NOW at FERN, Friday Feb 22 2013 Gregorian
Please check the blog page for the latest FERN progress report and important site information.
22/feb, 00001
We couldnt get onto this site to update it for a couple of weeks, but we got it sorted now.
FERN Community Garden is the last of its kind in the local area. It is also widely acclaimed as a very significant community asset. Approximately 5000 amazing local residents visit FERN Garden and Soupi every month, and astoundingly in the past usually only 20 or 30 come to support us in times of great need. The management team at FERN live daily with the continual threat of losing FERN and Soupi to a non supportive State Government, with excessive highway development, over-regulation, and harassment from vindictive neighbors. If you want don't care about FERN and Soupi then ignore this message. Otherwise its your turn to step up to the plate, and forward for yourself, Soupi, and FERN. at the High Street Community Consultation.This is the only chance you are going to get to ensure FERN stays put. So if you have read this far, grab your friends and spread the word, share it on facebook , support Road to Rail, push sustainable transport, in short, do whatever it takes, and do it now. If you value FERN, Soupi, the Raw Food Cafe, or any of the people who have invested the huge amount of time, energy and resources into our community garden for the benefit of the Fremantle and surrounding communities, and your mother Earth, please show your support by sharing this message, writing to the City of Fremantle, and the Department of Planning and Infrastructure, and/or, attending the High Street Community Consultation Saturday 2 March, 2013 3.30pm - 5.30pm, Its your turn to support your community assets or lose them. The Meeting is at Freo Town Hall, at 8 William Street, and entry is via the white spiral staircase opposite Myers old building. Lots of Love
Feb 02 00001
W.A. Sustainable Transport Future Forum is on Thursday 31st January 6-8pm at Fremantle Town Hall was very well attended and the venue was filled with people who supported taking freight off trains statewide. Everyone was ready to speak with the Liberal party about the Libs ideas to put in more roads.. No Liberal party members in attendance.. at home planning more road projects that the people don't wan't perhaps? ... Matthew Hansen where were you this time? Not enough air time in this one for you Matt?
The Main Roads weren't at the meeting either but found they were able to send someone from the council to tell us they considered our sign advertising the forum on High St was not safe and we have to remove it. We believe this is not true, but will do so on Monday to keep the peace.
Jan 30/1/00001 Just like to say a big thank you to Forest Rescue for making their sacred space more inviting. Please all attend the Freo City Hall Meeting about the future of the Magical FERN Garden and Soupi, and if you feel that either or both are important then its important you, yes you make time to be at the W.A. Sustainable Transport Future Forum is on Thursday 31st January 6-8pm at Fremantle Town Hall in William St Fremantle which will be chaired by Brad Pettit, Mayor or City of Fremantle. You will decide the future of FERN and government policy by being at this Forum.
Invited Advocates Panel
You and me and our friends, to ensure accountability
The fantastic Senator Scott Ludlam- cycling,
The wonderful Professor Peter Newman, Director of CUSP - Public Transport,
The fabulous Jane Fuchsbichler, Wheatbelt Rail Retention Alliance,
The superstar Gaye Page-Burt, Fremantle Road to Rail.
Invited Political Parties Panel
You and me and our friends, to ensure accountability
The illustrious Ken Travers MLC, Shadow Minister for Transport,
The magical Lynn MacLaren MLC, Greens Transport Spokesperson,
The amazing Sam Wainwright, Solialist Alliance Candidate.
The respected Max Trenorden MLC, National Party.
The evolving under our watchful eyes, Troy Buswell MLA, Minister for Transport.
The forum is hosted by City of Freo, Organised by Road to Rail, Supported by the Bicycle Users Group, and Curtin University Sustainability Policy ( CUSP) Institute
29/ 1/00001
Just to let everyone know, Jayne has decided she is going back to university to study again. She is no longer the Garden coordinator. We wish her well in all her endevours and thank her for all her assistance in the garden. Until further notice please direct all garden management issues to Wizard. This role will be delegated when we have a suitable replacement. The role is a volunteer role if you are interested see Wizard.
