Sowing the seeds of new things

Hi everyone,

Please note the Community Pickling Day has had a venue change from Adsum Farm to the Senior Citizens Hall (behind the Daylesford Town Hall). Please enter via Vincent Street.

Due to restrictions, places are limited so please make sure you book by emailing daylesfordcultureclub@gmail.com

Please notes that masks have to be worn by all adults attending.

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Hepburn Seed Savers

The Hepburn Seed Savers are meeting every third Sunday afternoon from 2pm at the Glenlyon Hall starting from Sunday February 21. Come along and help pack and swap seeds, and meet fellow like-minded seed lovers.

Hope to see you there!

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Forest and Free

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Ballarat Tool Library

Congratulations to Ballarat for recently launching their tool library!

From their website:

The Ballarat Tool Library is a volunteer-led initiative that provides access to the tools needed to repair and care for your home and belongings while saving you money from having to buy new tools you may only use once or twice.

We provide a local library of tools - both used and new - garden tools, construction tools, kitchen tools, woodworking tools and artist tools. If it’s a tool we’ll try and stock it as we grow and expand!

We believe that bringing the community together to share resources helps us work towards a sustainable future.

Plus everyone deserves the right to build and repair the things they own - not just those who can afford the tools.

We hope to follow in your footsteps, Ballarat, and one day have a tool library in Hepburn Shire.

Events events events!

Hello everyone, and if you follow the Gregorian calendar happy 2020!

Daylesford Repair Café

The first Repair Café for the year is this coming Sunday January 19 at the Victoria Park pavilion from 1pm - 4pm.

You can RSVP on the FB event here.

Last year an amazing one tonne was saved from going into landfill. How much can we save this year??

For the New Years Eve parade, Daylesford Repair Café joined forces with HRN and the Daylesford Community Food Gardeners. The flambouyant and gregarious float was a great success. Not only did we have the crowd joining in our Bob the Builder call and response Can we fix it? Yes we can! but we were the recipients of the Hepburn Wind best sustainability float award, which came with a cheque for $100, which will go towards more Repair Café tools. Well done to all who participated! A huge thank you to Cath Davies and Jeff Stewart for organising the parade, to Hepburn Wind for our prize, and to Kiara Clifton for this pic:

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Daylesford Culture Club

You are cordially invited to come and get your pickle on at:

Culture Club's annual Community Pickling Day 

Saturday February 1

9.30am - 12.30pm

Senior Citizen's Hall (rear Daylesford Town Hall)

We are hoping to once again partner with Edward + Fiona from Adsum Farmhouse but we are still waiting to hear if our gherkins will be ready in time. If they're not ready we will be devastated, but we will dill with it! And we can always reschedule our day to fit in with the growing season.

More details to come soon. Stay tuned!

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Hepburn Seed Savers

Fore more info: www.facebook.com/Seedkeepers

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Wild Fennel: Hepburn Herbal Group

We can't wait for the first Wild Fennel of 2020:

Saturday February 15

9.30am - 12.30pm

Senior Citizen's Hall (rear Daylesford Town Hall)

The workshop theme is lavender and will be presented by special guest Mara Ripani, who is also the talented photographer of these photos from the December Wild Fennel, where we honoured St John's Wort:

You can join the Wild Fennel FB group here.

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Make a human sign at Hepburn Wind

As part of the Sustainable Living Festival, Hepburn Z-NET, Hepburn Wind and Act on Climate Victoria are co-ordinating community members to make a human sign - demanding climate action.

The Hepburn Shire has an ambition to reach zero-net emissions by 2030 in order to play their part in keeping temperature rise below 1.5° degrees.

Community members and visitors will be meeting at Hepburn Wind to make a human sign highlighting the need for greater climate action and support for community led work.

It is vital you RSVP so that we can all be notified if the event is canceled due to weather, and so a plan can be made for an appropriately scaled outline for the human sign.

Gates open at 9.45am, human sign at 10.15am, finish at 11.15am.

The event will be canceled if there is any fire risk, high temperatures or storm warnings.

Proudly supported by Hepburn Z-NET and Hepburn Relocalisation Network.

