40 Permablitzers, including over 20 new-comers, made the trip to Noble Park on the first day of Winter for an amazingly productive and educative Permablitz.  It was thrilling to see that the 15 Greater Dandenong locals were joined by folk from Doveton, Mooroolbark, Reservoir, Altona, Heathmont, St Kilda, Windsor, Box Hill, Essendon, Kew and beyond, with ages ranging from 2 months old to about 80 years old!  So what did we do? …

Everyone was kept busy, learning on the job, as the backyard of Ileana, Gavin and baby Michaela was transformed into a beautiful food-producing haven.

• A 3 terraced vege bed was created in the backyard’s sunniest area
• A swale pathway to the chook house, about 20cm deep and filled with woodchips, was created to catch water high up in the sloped backyard.
• Another terraced, no-dig vege garden was created down-hill from the swale-path
• A small team began the building of the chook house
• Fruit trees were planted and/or sheet-mulched and fertilised
• A chook run was created along the back fence, amongst the fruit trees (Great work Tim and Ted!)
• Stumps and some lovely ornamentals (eg. hibiscus) were removed, to be repaced by fruit/berries in the near future.

Thankyou to all for the amazing energy that you provided!

Thankyou to Ileana, Pat and Norma for the lovely BBQ lunch and snacks.

Thankyou to Richard for the great workshop on worms.

All the best to Ileana, Gavin, Michaela and the new chooks – we hope that the garden provides you with many years of enjoyment and great food.