25/1/00001
We mulched the garden path with the help of mulch from someone at the golf course which has not been supportive of us in the past..It looks much better now.. something is happening.
24/1/00001
The wheelbarrows have returned from planet 68. Yesterday The Wizard and Karen attended the Sustainable Transport/Road to Rail/Freight on Rail meeting in the Freo Council Offices.
Danny dropped in musical instruments for use at FERN, just in case I didnt post that important peace of information.
Liv has been helping in the garden, and its looking grand as a result. Liv, Stephen, and Jayne united to form a team and moved the unmovable fireplace stone from the place it has been forever. Now it is in a culdesac or secluded bay close by.
And we love you
23/1/00001
All is good in the Garden.
18/1/13 10:55 am And already we have 2 nice servicable recyclable bikes donated. Now we need some wheelbarrows to replace 2 which seem to have gone walkabout. Anyone know the whereabouts of the missing wheelbarrows? if so please ask them to come back, or send a couple of their friends to do the moving of compost and soil in the garden.
17/1/13 Very busy today, Still working on website and promoting FERN projects at 12pm. Looking into funding, feeding people healthy meals, sourcing electric bike equipment, so even though I dont remember what happened I am sure some of you do. Pete was here, Ronnie, Karen, Max, Simon from FR, Alex in the kitchen with Lear making smoothies and other goodies, Robert tidied and mulched new nursery, Joe and Henrik built bikes, Scott the metalworker dropped in, what else? Mr Secretary was here really early to drop in some garden lucerne tea tanks, John Hein dropped in for a chat and give us some tips. All is well, small chickens put themselves to bed on top of the Nursery. Posted a bunch of bike photos, but they are not on this site yet. In the morning I am sure. Life is good, FERN is a happygarden right now. Love from FERN.
Post script, Joe and Henrik went to help a local lady to verge some of her stuff, and she donated a stainless steel prep table for Soupi. So now ( next day) Tall Robert our volunteer nursery lightworker is now polishing and painting it to suit. Nice manifestation.
16/1/13 The 40 bales of lucerne straw arrived and so did Free Shop clothes from Alexander from Pheonix Pond. Thanks guys. Dave from Lancelin dropped in and explained the benefits of petrol bicycles and offered to build one for FERN. Also taught us how to build windmills from bikes. Pete is here showing Judy how to ride a electric trike. This will occur as soon as she finishes sampling zoom burgers made by Karen, CUlay, Leiyer and Alex in the kitchen. We still have lots of fruit sorbet for the volunteers, but perhaps Mr Secretary didnt know that or he would have stayed longer after verging bikes with Dave. Max is enjoying the garden, The Wizard is heading to South Beach for a meeting at the South Beach Cafe.. Brownies and cream... Karen is heading to the markets to get coconuts since Tim, Sam and Zane have not yet found a method of transportation to get their lovely bunch of coconuts from Broome yet.. but apparently they are drinking a lot of them. Jayne will be in soon, somehow she missed the joy of unloading bales of hay. But I am sure she will be making lucerne tea for the garden soon. Tony H, is on a Global mission, and is in touch every three or four days. Last comment he had was that he was throwing his hat in the ring see what happens. Only time will tell what he means by that, Lord of the Rings?. Lots of other missions are ongoing, so get involved and come and get dirty fingernails for a day or two. We have a scubbing brush to clean them afterward. Love you. Alex just mopped the floor, thank you very very much. And who is going to come up with a viable fly catching solution, a bird , frogs, gekkos, or a zapper as a last resort.