RSVP essential
FB event here

If you have spare seats in your car or are looking for a lift, let's all share the carbon!
You can register your car or that you're looking for a lift here.

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Community campaign - Hepburn’s Local Law No. 2 review

Hundreds of concerned residents from across Hepburn shire, along with dozens of community organisations have issued an Open Letter to Hepburn Shire Council over the failure to engage in a proper community consultation process regarding overreaching Local Laws.

The letter calls for Hepburn Shire Council to form a working group with residents to redraft the law – General Local Law No.2: Community Amenity & Municipal Places (draft), and to take seriously the concerns raised in over 100 submissions the council has received on the matter.

To find out more, to view community submissions, to receive updates, and add your name to the open letter, visit: www.hepburncommunity.org

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Local Lives Global Matters 2020 Convergence

Following on from the successful 2015 conference, Local Lives Global Matters 2020: A Convergence to focus on Insight and Action will be held over the last weekend in March from Friday 27th to Sunday 29th.

The world stands on a precipice and we are facing an extended period of challenge and change. Convergence 2020 is being organised to rekindle and extend the energy generated at the 2015 Local Lives Global Matters Conference. It will bring together Central Victorian communities in a transformative process to better meet the challenges ahead.

We are living in a world driven by greed, extraction and growth which has brought us to the brink of social, economic and environmental collapse. The Dja Dja Wurrung have borne the brunt of this damage. They also hold knowledge of how to nurture and sustain the land we live and work on.

Local Lives Global Matters 2020 is underpinned by a deep change approach rather than doing ‘more of the same’.  It’s time to make sense of the crises we face; to collaborate and connect; to take deeper, further and faster action; to build resilience and embed deep adaptation; to transform ourselves and our communities; and to support each other as we relinquish what we need to let go of and restore and create what will sustain us.

The Convergence 2020 organising group is calling for people, groups and organisations to attend and contribute. The following framework is designed to inspire and challenge us in our thinking:

Head What is the latest knowledge? How do we make sense of the crisis we face? What do we need to un-learn?

Heart What do we need to let go of or strengthen? What are we grieving and what are we thankful for?

Spirit What stories do we need to guide us? How do we more deeply connect to the land and each other?

Hands Where do I put my energies now and with whom? What can we restore and what do we need to create ?

Please contact:
John Terry for session proposal forms- Ph 0432 593 514, johnterry@gcom.net.au
Natalie Moxham 0448 372 466 or Laurel Freeland 0498 066 660 to discuss your contribution.

Closing date for session proposals is February 19.

Further information will be available soon on Localising Leanganook.

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DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR

Sunday January 19 - Daylesford Repair Café - Vic Park Pavilion

Sunday January 26 - Terra Nullius Breakfast - Outside Daylesford Town Hall

Saturday February 1 - Hepburn Seed Savers meet up - Glenlyon Town Hall

Saturday February 1 - Community Pickling Day - Daylesford Senior Citizen's Hall

Friday February 7 - Apis: natural beekeeping group - 6 Tierneys Lane Daylesford

Saturday February 8 - Daylesford Community Food Gardeners working bee - Albert St garden

Saturday February 15 - Wild Fennel lavender workshop - Daylesford Senior Citizen's Hall

Friday March 27 - Sunday 29 - Local Lives Global Matters 2020: a convergence to focus on insight and action - Castlemaine

Tuesday April 7 - Soap making workshop in Hepburn - More details to come soon

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Taking positive action - one step at a time

November Wild Fennel

Hello! The details for the next Wild Fennel gathering are:

Saturday 16th of November

9.30am - 12.30pm

Senior Citizens Kitchen, Daylesford Town Hall

Delight your senses with the beauty of roses and other astringent plants of the Rosacea family (think hawthorn, peach, blackberry, etc.)

You might like to bring...
- all of your roses!
- a notebook
- herbs, seedlings, seeds or homemade remedies, etc you would like to share or trade
- stories to share

This is a free gathering and everyone is welcome to attend

The facebook event is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/633056330561730/

Thank you to the incredibly talented and generous Brenna Quinlan for sharing her notes from our last meeting:

Click here for larger image

A message from Wild Fennel facilitator Rosie:

Hi everyone! I am looking for someone to help with sending out Wild Fennel emails and creating event details in a more timely manner than I can. It's a small job, but will help a whole lot. Please be in touch with me if this is something you're interested in.

