Edible garden trail funds community projects

Following the success of the 2022 Central Coast Edible Garden Trail, funds raised through ticket sales are now directly benefitting community projects.

After putting some funds aside for the 2023 Trail, organisers were left with $6,000 to invest back into the community.

“Our aim to help community gardens and disadvantaged young people on the Coast is being realised,” a spokesperson said.

“As a project of Permaculture Central Coast we’ve been able to draw on a wealth of knowledge and a healthy network to create an outreach program as well as give a direct donation to each community garden.”

The community outreach program has been designed by Sue Bradley of In8lygood and SWAMP Central Coast.

Collaboration has been key with 15 organisations involved, including the Central Coast Edible Garden Trail, Permaculture Central Coast, nine community gardens, You Connect, Options Disability and Synergy Permaculture.

It includes sessions at nine community gardens, with permaculture teachers Kerrie Anderson and Matt Silavant facilitating hands-on workshops for You Connect and Options Disability participants.

The first session, held on Tuesday, May 2, took place at Woy Woy Peninsula Community Garden, where participants built hugelkultur beds.

A hugelkultur bed is a gardening technique used to create raised beds using logs, branches and other woody material.

Starting with layers of wooden logs, then large sticks and branches then smaller sticks, participants layered mushroom compost, coffee grounds donated by local cafes, beautiful chunky compost made on-site by community garden volunteers and finally finished off with finely sieved compost to create a nutrient rich and free draining growing medium which was planted out with herbs and edible flowers.

“It was an engaging and lively session with lots of laughs and smiles as a diverse group of people built a productive growing space,” Anderson said.

“During a mid-session tea break, we enjoyed freshly squeezed guava juice made from guavas harvested in the community garden, juiced by a volunteer and brought back to the garden to share.”

Participants said the skills and techniques they had learned could now be applied in their own gardens, especially as the hugelkultur beds had the benefit of requiring less soil to establish.

The second session was held at Wyoming Eco Garden on Tuesday, May 9.

“We had a great couple of hours refuelling a pre-existing raised bed, which was recently harvested with the no-dig gardening style,” Silavant said.

“The participants had great fun joking and laughing while they learnt the ins and outs of preparing and setting up a nodig garden, getting their gloved hands dirty throughout the workshop.

“No blood or tears were shed but a good time was shared.”

With seven more sessions to run across the Coast over the next eight weeks, Anderson and Silavant will be sharing more exciting skills and permaculture techniques.

Other community gardens involved in the program include Wyoming Eco Garden, Wyong Community Garden, Narara

Eco Village, SWAMP Central Coast, Bateau Bay Community Garden, Kariong Eco Garden, East Gosford Community Garden and Kincumber Eco Garden.

“Permaculture Central Coast is committed to caring for the earth, caring for people, and the fair share of resources,” CEO Clara Peto said.

“We are delighted to support this program which helps the participants connect with our environment and each other.

“The Edible Garden Trail and Permaculture Central Coast are not just about growing food but also about growing community and we are looking forward to seeing what other initiatives we can grow together next year.”

The Woy Woy Peninsula Community Garden run by PEG at 85 Moana St has regular working bees every Thursday and on the second Saturday and last Sunday of each month, all starting at 8.30am with all welcome.

You Connect is a not-for-profit organisation which supports people who live with a disability, have complex behaviours and/ or have a mental health diagnosis that impacts their day-to-day functioning.

Options Disability Support offers flexible and structured living, work, social and recreational supports for adults with a disability.

Synergy Permaculture is run by Kerrie Anderson who is a permaculture and meditation teacher and is passionate about influencing others to make informed choices for a more sustainable future.

Matt Silavant is a site supervisor at Options Disability, focusing on connecting with community and nature to smash NDIS and personal goals.

Permaculture Central Coast is an enthusiastic group of volunteers who work together to encourage more people on the NSW Central Coast to learn, practise and teach permaculture.

The Central Coast Edible Garden Trail is a project of Permaculture Central Coast and is a ticketed, self-guided weekend event.

This year it will be held on October 21-22.

