Bellingen Seed Savers at the 2018 Autumn Plant Fair in Bellingen

Gillian coordinated an excellent stall at the Bellingen Autumn Plant Fair. Members turned up in droves to help our customers choose appropriate seeds and plants and to offer gardening advice. Many of our customers are new to our climatic conditions and welcome tips for gardening in a subtropical/warm temperate climate.

David and Michelle with Sweet Leaf cuttings,.

Seeds packed by our Seed savers, potted plants and cuttings were on sale for a tiny price because our main aim is to spread the cultivation of useful plants within our local area, not to make a profit.

Cuttings and plants of Surinam Spinach, Okinawa Spinach and Longevity Spinach were available.

Longevity Spinach is new to our area and is proving a popular choice as a leafy green vegetable... and of course it is claimed to promote health and longevity.

Our raffle of local produce is always popular.

Locally grown seeds of edible plants

We are happy when gardeners succeed in raising plants from our locally collected seeds and cuttings. We are very satisfied when families can raise their own food. We recognise that healthy, fresh food is often too expensive for many, despite the claims of the larger chain stores.

We aim to educate folk of the the benefits these subtropical and tropical vegetables have for our local gardeners

We had a huge array of locally sourced seeds.

Green Banana Rissoles-Cakes

Oven baked green banana savoury cake

• Boil and mash sufficient green bananas (or plantains) to replace the meat in a traditional rissole recipe.

• Blend with plain flour (wholemeal, half wholemeal is preferred), an egg if you like, crushed nuts, finely chopped vegetables, seasonings (cumin works well) and herbs of your choice until you have a mix that can be shaped into small rissoles.

• Fry in a frypan using coconut or olive oil or bake in the oven to avoid oils. These little savoury cakes go well to nibble with pumpkin soup or serve with a savoury sauce.

Carambola (Star Fruit) Upside Down Cake

Carambola (Star Fruit) Fruit

This is a paraphrased variation of the Mango Upside Down Cake from Linda Woodrow's amazingly useful and relevant Witches Kitchen blog which made use of a Mango seasonal glut. In the Bellinger Valley we are now entering a carambola (star fruit) glut. We find the carambola perfectly replaces the mangoes texture and taste.

The Recipe:

Turn your oven on to heat up to medium (180°C or 350°F).

Autumn Plant Fair - Saturday 10 March 2018 - How are you helping? Seed Packaging

Bellingen Seed Savers stall at Bellingen Plant Fair

An URGENT Request For Stall Volunteers So far we have a total of 3 keen volunteers - Leela, Nick & myself - but that won't be enough... Early morning is our busiest period!  To hold the BSS stall we need: 4 people for 6:30am to 8:30 set up. 5 people for 8.00 to 10.00; 4 people for 10.00-12.00pm; 3 people for 12.00-2.00pm. Please advise name, phone number, preferred time slot. Shifts are usually 2 hours and there is always at least a couple of people rostered on at once. Many Thanks, Gillian 0481 317 281 plantfair@bellingenseedsavers.com Plant Fair - Raffle Goodies Donations of fruit, vegies, herbs, preserves and baked goods will be very gratefully received. Please bring donations along on the day to pop into the 2 raffle boxes, or drop them off before Saturday at 19 Henry Boultwood Drive Fernmount 2454 (drop near carport out of driving path). Plant Fair - Plant Material Cuttings, seedlings and tubers. Any donations of local edible plant material for sale on the stall would be awesome. We have locquat tree seedlings. What do you have to share from your garden? Please bring donations along on the day to the stall, or drop them off before Saturday at 19 Henry Boultwood Drive Fernmount 2454 (drop near carport out of driving path).

Diary Dates

Seed Labelling for the Autumn Plant Fair Tuesday September 6, from 2pm Remember to seek out the sign-in sheet on arrival. No shared plate required this time. It's a quick get-this-done session. The seeds have been prepared and packed into bags, now they need to be put into packets and labelled. Jeff has been super-busy preparing labels for us. All we need to do is turn up spend an hour or so putting bagged seeds into packets and sticking labels on. Bellingen Seed Savers presents seeds and plants at a stall at the Bellingen Autumn Plant Fair very soon - March 10!   Coming? RSVP to obtain the address and so we know who’s attending, even if you already know how to get there. Organiser: Jeff Alcott seeds@bellingenseedsavers.com Cleaning Brassica seed Packaging seed at Nell's Packaging and cleaning seed Sharing growing ideas while we pack seeds.

BSS at the Autumn Plant Fair Saturday 10 March 2018 6.30am - 3pm (public 8am-2pm) We are booked in again with a stall. This is our main event for distributing our locally adapted seeds and plants. It is entirely volunteer run. We need you! Please advise name, phone number and preferred time slot. Stall shifts are usually 2 hours and there is always at least a couple of people rostered on at once. "Come along to this years Autumn Plant Fair in the beautiful Market Park Bellingen to get your garden started. Autumn is a great time to plant your winter vegetables and set your natives and ornamentals while the soil is moist. There will be the usual food stalls, huge plant raffle, workshops and music." Can you volunteer on the day? Please let Gillian know. Gillian Salvestro plantfair@bellingenseedsavers.com