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Final Culture Club for the year

You are formally invited to join the Daylesford Culture Clubbers for their end of wonderful year gathering. Bring a jar of something fermented or preserved, take home a jar of something fermented or preserved.

Brenna Quinlan, you've done it again! Thank you so much for taking notes at the October Culture Club and allowing us to broadcast them so this knowledge can be shared far and wide:

Click here for larger image

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Wild Pollinator Count

Australia has lots of wild pollinator insects that are often overlooked. European honey bees get a lot of attention because they are a social species, they are easy to identify and spot and their hives are easy to domesticate and manage.

However, many native insects also contribute to pollination in crops and gardens all around the country. We still need to do a lot of research to identify all our pollinator insect species, understand their ecology and how they are affected by human activities. So far, we know that Australia has around 2,000 native bee species, all of which are important pollinators. We also know there are a couple of thousand butterfly, wasp, fly, moth, beetle, thrips and ant species, some of which are documented pollinators. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of information on the ecology of many of these insects, what flowers they pollinate, or where they are found.

The Wild Pollinator Count gives you an opportunity to contribute to wild pollinator insect conservation in Australia. We invite you to count wild pollinators in your local environment and help us build a database on wild pollinator activity.

The next Wild Pollinator Count is:

November 10 – 17 

You can join in by watching any flowering plant for just ten minutes sometime in the count week.

You don’t need to be an insect expert!
You don’t need fancy gear!
You may be surprised by what you see!

More info here: www.wildpollinatorcount.com

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Hepburn Seed Savers: out in the world, down in the soil

Have you visited our local seed library at the Daylesford Library yet?

Enthusiastic library staff member Sarah Hines took these photos:

Seed library co-ordinator Brenna Fletcher has done such a beautiful job!! If you are keen to get involved in this exciting vital project, please get in touch with Brenna.

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A very different kind of world

Can you imagine a world where you can't forage for mushrooms or wild fruit on public land? Where you are not allowed to scrounge at the tip for materials? Can you imagine having to ask council for permission when you want to throw a birthday party at the pub? Or plant a tree on your nature strip?

After ten years, Hepburn Shire Council is making changes to some of its local laws about what can and can't be done on public land and in public places. While the laws are not too dissimilar to the ones made ten years ago, the new laws are more controlling and more suburban in flavour, and are completely at odds with the recent Climate Emergency declaration and the acceptance of the award winning Z-Net Plan, a 10-year masterplan for the Hepburn Shire to reach 100% renewable

electricity supply, zero-net energy and zero-net emissions by 2029.

Please have a read of the new proposed laws. If, like so many of us, you are outraged by the proposed laws, you have until 5pm on Friday December 13 to send a submission to Hepburn Shire Council to let them know. 

Submission details are here: https://www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/draft-general-local-law-no-2/

Please feel free to read submissions by David Holmgren, Patrick Jones and the Z-Net team.

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Co-operation - a way of living for ourselves & the planet

Following on from the hearty community conversation in May on Co-operatives as alternative economic structures, Localising Leanganook is hosting a workshop to continue the discussions and drill more deeply into new and emerging cooperatives in central Victoria, cooperatives that are responding to both community and ecological needs.

What: An experiential workshop on Co-operatives: principles, benefits and challenges. Contribute towards three fledgling ventures.

When: Saturday November 30th 2019, 10am to 4pm

Where:  Daylesford, Yandoit and Castlemaine

The November 30th workshop will visit three emerging co-operative ventures in central Victoria:

First, Goathand Co-operative – a community owned and managed shepherding co-operative that combines goat browsing and grazing with manual handtool work as a powerful method to reduce dominant weed species and fuel loads in the steep gullies and common land around Daylesford and Hepburn.

Second, a common land/farm co-operative on 50 acres of fertile land in Yandoit, where workloads, risks, learnings and experiences are shared, and where regenerative food growing practices are coupled with wildlife corridors. In the developmental stage, this co-op enables access to land for those locked out due to prohibitive costs.

