Hi Kalimna here.

I wanted to share with you that Darebin Council have created a seed saving guide!

You can download it from the link here .

You can share your home seed gathering skills by leaving any of your surplus in our little seed library in front of the community centre.

Thanks to whoever dropped off the sweet basil seeds this week … and it’s been lovely to see so many lemons being shared too!

The latest artist to feature in the Alphington Neighbourhood Gallery is Sharyn Madder. Sharyn has lived in Alphington for over 30 years and has spent countless hours wandering around the local parks and along the creeks and rivers, watching and sketching the natural environment at different times of day and in different seasons.

Over the past 18 months she has regularly shifted her attention to the human aspects of life in lockdown, attempting to entertain herself and her family and friends with slightly black-humoured illustrations.

Find out all about her here.

And then pop past any time to check out her works in the gallery on our fence. Many of the original works featured are available for purchase. Just contact us here.

You can get a sneak peek of the gallery and her works here.

Saw this yesterday on a walk … on the north west corner of Heidelberg Road and Grange Road. Fun.

In the face of big issues we all naturally feel a little lost and helpless. But here are some practical things you can do to change the filter and/or make a difference:

• Sign up and petition for regular arts industry stories on the news! How great would it be to see one story a night about creative people doing their amazing things. This is a movement to make the arts more visible and to tell more good news stories.

Image from local Northcote artist @taisnaith.

• Speaking of which, choose to read Good News on the ABC news app. For example this week you can read about Zarna Carter, a non-Indigenous landholder, who freely gave the Nukunu Wapma Thura (NWT) Aboriginal Corporation her 12.1-hectare (30-acre) property in the Flinders Ranges here. Or check out some hilarious videos from a prep teacher called Mr Jackson in NSW (they call it kinder there) who is well and truly keeping his class and the parents entertained during lockdown here.

• Contribute to Australian artist Ben Quilty’s fund to raise money for the UNHCR efforts in Afghanistan. He leveraged some big donors to match small donations, and $1 million donated became $4 million. His campaign is still going.

• Donate food like rice and pasta, tinned tomatoes, lentils and honey along with essential everyday items like toothpaste, shampoo and deodorant to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and support refugee families here in Australia. We’re a collection point. Andy is here on Thursday mornings from 10am to 12pm to receive your donations, before driving them over to Footscray. Note you can leave your donations in the dark grey roller shed just inside the side gate anytime if no one is here!

Our Darebin Parklands posters have been flying out the door over the last week. Every time I go to ACC I print some more and refill the collection bin - but I can’t keep up!

So keep checking back if it was empty last time you looked.

And in addition … this week we’ve added an activity pack into the mix. We’re recycling some little plastic pencil cases and pencil packs that were donated to us. Our Darebin Parklands pack includes the map along with a find a word puzzle, an origami project (a tadpole) and the start of a bookmark (you might like to add some pizzazz and use it as a gift for Fathers Day).