Chippo Verge Gardens as seen on the Australia Horticulture Magazine.
TEC and Michael Mobbs award will be used for new film, “Cool Streets”.
"Total Environment Centre has won the National Canon Environmental Grant for its “Cool Streets” project in Chippendale Sydney, created in association with Michael Mobbs, a columnist with The Fifth Estate.
The Canon Environmental Grants program, worth $5000, will use a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera to produce a film “Cool Streets” to document the installation of a modular, self-assembled pop-up community garden.
Ruth Hessey, TEC Communications manager and writer director of the award winning TEC documentary Waste Not, said the project would showcase the positive impact of cooling urban areas with indigenous vegetation, while increasing awareness about sustainable lifestyles.
Click here to read the full article on the The Fifth Estate.
SHORT FILM IN THE WORKS
The Sydney-based Total Environment Centre (TEC) will produce a short film documenting the first project of the Sustainable Streets and Communities plan in 2012.
The installation of the self-irrigating pop-up median strips and the impact they have on the community in cooling the suburb will be the focus of the film. Michael Mobbs, author of the plan and Chippendale resident, will be associated.
The pop-up median strip, made of raised timber decking, potted plants and fruit trees, and water-filled road barriers, will be trialled in Myrtle Street (between Rose Street and City Road). It aims to cool the street by taking back some of the heat-absorbing asphalt with foliage and canopy-cover, as well as provide an additional amenity for pedestrians.
Learn more about the proposed strip and its benefits in Chapter 5 of the plan.
AN IMPORTANT VISIT
On 25 October, over twenty delegates representing government and industries from the Chinese city of Hangzhou toured Michael's Sustainable House and the Chippendale road gardens.
Hangzhou, a coastal city of 6 million people, has been rapidly expanding over the past decade and is experiencing many ecological and social issues due to urban development.
The delegation visited Chippendale to investigate the progressive Sustainable Streets and Communities Plan currently with City of Sydney council and learn more about making their city more healthy and resilient.
UTS project: Sustainable Chippendale
We are very excited to announce that a group of third year Communications students from the University of Technology, Sydney (just over the road) have selected Sustainable Chippendale as their focus for on of their final assessments in their degree.
The project has charged them with producing some communication "products" (websites, newsletters and the like), that help us, Sustainable Chippendale, better address the needs of our community.
A key part of their work is going to be getting in contact with our members and finding out how people are involved in the projects, how they heard about us etc.They will be making contact with us through our blossoming facebook group, and via email for those who are part of our mailing list.
We are hopeful that their studies into Sustainable Chippendale will help us better communiate our vision with the rest of the community.If you could take the time to fill out their short survey, we would greatly appreciate it. Take the Survey
If you would like to find out more about what they are doing, or would like to talk to them please get in contact with Amelia (who is leading the research) at amelia_cleary (at) hotmail (dot) com .
Chippendale’s Sustainable Streets Part two: the plan we need
Plenty of plans are written with best practice and best intentions. Implementing them always remains the difficult part. A plan, inspiring in its boldness, has now been developed to put sustainability front and centre in the workings of inner-Sydney Chippendale.
Its author, Michael Mobbs, has extracted every skerrick of knowledge he holds on leading a more sustainable existence – a journey he started with his home – as well as finding guidance and encouragement in many real-world projects both here and abroad. My previous article outlined the broad strokes of this plan, now formally titled the Sustainable Streets and Communities Plan (Chippendale). It’s not possible to convey all of its ambitions here, so why not refer to proper thing?
Read the full artile published on the British Councils Cilmate Commons site HERE
Gardening tomorrow: Crates, new trees and seedlings
Gardeners,
Tomorrow from 9 to 10 am we'll:
- see if we can turn some recycled crates into raised bed gardens - Paul has found some for us - thanks, Paul;
- mulch and water the two new Black Sapote trees;
- plant out some seedlings from a local greenhouse;
- check out some harvesting possibilities;
- do some pruning and 'pinch' pruning to keep the espalier shapes of some of the fruit trees.
See you at the shed at 9 or on the streets afterwards,
Michael Mobbs
Welcome to our new Chippendale gardener!
We have a enthusiastic new gardener, Claire, she came road gardening for the first time last week and learnt a bit about composting, mulching and other things - beauty to see you Claire and thanks - we asked her to put in a few words what did she get out of it, and here is what Clare had to say:
"It was interesting to see how the shed was set up, the tools and how to use them and the compost bins are pretty amazing. In the hour or so that we were gardening on Sunday, it seemed very efficient – both the learning process and the actual gardening. I can see how I will be able to drop in at my convenience to do bits and pieces.
I will definitely remember to chat with residents so that they can become engaged in the project too – like you(Michael Mobbs) did with that lady from the units who has volunteered to water the fruit trees.
I’m going to bring my five year old with me from time to time. He loves worms and snails, but doesn’t get much ‘nature’ in the city. Now that I’ve seen what you are doing, I look around city streets and see so much wasted space, especially around my apartment building."
You can also help us with taking care of our street gardens, a few of us garden on Friday mornings, but if that is not a good day for you, do like Clare and contact us to arrange a time when we can show you what you can do and how, in a time that suits you, and then you do can your bit at any time you would like!
If you love our verge gardens like we do remember: Many hands make light work, and we need as many hands as we can get if want to keep them alive and happy!
Road gardening - this is the best time of year for gardening + treat coming for our shed
Gardeners,
It's so lovely out there now; white fruit blossoms, young birds finding their way, gracious parrots feeding on the native plants. All those cold days of making compost are behind us and we're putting it out to feed things.
This Friday(16/September) we'll plant two Black Sapote - Bernicker - given as a gift to our road gardens by Antoinette and purchased by her from Daley's Fruit Nursery; their web page says of this fruit tree:
Not surprisingly this is one of our most popular fruits and if you like Chocolate you'll love Black Sapote. Commonly known as Chocolate Pudding Fruit this amazing fruit is low in fat and an excellent source of Vitamin C containing about 4 times as much as an orange. The fruit is delicious eaten fresh or used as a chocolate substitute in recipes and milkshakes or simply mix the pulp with yogurt and lemon juice for a refreshing treat. Fruits can be cut in half and eaten covered in passion fruit, in Mexico the pulp is mashed with orange juice or brandy and served with cream, it is also delicious mixed with wine, cinnamon and sugar.
The green fruit is picked when hard and allowed to soften and go brown within 3-6 days. At the ripe stage - you should be able to press the skin with your fingers and leave an indent. A very close relative of the persimmon the black sapote is a Chocoholics dream come true!
Antoinette has also ordered several Midyenberry for us to plant when the nursery has them ready.
The Pine Street Creative Arts Centre are swinging in and have arranged to paint the shed and give it a bit of heart. More on this soon.
Come and join the fun; meet at the shed.
Kind regards,
Michael Mobbs