Autumn plant fair 2020

News

We had had nine days with rain leading up to the plant fair and the day before the plant fair things fined up. We were lucky that the weather was very kind to us on the day of the fair. The clouds gathering on the horizon held off until Sunday and Monday when we again received a good drop off rain. Darker clouds were also brewing, with the Covid 19 virus threatening to shutdown ... Well just about everything.

Leela's report: The autumn Plant Fair was a bit blur for me - a joyful, busy one. Familiar faces and new enthusiastic ones, this is such a positive community to be a part of. People are really valuing the importance of connecting with the earth and being a little more sharing & self reliant. We got super lucky with both the timing & the weather - I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Jeff's report: This was our busiest Plant Fair in 11 years. Good weather and crowds of keen gardeners made the day a success.  Almost our entire stock of Autumn – Winter seeds were sold-out. The most popular seeds were: lettuces, snow peas, pak choi, chillies, carrots, rocket, coriander, spinach & chards, bok choi, tomatoes, marigolds, basils, spring onions, nasturtiums, broccoli, wasabi lettuce, fennel, mizuna, radish and all types of beans. We distributed our entire range of plant material, nearly 70% of our stock of seed packets and a bundle of Seed Savers Handbooks. Our range of herbs, fruits and perennial vegetables were very popular, including: Okinawa & Longevity spinach, Hawaiian sweet potato, cassava, turmeric, sweet pineapple, aloe vera, strawberries, mint, lemon grass and curry leaf. Special thanks to all the seed and plant material suppliers, seed cleaners, seed packers and the plant fair volunteers: Tara, Jeff H, Jeff A, Gillian, Leela, Tim, Don, Phillipa, Nick, Merren, Chris, Rosemary and David.

As always, an event such as this can-not go ahead without a huge amount of work by volunteers. I'm sure I'll miss some people, but Jeff has done a good job of listing everyone except two of the most important people. On behalf of the BSS I would like to thank Jeff for all the work he put in behind the scenes managing our seed collection, printing labels and just keeping stuff organised. Second I would like to extend our thanks to Gillian as our plant fair coordinator and generous host for our seed packing day. If anyone is interested in taking the role of plant fair coordinator for the next plant fair, please send Gillian an email using the address plantfair@bellingenseedsavers.com

A piece of history

Evelyn & Marc, the new owners/custodians of David & Irene’s property at Spicketts Creek, presented this gift of colourful zinnias. The zinnia’s, self-sown around the garden, are a lovely memory of the founders of Bellingen Seed Savers.

Quotes

The future is a little less clear amid the current pandemic, but here are a couple of quotes that I think are pertinent to current times:

“The future depends on what you do today.”
Mahatma Gandhi 

"With our long TODO lists around the home, we should see this as an opportunity!"
Gillian

At the Bellingen Spring Plant Fair

A selection of pics to show the interest Bellingen Seed Savers receives at the Plant Fair.We always welcome your support as staff or as customers at our stall. You can also sign up to receive a newsletter at our stalls.

Click to enlarge seed packets

Getting ready for sales.

February Seed Packing at Gillians preparing for March 9 Plant Fair

 

Probably because it was on the weekend, we had quite a few members turn up to make quick work packing seeds for the coming Bellingen Autumn Plant Fair on March 9.



If you can assist on the stall please contact Gillian or ask another member for contact details.

Note the wonderful view from Gillian's deck.

Jeff, as usual, did a terrific job organising the seeds we needed to process and taking the photos below.

Gillian was a great hostess and lunch was a medley of treats, many dishes grown in our gardens.

"Thanks to Gillian who hosted the seed packing event, Jeff who kept us all organised, to the people who donated seed and to all the happy seed packers.

After spending the previous few days with the threat of being blown away, the weather was very kind to us for the seed packing event. There was not even enough breeze for winnowing off the chaff!

Eighteen volunteers turned up, and with guidance from Jeff and other experienced seed packers, we cleaned and packed seed. Approximately 600 packets of seed were packed into small clip-lock bags. The number of seeds in each bag is determined by the size of the seeds. Purchasers will get a lot more carrot seeds than Madagascar beans.

Besides gaining knowledge on seed preparation, and sharing time and lunch with other seed savers, participants got to take home some seeds which we had excess of and some free produce that some generous members brought from their gardens.

The next step is putting the clip-lock bags into envelopes and labelling them ready for the plant fair on March the 9th."  

