Saturday 24 February - Mini Workshops series and Herb Masterclass

Saturday 16 March - Sri Lankan Slow Food Cooking with Amorelle Dempster

Saturday 13 April - a visit to Limestone Permaculture

We are continuing to firm up dates for the following months' field days.

Member Survey Results

Over 20% of HOGS members (currently 96 financial members and families) completed the survey which is a great result. Industry standard these days is 5% to 30% for survey completions. We are thankful to everyone who was able to complete the survey. Here are the results.

We have taken all these on board as a committee and are working to make changes and improvements where we can. Some immediate actions are: we will add updates to our calendar in the newsletter as soon as field days are confirmed; we are calling members when they join up or re-join HOGS; and we will include more upskilling sessions this year.

Some general feedback and comments:
Meeting with like minded people

Can you please schedule and announce them a few months in advance? I only find out about them from your e-mails a couple of weeks in advance, which is way too late.

Last one was available to us but booked out. Aspect we would like is touring farms

The only one I made it to was well organised, informative and great guest speaker and small business present. I plan to get to more before cricket season starts next year!

I enjoy sociel connection and gardening information etc.

Visiting other properties and learning how they have set up their property and how they grow plants for their area and landform. Also I love learning from other members.

Practical advice based on host’s experiences

Touring gardens is great. Annoying - some members who constantly interrupt and are ‘know it alls’

Learning about gardening, sharing experiences

Did not attend.

The interaction with other people and any new information.

ieas gained from observing other properties

Talking with the other gardeners about our gardens, successes and areas for improvement.

As a relatively new member I found it difficult to meet others. It would be great for old and new members to mix. Maybe at each meeting 5 members could do a 1 minute intro, taking it in turns through the year. This would be particularly helpful to get to know the committee members.

Learning new skills for the garden/using your produce. Seeing how others plan/maintain their gardens.

I enjoy seeing what others are doing and mixing with like minded people.

Havent attended this year

Learning and sharing with other members

Informative

Insights and interactions.

I liked the tours of the farms and information provided about processes used in the gardens. I would like it if days were organised further in advance so I can organise to have day off work to attend.

Great variety of field days offered

My name is Judy Matheson, but during the time of the birth of HOGS 45 years ago, it was Miller. My first husband John and I and our two little children Jessica and Ben lived on 25 acres of bushland at Abernethy near Cessnock. In 1978, we had a beautiful sandstock brick home built and started the ‘back to the earth’ lifestyle that was very popular during the 70’s and 80’s.

We firstly established our organic vegetable gardens, acquired chooks and ducks and bees, planted fruit trees and eventually had goats and for a short time sheep. What an adventure…..Ben had only just been born and Jessica was 4, so we had our little family to look after as well as establishing the lifestyle we had so yearned for.

We studied magazines like EarthGarden and Grass Roots, and wanted to do everything at a simple homespun level.

There was only one thing missing. We didn’t know anyone like ourselves who were doing the same thing in the Hunter and I yearned to connect with like minded others to share skills, experiences and knowledge. We did travel to Sydney to the only organization we could find at the time, the Henry Doubleday Research Association which had an Englishman, Lawrence D. Hills as its founder.

With two little children in tow, it was just too far to keep traveling to their events and meetings.

With the intention in mind to start a Hunter based organic growing group, we were at the Wollombi markets one weekend, and I came across a woman sitting at a table with a sign asking anyone interested in establishing an organic growing group please add their name and contact details. This was my HOGS cofounder, Caroline Chivers who lived at East Maitland. We met up at Caroline’s house shortly after to plan the next move. We decided to use the list of interested people Caroline had collected to have a meeting, and maybe we put an ad in the Cessnock Gazette at the time. A local farmer Edwin Crawford from Congewai offered to host the first meeting of HOGS at his property. We were able to more formally establish the group and collected a list of names of people who were willing to be involved in setting up a committee. The name HOGS was suggested by me, but that came later. And it unfolded from there. Caroline did not continue to be involved in an organizing capacity as family life needed her energy, but I was full of enthusiasm and couldn’t wait to get the organization up and running. Caroline’s list of names was so so valuable to get it all going and my gratitude to her for that contribution will always remain. That was in 1979. I was 29, and now I’m 73 and living at Springwood in the Blue Mountains.

As for many of us in those early years, we held many offices during that time. I think I was Vice President, and magazine editor and producer for many years. The magazine in those days was called HOGS Tales, and I typed it all up using a typewriter and then photocopied each page and stapled it together to send out. My daughter Jessica started drawing the covers at an early age and were much admired by members. She is now turning 50 with her brother Ben 46 this year. Oh how time seems to fly!!

I am still more than ever, committed to organic growing and have a community garden at the front of my house block in Springwood. Here I teach novice gardeners how to grow their own food organically using the Esther Deans No Dig gardening method, so no digging whatsoever to establish the first garden. It’s all done on grass using newspaper, hay, compost and sugar cane mulch. I was told recently that my garden which is on a busy corner in Blue Mountains suburbia, is a local icon. I am completely self sufficient in vegetables and have been for some years. I grow everything I need and always have some extra to barter or give away. And I love it!

