Follow the progress of the Summer Garden in Sydney Park by following our photos on our Facebook page – www.facebook.com/Sydneycityfarm.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.497705510291188.1073741827.211571882237887&type=1&l=598c414f9e

Volunteers will contribute to weeding, watering and garden maintenance as well as being important ambassadors for the Summer Garden.  Benefits include learning more about gardening, meeting new people and a great City Farmer T-Shirt.

Register to be a City Farmer volunteer here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SUMMERGARDEN

Anyone can take part in the free workshops on Saturdays until March 24 by booking here: http://www.greenvillages.com.au/city-farm-summer-garden/ scroll down to Workshops/Events

For more information contact Meredith Gray, Summer Garden Coordinator, City of Sydney Ph: (02) 9265 9857 Email: cityfarm@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

Calling on all City Farm supporters to sign up and become a volunteer, or Cityfarmer with the new Summer Garden program being run by City of Sydney at Sydney Park from its Launch on Saturday January 19 until its Harvest event on March 24.

The Summer Garden will give us an exciting taste of the City Farm which is being developed by City of Sydney, the Powerhouse Museum and the City Farm Advisory Group.

As Cityfarmer volunteers we will help plant food crops and join a roster to water, weed and maintain the Summer Garden until we celebrate our harvest together at a final event on March 24.

Every weekend the Summer Garden will include fun workshops on urban sustainability, including no-dig gardening, sheep-dog trials, talks by farmers and talks on how to find quality, fresh food.

Book yourself in at greenvillages.com.au/upcoming-workshops  before they‘re booked out out.

Watch this space – greenvillages.com.au/city-farm-summer-garden  –  for more information on the launch and harvest events.

To register as an official Cityfarmer volunteer Email: cityfarm@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au .

From the moment I picked up the OzHarvest Cookbook I knew it was different. With it’s dramatic yellow titled cover and distinctive binding, printed on forest stewardship certified recycled paper I could tell this was a book that walked its talk.

The OzHarvest mission is simple – collect left-over food from restaurants, cafes, supermarkets and take-aways and deliver it quickly and safely to charities that feed people. It’s a mission that resonates with everyone who can’t bear to see good food thrown away. Reducing food waste is  a fundamental component of living more sustainably – in the book we learn that dumping a kilo of beef wastes the 50,000 litres of water it took to produce that meat. In this country we dump 4 million tonnes of food per year, worth $7.8Billion – 178kg per person per year sent to landfill.

The chefs who support founder Ronni Kahn’s vision of rescuing food to feed people are a roll call of our most celebrated chefs: Maggie Beer, Guillaume Brahimi, George Collombaris, Peter Gilmore, Bill Granger, Christine Manfield, Stefano Manfredi, Lyndey Milan, Matt Moran, Justin North, Neil Perry, Jeremy Strode, Simon Thomsen – and more. We learn a little about each chef and they share three of their favourite recipes,mostly with a food rescue element.

I discovered how I could rescue:

-  Egg-yolks into icecream
-  Stale bread into bread sauce
-  Over-ripe tomatoes into pickles
-  Over-ripe fruit into flans and cakes
-  Cooked meat into pies
-  Left over potatoes into frittata, and
-  Thai curry into turnovers

And the bonus is how fantastic the recipes are – Peter Gilmore’s Chocolate mousse; Maggie Beer’s Apricot, almond & rosemary clafoutis; Neil Perry’s Chicken salad; Adam Liaw’s Huevos coreanos (baked eggs with chili tomatoes); Matt Moran’s Panzanella, Kumar Mahedevan’s Beetroot halwa. I was intrigued by  ‘peasant food’ recipes like Logan Campbell’s Egyptian Kushari – spicy left over lentils and rice and Somer Sivrioglu’s Greek Papara – a yoghurt and meat dish that features left over rice and stale bread.

With the OzHarvest Cookbook on our bookshelf,  Cityfarmers can feel equipped to walk our talk. Not only will we have a collection of delicious and easy to make recipes from Australia’s top chefs, we will contribute to reducing the amount of food we waste each year, which will also save us money.

Visit OzHarvest site to buy your own copy in time for Christmas. Every dollar raised by sales will go to feeding those in need.

Thanks to Director and Founder Ronni Kahn, who generously gave us a Cookbook to give away at our AGM on December 11. It was won by Catriona Macmillan, who attended representing the Food Fairness Alliance. Happy cooking and food rescuing Catriona!

The resolution asks the Planning Minster Brad Hazzard to “consider allowing for additional multi-purpose playing fields on that waterfront area of Callan Park identified as the Veterans Field site in the originally exhibited Draft Master Plan of February 2011″

Extent of Veteran’s Field proposal

This is a large area that includes the northern section of the proposed Callan Park Farm, as well as many trees and buildings that are slated for re-use.

Sydney City Farm supports the Masterplan being implemented without amendment.

We have sent a letter to Planning Minister Brad Hazzard advising him that We are concerned that the area identified in the request for extra sports fields, would encroach on the proposed site for an urban farm and severely impact on its operations.

In the letter and our media release we say that we are not opposed to sporting fields in Callan Park, but point out there are already five sporting fields included in the Masterplan – four of them on the fore-shore.

The final Masterplan has carefully balanced all of the community needs and concerns, including the balance between active and passive recreational space, to provide an outcome that serves the whole community’s interests best.

