Sydney City Farm

As Sydney City Council selects a tender for a feasibility study on where to put the city farm, the project is getting real.
Now we need to build the city farm community so that when we get a site for the farm, we can work together and start building.

Over the next few months we’ve organised stalls at organic markets and festivals to spread the word about city farm.

Volunteers needed: Help spread the word at market stalls

It’s a perfect time to get even more involved and help out. We’re looking for people to volunteer a morning or afternoon to help man the City Farm stall.

If you would like to help, please call Liesje on 0425 200 355 or write us an email at sydneycityfarm@gmail.com

The dates for stalls are:

May
23       Primo Italiano Festival – Stanley Street, Leichaardt

June
5          SMH Growers Market, Pyrmont (TBC)
19        Everleigh Markets, Newtown

July
3          SMH Growers Market (TBC)
17        Everleigh Markets

August
7          SMH Growers Market (TBC)
21        Everleigh Markets

September
18        Everleigh Markets

It’s a surprisingly easy day and you meet lots of nice people. At the stall we will explain the concept and how people can get more involved. We’ll also be selling seedlings and t.shirts to make it more fun.

Let us know if you can help out on any of these days by emailing sydneycityfarm@gmail.com.

If you can’t make it, do the next best thing and mention the city farm concept to a friend. Join our facebook group,  and invite some friends to join the discussion about what they want at the Sydney City Farm.

Thank you for your ongoing support,
Elsa and the City Farm team.

It’s that time of year again to make some key decisions about how to get City Farm up and running. And we want your input.

When: Saturday, 5th December, 11am – 1pm

Where: The Cane Room, Callan Park, Rozelle (map)

What’s on the agenda?

1. A solid constitution – to make sure Sydney City Farm is a robust community organization before any hairy decisions have to be made, we need to get the constitution right. We will be making some changes to the constitution at the AGM, which you can preview here before you vote on the day.
2. Where will we put the first city farm? – Update on where the city farm is positioned, including an update on progress with Sydney City Council.
3. Vote on committee members – If you would like to nominate yourself or anyone else to be a committee member, you can do it by emailing a nomination form to sydneycityfarm@gmail.com or posting it to 237 Bulwara Rd, Ultimmo, NSW, 2007.

Renew your membership and vote at the AGM
To be eligible to vote at the AGM, you need to be a current financial member. You can join or renew online, or of course you can join in person on the day at the AGM.
If you are one of the 1500 people on our email list who is not a member, please take the opportunity to join up now and become a financial and voting member of Sydney City Farm.

Approximately thirty people turned out on Saturday morning to take part in a brainstorming session to move City Farm forward in the most creative way possible. Participants broke into four groups, and their ideas have been captured here below:

1. Engaging with the Masterplanning process

• Form a sub committee for process which looks after who goes to masterplanning meetings and who reports back to the committee
• Approach Council with the idea of a short-term interim ‘lease’ on the site
• Look for more direct financial sponsorship – for support and web maintenance etc.
• Research the councilors – the issues and their perspectives
• Develop a communication pack/document that addresses common concerns in advance – for example the business plan and financial sustainability prospects
• Put some signage for Sydney City farm out on the road at front of Callan Park to show our prospective existence at the physical site and within electorate
• Get elected to Council or support a candidate.
• Get a regular column in the Inner West Courier to promote SCF and the associated activities that are synergistic with the Farm within the electorate
• Connect with local schools (Montessouri, see Anne Sloane)
• Erect a permanent sign in Callan Park saying “We want the Sydney City farm to be here.”
• Look to a variety of levels on which to engage with the Masterplanning process eg. Masterplan meetings, meetings with the councillors, and be aware, co-ordinate and engage synergistically with other interest groups to build widespread support. (Create a list/document that outlines this three-pronged approach)
• Improve email communications about meetings and attendance
• Generate/develop RSVP email notices to ensure attendance at meetings
• Research all possible grants at local, state, and federal level as well as philanthropy.

2. Finding a new site for the Sydney City Farm

• Contact councilors and private developers
• Look at vacant land that is privately owned
• Tackle sites with a limited number of stakeholders
• Avoid anything that would take too long
• The new site should be ‘as well as’ rather than ‘instead of’ Calla Park
• The new site needs to be a 3Ha minimum. Q: How far is too far away?
• Site options might include smaller sites in Leichhardt, Sydney Park or Hyde Park Barracks
• At a TAFE? Railway land? The Botanical gardens? The Domain?
• Need to be able to have animals as well as vegies ultimately for it to be considered a farm – but interim just with vegies?
• Contact other councils. Ask Leichhardt for an alternative site, then start asking the next surrounding councils
• Look at leasing/borrowing private land for a period of time until no longer available
• Ask developers – they would know which sites are available and how long they might be abandoned for (before construction starts)
• Q: Should we be dividing our energy in seeking another smaller site?

