Tag Archives: Gardening

As the Blue Mountains awaken to the vibrant colours of Spring, the Mid-Mountains Garden Festival is set to celebrate its 40th anniversary this September. The event is a much-loved tradition featuring a diverse array of local gardens, each offering a unique experience for visitors.

Bundjalung Yaegl woman and Bullaburra resident, Janelle Randall-Court, has a long history of working creatively to inspire people to care for Country. We interviewed her after watching her give a cultural presentation for Greening Australia’s Cooling the Schools Project.

Growing fruit and vegetables is immensely gratifying, but doing it consistently well is hard: and that’s where Community Gardens are an invaluable resource. Visit Mid Mountains Community Garden with Belle Butler to dig deeper.

A green roof, with soil and a vegetation layer, reduces energy use, boosts biodiversity and reduces bushfire risk. Read about a home in Linden where the owners have enjoyed the benefits of their green roof for over 30 years.

In response to the global biodiversity crisis, which has seen around 69% of wildlife populations decline in 50 years, Lawson resident Ian Tanner has established an Ecological Funding Group which is raising funds to provide focussed donations to the Environmental Defenders Office and The Nature Conservancy.

Bushcare's bimonthly Weed Walk and Talk in Hazelbrook is attracting both young and old to learn more about protecting our bushland. Getting rid of weeds supports biodiversity and reduces fire risk by maintaining healthy native bush with less fuel. Volunteers are also joining the group to meet people and do something for the environment.

Mid Mountains Seed Savers in Bullaburra maintains a seed bank as a security measure for the future. The seed bank preserves diversity, offers an ongoing supply of locally adapted varieties, provides options for breeding more resilient varieties, and safeguards food supplies in the event of disaster.

Under the artificial lights of a shopping aisle, it’s easy to forget the origin of food. For Polona and Nathanael of Bullaburra, raising their own meat is a way of taking themselves out of the global meat-impact equation. Discover their story here.

Agroforestry around the world is demonstrating a promising solution for reducing the climate crisis. In a recent hands-on workshop in Hazelbrook, participants created a food forest and learnt how they could ‘bend time’ by accelerating its growth to help create a fertile earth for all organisms to survive.

Lawson writer and publisher Sharon Baldwin has written a series of children’s books based on the unique subject matter of permaculture. Read her story here.