From our newsletter

The Spring Plant Fair - September 2018

This plant fair was bigger and buzzing more than usual. The word on the ground was that shifting the produce market to the same venue for the day was really making a difference.

What do we do with the money raised?
 
It's a fair question that comes up from time to time. We are all volunteers, and the money raised pays for our running costs such as insurance, the website, the seed packets, bags and labels and printer ink. We have purchased extra tables and had banners printed for the stall in the past and this time around we bought new tablecloths for the stall, at last. We will be getting a second gazebo of our own too as the one lent to us by Debbie has proved very handy - thank you Debbie.

BSS seeds will soon be available in the Bellingen Library. We are having a seed stand crafted by a local cabinet maker. Stay tuned, you will soon be able to get seeds at any time of year, not just at the plant fairs.

We are also looking to secure a mushroom growing workshop in Autumn (we missed out last year) and we are cooking up another weekend away, both to be subsidised by BSS for active members.

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

Bellingen Plant Fair- Our Bellingen Seed Savers Stall

Bellingen Seed Savers had their usual stall at the Spring Bellingen Plant Fair. It was very successful as usual.

Fi is selling our huge range of locally grown and packaged seeds.

We spreading the word about Okinawa Spinach, how easily it grows and how useful it is.

We even had some large cuttings of Moringa. I haven't yet seen the flowers grow into fruit in our semitropical/warm temperate climate.

If you are local and interested in attending our gatherings use the contact link at the bottom of our home page.

Another successful Plant Fair

Excerpt from Irene's mail out to members about our stall at the Bellingen Autumn Plant Fair on March 8.

"I was very happy at the level of enthusiasm of so many people who came to the stall.   They asked lots of questions, acquired well over 300 packets of seeds and much plant material  - then went away smiling. We have another 24 people to add to the 340 already on our mailing list.  Best of all - two people who came to the stall actually brought us seeds.

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, time, plants and friendship.

The March Newsletter will be with you shortly.

Setting up starts at 7.00 am

We also share useful food plants.

Click to enlarge to see the seed varieties.

For more photographs click here

Bellingen Seedsavers were at the March 8th Plant Fair

Excerpt from Irene's mail out to members about our stall at the Bellingen Autumn Plant Fair on March 8.

"I was very happy at the level of enthusiasm of so many people who came to the stall.   They asked lots of questions, acquired well over 300 packets of seeds and much plant material  - then went away smiling. We have another 24 people to add to the 340 already on our mailing list.  Best of all - two people who came to the stall actually brought us seeds.

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, time, plants and friendship.

The March Newsletter will be with you shortly."

Another successful stall at the Plant Fair in Bellingen

Wonderful work by our members. As always the stall attracted many visitors and gained us new members. Our locally grown seeds were in serious demand.

Extract from Irene's Newsletter

Hi Seed Savers

A very warm welcome to all those who signed up to receive our newsletter - thank you for your interest.  I hope that you will have much success with the seeds that you selected at our Plant Fair stall and I would love to receive some feedback from you. Please join us at some of our informal Gatherings which we hold all around the Bellingen Shire.  Everyone is very friendly and helpful and will make you welcome.

We  enjoyed another successful plant fair with a further 300 packets of seeds now distributed around our community - and way beyond.  A big 'thank you' to everyone who contributed to our stall.  We will need to work hard to build up our seeds ready for the next Autumn Plant Fair - it comes around very quickly.

Irene

Bellingen Seed Savers at Spring Plant Fair 8 September 2012

 The Spring Plant Fair 2012 was a great success.




For more photographs - click on plant fair

A small group of our 'seedsavers' has been preparing a display of 'resilient plants' that are well suited to our climatic conditions.

Jodie and Michael staff the raffle counter.

The near perfect weather allowed Irene to mount helpful displays. The plant material was in demand and is exchanged for a small donation. We thus encourage the use of plant material that contributes to self sufficiency.

The Bellingen Seedsavers stall is always busy. Experienced gardeners provide information as well as seeds and plants.

Thank you to everyone involved with our stall:  the very enthusiastic and interested customers;  our dedicated and hard-working volunteers;  the energetic Lesley Green, who organises the plant fairs on behalf of Bellingen Environment Centre and special thanks for the perfect weather.

The Plant Fairs give us the opportunity to spread the word and share our seeds with our community.
We will look forward to doing it again in the Autumn.