Where’s Coralie?

For over 10 years the City of Ryde has provided Easy Care Gardening with office space  every Tuesday at The  Eastwood Meeting Room in Shaftsbury Road, Eastwood. The use of this space has been of wonderful assistance to Easy Care Gardening, especially for volunteers who live on the LGA s of Hunter’s Hill and Ryde. Countless numbers of volunteers and potential volunteers have met Coralie at the Meeting Room for training, orientation,  police check renewals etc.
 
However, as of 22^nd December 2021, Coralie has left the building!
 
CCA has kindly made a space available so that Easy Care Gardening can continue to have a presence at a location convenient to residents of the Ryde and Hunters Hill LGAs. You can now find Easy Care Gardening on Tuesdays only at:
 
CCA, 12 Lakeside Road ,Eastwood

• Coralie is only at CCA on Tuesdays
• By appointment only
• Free parking available in  Glenn Street Carpark or Hillview Lane Car Park. Street Parking is limited.

Optus Magic

Classic summer days lounging around the pool!?! Not for these guys!  They actually resurrected this backyard and unearthed the pool.  We are hugely thankful for the hard work put in by our corporate volunteers, and the huge difference they can make to the lives of others with their impactful day's work in the garden!

 
Coordinator Larissa Hansen worked with Optus to ensure the day's success back in June of 2021.  "The team were a wonderful bunch of strong, diligent, hard working and enthusiastic men from the NBN team at Optus.  One of the gardens that they came to the rescue with was so overgrown that one could barely see that there was actually a swimming pull amongst the overgrown vegetation, Tradescantia and fallen palm fronds. This is one garden that they will no doubt never forget!"

It certainly was a huge day. Larissa collected 50 bags full of green waste and countless bundles of shrub branches and palm fronds later, not to mention the 3 cubic metres of mulch laid on top of thick cardboard around the pool, the garden was transformed! (Now for the pool cleaner team to follow!) The 2 teams of thirty gentleman found it to be an enormously rewarding experience and they commented that - apart from never working this hard in their lives! The Optus team also enjoyed speaking to our very grateful client Peter and were eager to get a team shot at the end of the productive day." 

Corri Byrne, Social Impact Manager, Group Sustainability at Optus remarked "At Optus, we are committed to making a positive difference in the community and we  actively support our people to get involved through community impact days providing up to 5 days of volunteer leave each year. The Easy Care Gardening opportunity was a great way to bring the NSW Field Home Connect team together and offering a real sense of achievement to all involved." 
 

My Patch

Susan Bowers is the recipient of the Brian Self Award and has been volunteering with ECG since 2009. But what does her own patch look like?  This amazing property was the Rectory at Greenwich before being sold by the Anglican Church.  Now it is the much loved home of Sue and her husband Steve.   

Sue described her patch to ECG saying "We do not have a very large garden with wide open spaces and big trees however our garden has taken shape and filled out pleasingly over the last 20 years or so and is more than enough for us 😊
 
We enjoy spending time in the garden and it responds very well to a bit of attention however it is also ‘easycare’ and can generally manage quite happily on its own if left unattended, as happens from time to time!"

So what are her favourite plants and what makes her smile?  Sue reflected, "I really enjoy having a number of orchids and other plants which I have been given by clients and fellow volunteers over the years.  I always think of them when the beautiful floral displays appear. I also love the annual display of crabapple blossom on the tree beside the front path.
 
Even though the garden is not huge, there are some productive plants too and an organic bent. "We have lemons, limes, cumquats, finger limes and rhubarb in pots, as well as a prolific grapefruit tree which was here when we bought the house." explains Sue, "We have enjoyed honing our composting skills and have a couple of very effective compost bins 😊."

If you would like to share 'Your Patch' with us we would love to see it.  Send your story and images to Meredith.

Fail Safe Recipes

Just before Christmas Meredith Kirton was lucky enough to bump into Angela Low, an retired volunteer from ECG, who had put together a wonderful collection of recipes from clients about 20 years ago.  It included favourites such as the 'Dead Easy Chocolate Cake', a "Delicious Date Loaf', the classic 'Lemonade Scones', 'Mrs' A's Honey Roll' and a 'Southern Sultana Cake'. 

With morning and afternoon tea's postponed and modified for much of the last few years, it perhaps is a great time to go through your recipe book and share some of your favourites with everyone, in preparation for when we can again share our breaks together.  What are your tried and true cakes, slices and biscuits that go down a treat with the gardening volunteers?  Let us know your favourite, and who knows, perhaps we can have it baked and photographed for the next newsletter?

A Friendly Reminder

We will be closed and the their will be no gardening on Australia Day, Wednesday the 26th January, 2022.