Download section of Masterplan that refers to the Urban Farm here

Full Masterplan: http://callanparkyourplan.com.au/index.php

Friends of Callan Park campaign: http://www.callanpark.com/

What you can do:

Write to Minister Hazzard stating your support for the Callan Park Masterplan to be implemented without amendment. And your concern that the request for extra sporting fields could severely impact on the operations of the proposed Urban Farm.

Minister for Planning and Infrastructure
The Hon Brad Hazzard, MP
Governor Macquarie Tower Level 31,
1 Farrer Place
SYDNEY NSW 2000
email: office@hazzard.minister.nsw.gov.au
fax: 02) 9228 5721

If you live in the Leichhardt LGA, please write to your local Councillors stating your support for the Masterplan and your concern for the impact on other elements of the Masterplan, like the proposed Callan Park Farm of adding additional sporting fields to the five already in the plan. Especially Mayor Darcy Byrne, Dep Mayor Linda Kelley and Councillors Emsley, Breen, Manika, Constantino and Jobling.
Their contact details are on the Leichhardt Council website: http://www.leichhardt.nsw.gov.au/Councillors.html

Tuesday 11 December 6.30 – 8.00pm

Guest Speaker:
Helen Nicholson   - on the role of the Powerhouse Museum in the Sydney Park City Farm
Producer Family & Community Experiences
Powerhouse Museum

Then join us for

End of Year drinks at the White Horse Hotel  from 8.00pm
381 – 385 Crown Street, Surry Hills Top Floor Terrace

All City Farm members and supporters are welcome to attend the AGM. It’s the opportunity for financial members to vote on resolutions or nominate for one of the four committee positions that become vacant every year.

Come along and:

-  Find out how to get involved in the exciting new Summer Garden at Sydney Park, being managed by City of Sydney

-  Get the latest news on where the City Farm Advisory Group are at with planning Sydney’s first City Farm at Sydney Park

-  Meet up with others who are committed to urban sustainability

View the Agenda here

Download 2011 AGM minutes here

YOUR CHANCE TO WIN
A copy of Oz Harvest’s new Cookbook will be our ’Lucky Door Prize’. It features ‘food rescue’ recipes from 44 of the country’s most celebrated chefs, which can also potentially save you hundreds of dollars in grocery bills. The OzHarvest Cookbook uncovers our top chefs’ secrets for using leftovers and is a who’s who of the Australian cooking scene including Maggie Beer, George Calombaris, Peter Gilmore, Bill Granger and Neil Perry.

Join our Management Team

If you are a financial member and wish to nominate for the committee download a nomination form and send it to us by 6 December.
Check your membership status here:

If you want to make your vote count but can’t attend, you can designate a proxy by filling in this proxy form:

Become Financial and have more say  

We encourage you to join or renew your annual membership, your financial contribution will help Sydney City Farm organise and deliver inspiring events to support the establishment of Sydney’s first City Farm.

It’s easy, all you need to do is log onto our website and fill in the online form. https://members.sydneycityfarm.org/get-involved/
A receipt email will be sent to you automatically.

Membership Fees:  

Individual        $35
Family              $50
Concession      $15
Passionate       $75
Business         $100

Whilst you are online you may also like to add a TAX DEDUCTABLE DONATION.   Membership fees are not tax deductible but Sydney City Farm DONATIONS are.

The city farm Summer Garden at Sydney Park, St Peters will be a taste of the coming city  farm. It offers an opportunity to engage with an urban agricultural installation and a program of weekend workshops where we can learn more about farming in urban areas.

The Summer Garden will run from January – March 2013 in Sydney Park, St Peters.

Thanks to more than 26 dedicated community members who participated in the workshop in October to help plan the educational programs, design elements, produce and community involvement opportunities for the Summer Garden.

Read more about the great ideas for the Summer Garden at our blog here.

If you would like to participate in weekend workshops or volunteer to help maintain the city farm Summer Garden please contact the cityfarm@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au or keep an eye on this space  to keep updated with events and activities.

We’ve joined a new social media site – and they will donate $1 to Sydney City Farm for every new follower to our Community Engine page.

This is an online directory that makes it easy to connect with local small businesses and community organisations.

Join Community Engine for free and follow us

You could help us raise $1500 (if everyone on our e-mail list joins) which will enable us to run inspiring community events about urban sustainability in 2013.

After a quick site visit to the proposed site for the Summer Garden, (between the children’s playground and chimney precinct), the participants headed back to the Sydney Park Pavilion and got to work.

Working in small groups led by City Farm Advisory Group members, including Sydney City Farm representative Nicola Cameron and representatives from the Powerhouse Museum and City of Sydney, the workshop drew out some excellent ideas for the Summer Garden.

Some key ideas included:

·         Ensuring the design and the garden was welcoming, inclusive and accessible

·         Calling volunteers “City Farmers”

·         Everything being connected to the concept of a farm

·         The Garden to act as a demonstration of the food cycle

·         Providing flexible opportunities for volunteers

·         Engaging with park users, local residents and groups

·         Potential guest speakers on food security and meeting farmers, orchardists, bee keepers.

These ideas will directly inform the design and programs for the Summer Garden.

The Summer Garden will run from January through to March 2013. To find out more contact cityfarm@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au or keep an eye on this space  to keep updated with events and activities.

The range of suggestions are compatable with our vision of showcasing urban sustainability, organic food growing and educating children on where our food comes from.

They include:
Growing and producing local food
having free range animals like chooks
beekeeping and
an organic cafe
using smart and sustainable design
Being an environmental education hub with lots of community engagement and activities for kids.