3. Maintaining enthusiasm for the Sydney City Farm

• Approach SHFA re making use of the nursery on-site to grow seedlings for distribution to schools to provide resources for “kitchen school” gardens.
• Monthly public meetings to maintain community involvement
• Regular emails to members to maintain interest
• Have a weekly Orange Grove stall manned by volunteers to maintain face to face contact and perhaps sell locally grown vegies
• Host regular discussion or film nights showing how city farms work across the globe
• Encourage letter writing to SMH, local papers and the Telegraph
• Develop a media plan
• Research Randwick Council program of providing free seedlings and tools to those who plant on the nature strip and ask Leichhardt to do something similar.

4. Working with NGOs already on the site

• Start gardening in temporary boxes (such as Earth boxes) that can be easily moved and offer free sets to the NGO’s to house on their site that we would maintain with as much or as little participation from the NGO’s
• Conduct needs analysis of the NGOs. Look at what’s in it for them and from their perspective (Talk to Douglas Holmes)
• Just start gardening and get those who participate to sign a disclaimer to avoid legal issues
• Write a list of the NGO’s on the site – who are they and what do they do?

At the end of the meeting it was decided that it was time to open up City Farm to monthly public meetings. The next public meeting will be held on Saturday the 2nd of May. All are welcome. Prior to that, the committee will review the outcomes from the brainstorm meeting and decide which ones are priorities and can be made into immediate action points to be designated at the public meeting.

News + Updates

Since our last email update in September in the lead up to the Leichhardt Council elections, everything has changed. The State government has handed over control of most of the Callan Park site to Leichhardt Council.

With a Green Mayor and Deputy Mayor, and a majority of Councillors elected who publicly stated their support for our Sydney City Farm proposal, things are definitely looking up. The full and open consultation process will now be carried out by the local council in order to decide what will happen to Callan Park.

So now, even more than ever, we need to ramp up the campaign for a City Farm and Sustainable Living Centre. We want to make sure that we stay firmly planted as an option on the negotiating table.

Leichhardt Council Meeting on Callan Park
Five of the Sydney City Farm board members, and our part-time coordinator Amber Colhourn eagerly attended Leichhardt Council’s public meeting, at which Mayor Jamie Parker and Deputy Mayor Michelle Fields explained the details of the Callan Park handover and their proposed next steps.

The Mayor stressed that no new proposals can be agreed to before the consultation process is concluded.

Members of the public attending were invited to share their vision for the future of Callan Park, so our President Andrew Jackson gave a 5 minute speech about the hope for greater community involvement that a City Farm would bring to Callan Park. Read his full speech here.

Mayor Jamie Parker ‘digs’ the idea
After attending the public council meeting on Nov 3, the new Mayor Jamie Parker invited us to give him a presentation about the Sydney City Farm proposal. Rod Simpson, our Vice President and architect took him through our plans and reported that it was a positive and productive meeting.

Spring Festa and Grower’s Markets
In October and November we held stalls at the Norton St Festa (part of Good Food Month), and the Sydney Morning Herald Grower’s Markets at Pyrmont. We received an overwhelming response from people at these events. We now have over 1500 supporters on our email list, and 270 financial members!

The Business Plan shapes up
Gardeners don’t just have green thumbs, they’re also nifty with numbers. Between September and November huge progress was made on a draft Business Plan. Many thanks to Michael Beaumont who stepped forward to lead this process, pro bono.

Thank you Carla, Welcome Amber
Our inaugural coordinator, Carla Thackrah, has stepped down to pursue her film making career. A huge thank you to Carla for her steadfast management which saw us hold our highly successful public meeting on July 12. Amber Colhourn has stepped up to fill the role. Find her bio at, or contact Amber by emailing sydneycityfarm@gmail.org

Get Involved

AGM
You are warmly invited to our first Annual General Meeting on Saturday Dec 20th. We will present our financial statement and give a report on the last year’s activities and incredible developments. For time and location details click here.

Join the City Farm Taskforce
Council is conducting a full and open consultation process before committing to any new developments on the site. On the positive side, this means that we have an equal chance of getting our proposal included. To achieve this, we need representatives to attend all new ‘Callan Park Task Force’ meetings.

The first Task Force meeting is this Wednesday, Dec 10. If you would like to be part of the SCF Task Force group email Amber Colhourn at sydneycityfarm@gmail.com

Happy Holidays!
Seasons Greetings from the Sydney City Farm team. Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season with growth and prosperity of the organic kind! We look forward to working with all our supporters in 2009 and to see the City Farm and Sustainable Living Centre take shape. Your ongoing support is working to show the council what the community needs, and to get our crops and ideas planted.