More details are available at centralcoastediblegardentrail. org.au.

Source: Permaculture Central Coast

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The Central Coast’s inaugural film festival, Coastal Surge, is set to take place from 5pm on Thursday, June 29, at Avoca Beach Theatre.

Last year, five filmmakers on the Coast were awarded funding grants by Creative Art Central from Central Coast Council.

With those grants, three new films were created.

Each film was made by filmmakers local to the Central

Coastal Surge film festival coming to Avoca

Coast, shot entirely on the Central Coast, and with only a couple of exceptions, with Central Coast locals for the cast, the crew and even the musicians who scored the films.

The three films to be shown are Kaye Harrison’s documentary Music Central; Toni Houston and Sarah Beard’s documentary, Bouddi Wild Swim; and Amelia Foxton and Glenn Fraser’s comedic-horror film, Mother Tongue.

Breathing new life into classic hits of INXS

After years touring the globe, The Australian INXS Show is returning to home shores for an extensive run of concerts including The Art House at Wyong on July 27.

The six-piece outfit formed from the seed of an idea planted a decade ago and has since performed an INXS theatre experience in Dubai, India, Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

Over the next year the show will play concerts in every state, bringing faithful recreations of INXS’s extensive back catalogue, ensuring that the spirit of the band lives on.

The legendary vocals of the late Michael Hutchence are channelled by the explosive and flamboyant Dellacoma Rio.

The globe-trotting singer is joined by the guitarist and saxophonist Rob Moody, who not only takes on the role of Kirk Pengilly, but first created The Australian INXS Show a decade ago as a tribute to his love of both INXS and the classic music of the 1980s.

The group’s decades of experience is rounded out by the addition of in-demand drummer Noel Tenny (as Jon Farriss), prolific bass player Sam McAinch (as Garry Gary Beers), veteran keyboardist

Adrian Sorgini (as Andrew Farriss), and guitarist Adam Heath (as Tim Farriss), who has not only toured with Eurogliders, but even opened for music legend Elton John. Describing the band’s show as “energetic, breathtaking and packed full of fun times for all”, Rio recalls that his own natural likeness to Michael Hutchence has been a constant source of inspiration.

“It’s been an absolute dream come true with this band,” he said.

“Playing the INXS songs, the way we do, to people who have connected so deeply with these songs is a real blessing.”

He and the rest of the band hope to provide and inspire the same level of amazement and excitement that INXS themselves did for more than 35 years.

“Michael and the band left such an indelible mark on Australian culture, so it just felt at Avoca. natural to work on a show that honours his memory,” Rio said.

The films are each about 35 minutes long, and there will be live music by local musicians, red carpet photos, filmmaker Q&As and a mixer with the cast and crew following each film.

Tickets are available at https://www. avocabeachtheatre.com.au/ films-and-events/coastalsurge-film-festival/.

“I often say from the stage that we want to make the audience feel how they felt when they first heard or saw INXS back in the day and that is truly what our aim is.

“We don’t just play the songs, we want to bring the same energy and passion that Michael and the band brought.

“We’ve been crafting this show for several years now and we’re excited to be able to bring it to so many INXS fans across the country.”

Source: On The Map PR

Lake House, a 1935 heritage-listed building, will present a dramatic contrast if plans are approved for a $102M development on adjacent land for 414 residential apartments and 11 retail spaces across six buildings ranging from six to nine storeys.

Now a restaurant café, Lake House was originally built as part of the Pinehurst Boarding House holiday complex but despite these development plans it will retain its prominence on the corner of The Entrance Rd and Oakland Ave as a freestanding architectural relic from the early family holiday phase of life at The Entrance.

Lake House is one of several heritage-listed sites considered in a Heritage Assessment Report accompanying a development application for the 19,294sqm site comprising 15 lots from 9-33 The Entrance Rd.

Others include the boat shed and Norfolk Island pines (10 The Entrance Rd) along the Tuggerah Lake foreshore which the report says have historical significance because of their long association to fish and fishing personalities since the establishment of the town.

Protection for an uncommon example of an inter-war