15/1/13 Today we had a visit from Dave the fire guy at City of Freo, and he was happy with our progress, so long as we restack the hay bales a little safer so kids can be safe around them. The garden was full of small children again, and lots of really happy beings dropped in for chats, volunteering, recycling bikes and generally helping the garden to function a llittle better. We planted out some more basil, potted a couple of spearmints, fed a lot of hungry people with really healthy happy food. Soupi last night was very busy, very successful in terms of connecting and informing community and we all enjoyed the fruit sorbet icecreamy concoction which Ronnie and Karen came up with. So yummy. We have some of it stored away and the volunteers are gradually making inroads into it. The combo of Raw Food and cooked vegan delights is truly remarkable and according to Danny so long as we make the curries just a little more spicy we are on a winner. Many thanks to all the volunteers ( about 20 of them ) who made Soupi such an awesome night this time. We were a bit surpised the music was left to Alexander on the violin, but I am guessing that next Soupi the musos will be in abundance as usual. Many thanks to all who attended and all who donated in whatever form they could. Lots of love. Oh and tomorrow morning about 10 am, we have forty bales of lucerne hay comimg so we can get our gardne mulch happening in a big way. Shane is bring it up from busselton on a truck, thank you Shane. And Jayne promised to be here to make sure its stacked correctly, Thank you Jayne. Wizard found a big round poofah on the verge and with the help of Steven and his Taxi, it was put in the garden for Soupi and was so loved we decided it belongs in the kids play area until next Soupi. Barry and Annolease ( hope I got the spelling right ) donated a wooden bench which is looking pretty nice in the garden. Thanks again for all your help. The bike area is looking a little tidier every day under Henriks direction and input. We have moved some of the nursery to the palm next to the bikes and it is making the area feel a little more loved. Thats enough for now. Lots of love from FERN
12/1/13Today we took delivery of 12 bales of Pea Straw for the Garden, We have ordered 40 bales of lucerne hay for mulching and compost and it will arrive on wednesday probably. Tim organised 2 truckloads of treeandgardenmulch from mulchnet about a month ago, so that will probably arrive soon. There are a lot more children visiting the garden recently so that is a good sign we are doing a lot right.
Jayne and Nick took away the chook dome closest to the potting shed.
We had a Japanese Irish Fusion live music session and we recycled 3 childrens bikes. Pete dropped in and we took his hovercraft for a spin in the park. Louise showed me how her very lush garden went at the ashram, so we decided Jayne and Louise will implement some similar techniques at FERN. Jayne is already cooking up her jungle juice to feed the garden, Karen opened the kitchen in the evening, and it seemed that Linda and her were busy prepping orders an looking after volunteers tummys all day. Dennise paid us a visit to see how the RawFood is progressing. Yummy of course....Henrick and Joe were busy sorting out bikes and tidying up the bike area most of the day. Max dropped in for a chat and a smoothie and he fitted a new door to his van which means he may be able to continue the magic bread supply. A bunch of really nice peeps turned up today, and it is good to see we have so much support from everyone in the community. Two cars have been moved out of the FR depot and are on the verge awaiting removal which I am told is imminent. We seem to be doing well in many areas. Sam also dropped in to see how the bikes were going, He has decided he needs to put more time toward busking to make money for his travels. So we may not see so much of him over the next couple of weeks. We had an offer to begin yoga classes in Booty park next to the pond in the morning, so we will post if it goes ahead. Thats only a snippet of what happened at FERN, but its time to sleep, so ..End of post for 12/1/13... lots of love
Many thanks for the lady (Jenny) who walked in off the street for the sole purpose of handing a donation to FERN for the great work we all are doing. It truly is powerful encouraging magical action.
Many thanks to the Healy/Truman family for their magnificent and fantastic ongoing support of healthy community spirit. The grapevine speaks volumes.
Thanks to all for your Soupi support, special thanks to Akiko for hanging in there with cleaning up. Amazing stamina. Much appreciation. Thanks to Max for the wonderful bread delivery again. Thanks to Amelia, Karen, Linda (Molly Orange), and Sarah for being yummy soupi chefs. I get the feeling Rodger was also space clearing. The movie by Wildeclan (Luke, and Sharnah) really was awe inspiring and viewed by a surprisingly large attentive audience.
We received a text yesterday from the wayward Tim and Zane, having an amazing magical journey fueled by enthusiasm, they "crossed the scorching desert" to arrive in Broome, the place where all their dreams will be fulfilled. Very fitting since at soupi last night, we had a viewing of films about the songlines of the Lurujarri, The people who's homeland is being threatened by the present dictators take on environmental sustainablility.
