Fennel flowers & rosemary….
Hello everyone,
What a year it’s been! We’ve had SO much fun and have thoroughly enjoyed seeing so many of you here! Our Kitchen Garden Days have helped many a fledgling gardener to feed family & friends, while Seasonal Cooks are turning out cakes, soups and all manner of delights whose feature ingredients began life in the garden.
We so enjoyed our special guest days and I’d like to thank each guest once again for inspiring our participants by so generously sharing their knowledge, stories and expertise: Harriet Goodall, Patrice Newell, Stefano Manfredi, Robb Gardener, Sarah Key and Holly Kerr Forsyth. Not to mention Steve Batley for his insightful day on the principles of permaculture, and, of course, the lovely Linda Ross, for teaching our Kitchen Gardening Days with such passion for our core topic; and her great capacity to impart enormous quantities of information with an intoxicating sense of humour.
I’ve also had great fun meeting some of you on away-days, where I’ve had stalls at Camden Park, the Iris Country Fair, and most recently, at The Society Inc’s Gypsy Caravan market in Paddington.
One Weaving Workshop with Harriet Goodall became five, and consequently, there are 50 exquisite and very individual baskets that didn’t exist this time last year. Harriet promises to make at least one return visit to Glenmore next year, as does Stefano Manfredi for another day of Seasonal Cooking (I can’t wait to eat whatever he produces on the day & am already panicked about growing the ingredients!).
I do have more special events planned for 2013….they’re ‘on the drawing board’. So I’m opting to announce all special event dates in the New Year. Be sure to watch out for the newsletters because there will be some excitements to announce!
In the meantime, if you would like to make a last minute Christmas purchase from the Barn, just let me know – perhaps a loved one would like twine-on-a-stake, or a ball of geranium soap, a nail brush or a garden implement? I can always zip up to the post office, or I’ll be making one or two more visits to Sydney, so can meet somewhere! Many of you will be pleased to hear that we finally have an online GIFT CERTIFICATE for KITCHEN GARDENING and SEASONAL COOKING DAYS! And I’ve actually managed to upload the dates for 2013 to the website – sorry I’ve been so slow but it’s been a bit chaotic here (to put it mildly!).
Other gift ideas are a box of garlic from Patrice Newell if you didn’t manage to grow your own this year, a copy of Sibella Court’s divine book ‘Bowerbird’, Holly Kerr Forsyth’s book ‘Country Gardens, Country Hospitality’, or……for those of you who have shown an interest in Labyrinths (ours is coming along – I’ll update the web page soon), perhaps a donation towards the Centennial Park Labyrinth for someone you think may appreciate this future heart of the park.
Enjoy your last frantic week before Christmas – I’m not signing off quite yet!
Best wishes as always,
Mickey
