A motion was passed to investigate the development of plant nursery programs with those mental health organisations already working in Callan Park within the NGO precinct. This could happen with the help and facilitation of SCF member, Douglas Holmes.

The decision was also made to hold a meeting on Sunday the 1st of February to brainstorm ideas on how to get active in the interim period that the masterplan process for Callan Park is underway.

If you have any ideas for the agenda of that meeting, or a certain set of skills that you could offer Sydney City Farm, please respond on this blog with your full name, ideas and skills outlined.

We will send an announcement out with the exact location and time details for the upcoming meeting closer to the date.

PS. It’s not too late to buy your loved one a Sydney City Farm membership for Christmas.

SATURDAY 20 DECEMBER, 2008, 11am - 12pm in The Cane Room, Wharf St, Callan Park.

Click on map for enlargement

Park at end of Wharf St on waterfront

RSVP by reply email by Sat 13 December, 2008. <sydneycityfarm@gmail.com>

AGENDA Introduction of Committee members

Report by the Chairman

Financial statement

Questions

Any other business

==================

Dear City Farmers,

We are pleased to invite you to our first ever AGM! It’s been a dramatic year of growth and surging fortunes for our vision to create a vibrant City Farm and Sustainable Living Centre in Callan Park.

It’s incredible that in just a year we have generated more than 1500 supporters on our email list, and 270 financial members.

Financial membership entitles you to participate in formal meetings of Sydney City Farm & Sustainable Living Centre Inc.

So please come along on Saturday December 20th, for our first AGM, appropriately held in in The Cane Room on the site we propose would be perfect for a City Farm at Callan Park.

It’s a chance to meet our office bearers and committee members, and find out about all our activities this year. Lemonade, tea and cake will be provided or feel free to bring a coffee over from the markets.

We will also have some of our popular City Farm t-shirt for sale. A great Christmas gift.

On behalf of the Sydney City Farm Committee: Andrew Jackson, Rod Simpson, Brandon Saul, Liesje Clement, Carolin Wenzel, Anthony Sheedy and Carolin Armstrong.

Rod was named one of Sydney’s 100 top most influential for his dedication to sustainable design and community development. Rod’s tireless pro-bono work for Sydney City Farm featured in the write up.

Check it out for yourself here: The advocate, Rod Simpson

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.

Leichhardt Town Hall, November 3:

I have lived in Leichhardt for 15 years. For too long I have thought Callan Park was going to
become another tragic missed opportunity. Yesterday as I walked around the beautiful park I felt,
for the first time, a sense of excitement and hope.

I would like to thank FOCP for maintaining the fight and making this happen.

We talk a lot about the community, but what does it mean in our modern crowded cities where
talking to a stranger on the street is at best unusual, and at worst, treated with distrust or suspicion.

The small communities we do have are often formed around the school or childcare centre or
perhaps the local dog-walking park.

And yet, modern city dwellers need a sense of community as much as we did in the past, when life
was lived in small rural towns and villages.

We need to create this sense of community again…we need a place were it is ok to talk to
strangers.

We would like Sydney City Farm to be a place like that.

Our vision is to create a green sanctuary showcasing an eco-friendly future in the heart of Sydney.

…a place where people can be inspired to live and work in a way that uses less energy, water and
resources, and creates minimal pollution.

…a place that will attract people of all ages and cultural backgrounds.

…a place that will be an alternative to the huge air-conditioned shopping malls that have replaced
the local shops that used to be within walking distance of our homes.

…a place where you don’t need to spend money to be welcome.

…a vibrant and welcoming place where parents with young children can meet for a coffee while
their children play away from busy roads and traffic.
==================================
I was lucky enough to have grown up on a farm. I know the joy of hearing the sound of a chicken
that has just laid an egg and collecting that still warm egg from the straw where it was laid.

We would like city kids to see where their food comes from with their own eyes. Even better, to get
involved in it’s production. We intend that the farm will develop programs with local schools that
have limited space and resources.

