the water tank that was kindly donated and installed by Yarra Valley Water and we’re anticipating that they become a fabulous community resource, both in terms of creating opportunities for people to come along and get to know each other as they garden together, but also in terms of generating some food that can be used for local cooking and eating (for classes, for catering for morning tea etc. ).

If you pass by you might also notice that Jenny built a potting bench … and we’re looking forward to putting in a small greenhouse next to it so that we can germinate some seeds and have seedlings available in our street seed library into the future. So many fun new things …

Mark and Mark also finished off the landscaping out the front of the community shed, putting in some beautiful slabs of stone to create a dedicated seating area. Our community shed space is so well used and it is wonderful to think that it is 95% complete. Next week we’ll plant some native violets and white thyme in the gaps between the stone pavers and plant out the rest of that corner garden under the lemon tree and we’ll be done. Hooray!

Last Friday Anne (our chair) and I were delighted to show Cr Gabrielle de Vietri, Yarra’s new Mayor, around the house and talk to her about all the exciting and neighbourhoodly things we do here. Gabrielle came along with Kathy who is our main contact and lovely colleague at Yarra Council and Elly who supports volunteering across Yarra.

It was a great morning to visit as it was Brett’s birthday and we decorated him a pretty fancy cake. We’ve attached some photos so that you can admire our efforts and wish you too were here to partake of the sugary delight!

So, if you would like to eat cake and coffee with nice people in the neighbourhood any Friday during school term, just pop past at 11.30am. Alternatively join us from 10am for art, craft and gardening (and possibly some cooking/cake decorating). We hope to see you soon!