I am so happy to have discovered that HOGS is still alive and well and thriving. I had no idea it was still going as I’ve moved around outside the Hunter for many years now, until I bought an Earth Garden magazine late last year, opened it up and within a page or two found a little article I had written decades ago. That prompted me to find out whether HOGS still existed, and 45 years later, it still does!! And all the same types of activities and field days and workshops are still happening as it was all through those earlier years. I don’t know if any of the people who were initially involved are still with us. I know some have definitely left us, and I’m not sure about Caroline. Maybe now I’ve reconnected with the group I may indeed recognize some ‘old’ faces. I hope so.

I’m certainly looking forward to meeting everyone in mid year when the 45th birthday celebration is on. Happy gardening until then.

Judy Matheson (Co-Founder of HOGS)

This article is about companion planting and is the accompanying information for one of the things I want to share at the workshop. I won’t be speaking about companion planting much at the workshop.

Companion planting

Companion planting is more than putting one plant next to another. It’s an observation of nature. So be a good observer so you can know what you are doing. Who would think of using Hellebore to control insects pests as a substitute for Derris dust?  Or letting Amaranth grow in a bare patch to break up soil? Companion plants are part of the ecosystem that add to the harmony and balance of your garden.

So what is the role of companion planting?

When you look at your companion planting chart make sure that it is for Australian gardens and climate.

It doesn’t take the place of plant care. But carefully observe what happens to the plants you put together and how they benefit or otherwise from their company.

We might plant beans among corn to replace the nitrogen leached out by the corn. Sow thistle and comfrey can bring nutrients from deep in the soil to be used by other plants growing nearby.

We might use plants to suppress weeds by planting them around our crops . Brassicas when they are pulled out leave behind a relatively bare/weed free area.

Comfrey has been used as a barrier to prevent weeds from growing in the garden.

All of this depends upon knowing plant behaviour.

Companion plants can be used as a decoy. Being a sacrifice allows other plants to survive. These plants are planted at a distance from the crop or plant you want to keep alive. Nasturtium or brassicas left to seed are examples of this type of companion planting.

Companion plants can be used to attract beneficial predators to your garden. Many are blossom feeders and their larvae eat the pests.

Pests can be confused by inter planting veggies and herbs. The scent of Tansy and other herbs, pelargoniums disguises the odours of other crops. Herbs look attractive and are also very useful.

Chamomile acts as a plant doctor by bringing nutrients, helping to reduce or recover from stress and disease. Other herbs that do this are lovage, oregano, yarrows and valerian.

The companions can be just providing shade or a leaning post. They can help to increase flavour. Borage and Strawberries, peppermint and chamomile to stimulate oil production in the chamomile and garlic stimulates rose perfume.

Plants can also take up toxins from the soil as in Delprat Garden.

They can also deter insect pests.

These are some of the reasons for growing companion plants

There is value in letting some weeds grow because they tell you about the soil, add nutrients, break up the soil. So even weeds can be beneficial.

Companion planting is a part of a wholistic approach to gardening and is so adaptable to your conditions.

Remember this.

Love your garden and be a good steward of your patch. Do this with selection of appropriate plants for your climate.

Understand your plants, growing conditions , water needs, habit etc

Let them self sow and see what happens.

Let herbs grow and mature

Identify your insects as pests or beneficial.

Walk around your garden and monitor what’s happening.

Finally. Work with nature.

Mike Lorraine (HOGS Vice President)

For thousands of years Kiwiberries have grown wild in cold climate countries, such as Siberia, NE China, Korea and Japan.

In northern China, Korea and Japan, Kiwiberries have been an important source of fruit in the human diet and seen to feature in traditional medicine dating back more than 500 years. The ‘berries are known as Yang-tao in China. In Russia, Kiwiberries have been harvested from the wild as well as from plantations established before the 1930’s. Reports suggest they were eaten fresh or cooked to make jams, pie fillings, fruit gels and compotes. Also dried, much like seedless grapes, currents, or raisins and made into wines.

In 1877, Kiwiberries were introduced into USA but only became cultivated in the 1930’s. Kiwiberries are currently cultivated in USA, Europe, Canada, NZ, Chile, China and Korea.

Kiwiberry is a deciduous, fast-growing woody vine grown for its attractive foliage and edible fruit. Kiwiberries are a smaller, hairless form of Kiwi fruit, smooth skinned, emerald green and the size of a grape. They can be self-fertile, and if not you will need a male and female plant for pollination.

A male vine provides enough pollen for up to 6 female vines.

They are frost tolerant and disease resistant, thrive in full sun with part shade (I found that they prefer some shade). Protect from strong winds. Can be grown over a trellis, on a fence or trained, with structural support, into a Kiwi Berry tree.

Vines need to be pruned every winter and sheared during the growing season to keep them under control. Expect to get 3-5 years after planting.

Fruit hangs in bunches, is sweeter than Kiwi Fruit and great for the kids’ lunches or bite-sized

snacks. Kiwiberries are ready to eat when the skin will begin to turn darker green or red and berries are ‘bouncy’ to the touch or slightly wrinkled.

As with Kiwifruit they are high in anti-oxidants, Vitamins C, E, A, K, B2, B3, B5, B6, and B8, carotenoids, and minerals, esp. potassium. Scientists are also discovering that eating these fruits may offer many potential diseases prevention and generallyare health promoting.

Another SUPERFOOD to be tried.

Available from Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery: www.daleysfruit.com.au

By Di Powell (HOGS Member)
Image from Kiwiberry Australia