I think we all agreed that there is enormous therapeutic benefit from growing plants, getting our
hands in the soil and looking after animals. These are the things that keep us sane or enable us to
find a sense of peace in the crazy world we live in.

In the past we have known this. When Callan Park was devoted to mental health, there was
an extensive farm within the grounds. It would be wonderful to see it reinstated.

There is enormous potential for the City Farm to help rehabilitate and provide training for people
recovering from mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, and other related traumas.
==================================
We at Sydney City Farm, have spent a considerable amount of time developing a possible plan for
the farm. We believe we have found the best possible place for it within the site. These plans are
available on our web site.

The farm would be a not for profit organisation that will belong to all its members and the
community as a whole. Any income generated will be reinvested in our ongoing work for the
community.

It would be managed by a core of paid staff who would organise the volunteers.
There would be no fences, simply pathways running through the farm, much like any other park.
But instead of rose gardens there might be lettuces.

In handing the use of a 4 to 6 hectare section of the park over to the farm, the council would be
saving the considerable costs of maintaining the grounds and buildings We would take
responsibility for the cost of managing the grounds and buildings we use.
==================================
Since June we have been promoting the city farm idea at various markets and events. This has been
the most fantastic experience. We have had an almost 100% positive response and currently have
1500 supporters,  300 of which are paid members … and that’s for something that doesn’t exist yet!

Sydney is ready and waiting for a City Farm and Sustainable Living Centre.
Leichhardt Council now has the historic opportunity to meet that demand and become a leader in
local government on environmental education.

Tell us, why would you like to see a City Farm at Callan Park?

What would you like to see as part of our City Farm?

SATURDAY 20 DECEMBER, 2008, 11am - 12pm in The Cane Room, Wharf St, Callan Park.

Click on map for enlargement

Park at end of Wharf St on waterfront

RSVP by reply email by Sat 13 December, 2008. <sydneycityfarm@gmail.com>

AGENDA Introduction of Committee members

Report by the Chairman

Financial statement

Questions

Any other business

==================

Dear City Farmers,

We are pleased to invite you to our first ever AGM! It’s been a dramatic year of growth and surging fortunes for our vision to create a vibrant City Farm and Sustainable Living Centre in Callan Park.

It’s incredible that in just a year we have generated more than 1500 supporters on our email list, and  270 financial members.

Financial membership entitles you to participate in formal meetings of Sydney City Farm & Sustainable Living Centre Inc.

So please come along on Saturday December 20th, for our first AGM, appropriately held in in The Cane Room on the site we propose would be perfect for a City Farm at Callan Park.

It’s a chance to meet our office bearers and committee members, and find out about all our activities this year. Lemonade, tea and cake will be provided or feel free to bring a coffee over from the markets.

We will also have some of our popular City Farm t-shirt for sale. A great Christmas gift.

On behalf of the Sydney City Farm Committee: Andrew Jackson, Rod Simpson, Brandon Saul, Liesje Clement, Carolin Wenzel, Anthony Sheedy and Carolin Armstrong.

Some of your readers might have grasped the wrong end of the smelly stick
from the headline in today’s report regarding the Sydney City Farm’s
proposal for a small section of Callan Park in Rozelle (”Imagine,
a cow pasture at Callan Park”).

We can reassure Inner West residents and visitors that they will not be
greeted by a vista of idly grazing cows, pigs and sheep. While the
vision includes some chooks, neither cows, pigs nor sheep, are on the
agenda!

Rather, the Sydney City Farm will be a sustainable living centre that
will showcase Sydney as a leader in eco-technologies and education.

The Sydney City Farm and Sustainable Living Centre will ultimately
leave Callan Park smelling like roses, not cow pats!

Carla Thackrah
Sydney City Farm + Sustainable Living Centre
Leichhardt

Field of dreams …
Carolyn Armstrong with her daughters, Emily, 3, and Jessica, 4,
passing time at Sydney City Farm’s favoured area of Callan Park.
Photo: Kate Geraghty

Nick Galvin 
October 27, 2008, 

Sydney Morning Herald, Page 5

WHILE politicians, developers and residents have been brawling over
the future of Rozelle's Callan Park, an alternative scheme for part
of the controversial site has been quietly gathering support.