FERN will accept donated seaworthy or near seaworthy vessels ( boats or small ships) for enviro research and to promote the enviromental cause, Licenced economical vehicles to provide transport for volunteers, a couple of small easy to assemble sheds, Tools for bikes, workshop and gardens, donations of men and ladies summer clothes for FreeShop, Good footwear, seeds of all kinds,
The remainder of this post is about garden, kitchen and bike recycle opening times, Raw Kitchen evening special opening and our wishlist for resources and some of what we are creating at FERN.
The magical FERN garden is open from when Jayne arrives in the morning til we all leave at night. But to be sure the gate will be unlocked from about 9:30 am til about 5pm. For out of hours access or event information, Soupi etc. call or text Wizard _0415618250_
The FERN Bike recyle is open from around 10 or 11am most days, and closes when the volunteers go to the beach. usually around 3pm, but just drop in before sunset and we might be here.
The kitchen is open from 10 til 4 most days except Monday which is reserved for FERN SOUPI magic. If you want to reserve space or tables for functions, special events, or seminars, speak to Karen as soon as you can.
Due to many residents enquiries and requests, We have decided to open the community raw kitchen again from 6 to 8 on friday and saturday evening again provided it gets plenty of community support. So if there are plenty of peeps here on those evenings we will support community wishes.
Call Wizard_0415618250_ if you have any queries about Soupi, .
If you have very recent multimedia, website experience please assist.... soon.. we love you.
We are currently looking at solutions
to keep the garden cool,
to recirculate the main watercourse to keep it flowing and fresh.
to find a big fountain
to make the bike recycle easy and more effective,
to get mulch onto essential entrance areas
to get a better free shop space
to find free seacontainer to house tools
to acquire a small useful van
to get 2.2 by 2.5m mobile coolroom
to get small mobile cooked vegan soupi kitchen
to move FERN main entrance gate to middle of high street fenceline to reduce perceived montreal street noise whilst leaving the Lorax with its own entrance.
to ensure the entrance to the Lorax area and the Lorax area is free of all unserviceable vehicles, junk, and composting materials.
to remove all non essential 'weeds' from the site.
to dig out some areas of synthetic carpet from the garden and dispose of it
to empty, and clean the rainwater tank
to build a much more suitable chook house and pen. (for the three factions)
to begin our FERN float for 2013 festivals including freo festival
to drill and clamp the roof of FERN building so it only rains outside the building
to mulch the stack of wood near the yurt
to acquire a source of truly magical organic compost to move our garden upgrade to the next level
to initiate FERN Plant Rescue for donated loved plants
more pigmy perch for ponds
to find an environmentally friendly solution for flys since the frogs are not eating enough of them yet. Gekkos?
acquire a 8 metre tipi for ceremonial purposes
Install bird houses to encourage species of native birds into garden
Also Akiko is collecting donations of light clothing for displaced farmers and such in Indonesia and PNG,
FERN is looking for a big quality kitchen shelf to replace the one Smiley the Tiler has kindly loaned us for the past 3 months. Oh and we need trolleys to put the gas cookers on for soupie. Please contact Wizard on _0415618250_ so we can check big items before you bring them to FERN please. Max has a van and we may be able to pick up.
Pete is the electric vehicle specialist and he is looking for any bikes or electric vehicles to get electric motors and high quality ev batteries. He is presently selling 2 electric bikes and a electric scooter with prices from 500 to 1100 approx if you are interested , see Pete at the garden.
We are looking for any ideas which you are able to provide some volunteer time or support for which will make FERN a more sustainable community.
Pheonix Pond Community in Hamilton Hill has provided us with information on the LETS exchange system and we are looking to see how to implement it for our community. We are also looking into ways of providing members and friends with affordable food which is just out of code similar to the FoodBank
Bantam hens are very welcome if you need a home for them.
Happy everyday, we love you