Third, a manufacturing cooperative in/around Castlemaine. In the initial exploration phase, this co-op will support local people, respond to current and future bio-regional needs, provide meaningful and local livelihoods, and produce goods in an ecologically regenerative way. Potential manufacturing initiatives include: soy milk, re-creating animal milk processing (a variation on the old butter factories), materials required for ecological living, and biochar.

Practicalities: The workshop will start in Daylesford (the forest at the end of Tierneys Lane- the way will be sign posted) with the Goathand Cooperative. Then we will move to Yandoit Farming Co-op (Steeles Rd, Yandoit) and finally to the Ray Bradfield room in Castlemaine to brain storm manufacturing possibilities. Please wear comfortable shoes as there’ll be some walking involved.

Who: Dave Kerin from Earth Worker will share his extensive knowledge and experience with  co-operatives, both theory and practice. Vasko Drogriski, along with the other members of the Goathand Cooperative, will share their story including benefits and challenges. Michael and Lisa Jackson, from Yandoit Farm, along with Nikki Marshall will share beginning work and imaginings for the Yandoit farm commons/co-op. Localising Leanganook and interested central Victorians will share their thoughts about potential manufacturing co-ops for the area/bioregion.

Transport: Two 12 seater community buses are available to transport workshop attendees between Castlemaine, Daylesford and Yandoit, and car sharing is encouraged. Contributions to bus costs are requested.

Lunch and refreshments: BYO lunch and keep cup/water bottle. We will be eating lunch at Yandoit farm. A simple morning and afternoon tea will be provided.

This is a free workshop and everybody is welcome to attend.

Registrations are essential! For catering and transport. Please register via email to to assist with transport (bus and car pooling) and catering. For further information contact Nikki Marshall on 0432 232 073.

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A community newspaper for Daylesford

A public meeting on Thursday 14 November at 7pm at the Daylesford Neighbourhood Centre.

The proposed Community News does not aim to compete with existing publications – the Advocate, Lost or the Local, or the Daylesford Grapevine – but rather, aims to share information about community happenings, regular gatherings, one off events, sporting results, information about local organisations and activities, and local services available in Daylesford and Hepburn Springs – information that contributes to the fabric of the community, and which is currently not always readily available.

The public meeting will consider the responses from the community to the Proposal, and if supported, will establish a community association to establish and run the Community News.

Cr Kate Redwood would like to hear your views and suggestions. Please email Kate with your comments and ideas. All written correspondence sent to Kate will be reported to the public meeting on 14 November. You are most welcome to attend the meeting and have your say.

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Sing for the climate

Thank you Jen Bray and the Daylesford XR crew for encouraging us to raise our voices collectively as we sing for life.

(If you are reading this in your inbox, the vid won't show up, but you can see it here.)

Wild cultures

November Culture Club

This is a watch and learn workshop. No need to RSVP, just rock up.

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Daylesford XR FLASH MOB

Every day we all act for the world, now it's time to sing for the climate!

Make a joyful noise for the planet! (Non-disruptive action.)

Melbourne Cup Weekend

Friday 1st November 4pm & 5pm

and

Sunday 3rd November 10.30am & 11am

Learn the song at home:

If you are reading this in your inbox, you can see the film here.

The FLASH MOB will be on both the Friday & Sunday.

Meet in the Coles Breezeway between Vincent St and Coles.

Wear brightly coloured clothing!

Make a sign with your climate action message!

Bring 5 friends!

Bring a musical instrument if you can!

More info here.

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Hepburn Seed Savers

Do you wonder how seed lovers spend their nights?

The Hepburn Seed Savers' Brenna Fletcher says, "This is what my nights have been looking like. I feel so lucky to be doing this work of sharing and loving seeds. Seed savers bank will be in the library on Tuesday (October 29) this week!! So much excitement."

Soooo wonderful, Brenna! We can't wait to start borrowing seeds to grow and return.

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Upcoming dates
Community Garden Working Bee - Saturday November 9, 10am - 12pm, Library Garden.
November Wild Fennel - Saturday November 16, 9.30am - 12.30pm, Senior Citizen's Hall.
November Repair Café - Sunday November 17, 1pm - 4pm, Victoria Park Pavilion.