This radical vision would see cows, pigs and sheep grazing contentedly
alongside organic veggie plots, while school groups learn about seed-
saving and composting. Theatre performances would be staged adjacent
to terraced water gardens and locals would sip fair-trade coffee in a
cafe overlooking wetlands teeming with native wildlife.

Now, after the State Government's decision to hand the park to Leichhardt
Council and squash Sydney University's development plans, supporters of
Sydney City Farm believe their utopian vision has taken a huge step
towards becoming reality.

"What it means is that now we have a site," said one of the scheme's key
supporters, the architect Rod Simpson. "It's quite clear that what the
university was doing was a land-grab."

The farm scheme is based partly on a successful project established in
Melbourne in the early 1980s. The Centre for Education and Research in
Environmental Strategies is on the site of a former rubbish tip in
inner-city Brunswick. Facilities on the 4.5-hectare site include a cafe,
nursery, organic farm and community gardens.

Proponents of a similar scheme for Sydney are seeking three to four hectares
of the 60-hectare Callan Park adjacent to Glover Street.

A horticulturist, Carolyn Armstrong, joined the city farm committee earlier
this year and is a passionate supporter of the idea. "I've got two young kids
and we live in Annandale with pretty much a concrete back garden and not much
room for growing vegetables," she said. "When you don't have much room you
need that extra bit of inspiration and I think the city farm would be a
great way to do that. It's a good alternative for Callan Park."

The Mayor of Leichhardt, Jamie Parker, said the proposal merited "serious
consideration", but it would be at least 12 months before a master plan for
the park could be prepared.

"As soon as all this was announced my phone ran hot with groups calling to
say, 'We want a sporting field here … we want the city farm … we want this
and we want that,' " he said.

"We probably had bids for 400 hectares."

Link to this story at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/10/26/1224955855004.html

We at Sydney City Farm are thrilled at this outcome. The way is now clear for us to work hand in hand with Leichhardt Council and the other community interests on the site, to create a city farm at Callan Park that will showcase the Leichhardt Municipality as a leader in sustainable technologies and education.

With the recent success of environmentally aware candidates in the local council elections, we now have real reason to hope for a greener municipality, a greener Sydney and, a more sustainable world for the future.

The SCF committee will be meeting with Leichhardt Council soon and
we’ll keep you informed of further updates as they happen.

FORUM - CALLAN PARK - AT THE EDGE!
Callan Park is at a critical stage in its history under new management by Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority.  Three speakers discuss diverse aspects of public site histories and their implications for Callan Park.

• Dr Allison Cadzow, Parklands Culture and Communities Project at UTS, discusses the cultural diversity and use of parks around the Georges River and the relevance of her work for Callan Park
• Professor Stephen Garton, University of Sydney, has written widely on psychiatry and Callan Park and will be discussing asylums
• Don Goodsir, OAM, foundation member and past president of Headlands Preservation Inc, discusses the campaign to preserve the defence sites on Sydney Harbour, including Mosman

WHEN: Sunday 7 September 2008 2 - 4.30 pm [including afternoon tea  on the Verandah]
WHERE: NSW Writers’ Centre, within Callan Park enter at Main Gates  @ intersection of Cecily and Darling Streets, Rozelle, then follow the signs
BOOKINGS: Essential – 0413 733 218
COST: $10.00

TOUR - MERMAIDS AND GALLEONS OF CALLAN PARK
Tales from unpeopled buildings and of mysterious mermaids and galleons will reconfigure your understanding of Callan Park’s past as you trample across its landscape and see its future too in Sydney University’s plans to bring its “prestigious image” and a new suburb to a new era in Callan Park’s history.

WHEN: Sunday 7 September 2008 11 am to 12.30 pm
WHERE: Meet at NSW Writers’ Centre, within Callan Park
enter Main Gates @ intersection of Cecily and Darling Streets, Rozelle, then follow the signs.
BOOKINGS: Essential – 0413 733 218
COST: $10.00

See you there!