Buarth Gurru (Grass Flowering) & Community Food Growing Festival

PRELUDE

• Native Wildflower Meadows with Katherine Horsfall | SAT 2 Nov | 10am-12pm

Come and learn about native wildflower meadows with Katherine Horsfall whose research in grasslands restoration at the University of Melbourne has lead to planting millions of native seeds to create nurturing, inspiring, biologically and culturally important grassy floral wonderlands in small urban spaces. These include threatened indigenous species.

You will also have the opportunity to sow a mini meadow. Take the mini meadow home and put it in a sunny sheltered spot and wait and watch - you never know what you’re going to get! 

• Making Clay Birdbaths | FRI 8 NOV | 8:30am-11.30am

Come and make a small terracotta bird bath with artist Ria Soemardjo. Using a basic slab technique, we will make a very simple bird bath for the garden. Water is a great way to attract wildlife to a garden. Our birds, lizards, insects and possums can benefit from additional water sources, particularly during the hot weather. A water bowl provides the opportunity for us to observe wildlife more easily,

FRI 15 NOVEMBER

• Propagating Indigenous Plants | 10am-12pm

Learn how to propagate indigenous plants in the NECCHi Newlands garden with Chris from Nangak Tamboree Nursery (La Trobe University). He will demonstrate various plant propagation techniques and discuss resources, treatments and tips to help you propagate plants in your own garden. Participants will also have the opportunity ask questions and get involved with some hands on seed sorting and cutting propagation. 

Nurseries that specialise in indigenous plants are currently working to capacity to meet huge demand. Propagating these plants is a great skill to have to help increase local habitat!

• Seed Exchange & the Art of Nurturing Local Resilient Seed | 4-5pm

Seed for home gardens is free in seed libraries and at food swaps. So if you're saving seed, it's good to know how to get strong seed to offer. Seed saving is an amazing story of cultural lineage and human survival. Annie Bolitho was a founding member of the Australian Seed Savers Network, come and learn about the seven simple questions to ask when saving seed, to ensure strong seed and plants.

• Workshop: Make Garden Onigiri and Warrigal Green Miso Soup – zero waste, vegan, gluten free, lunchbox friendly | 5-6pm

Onigiri has been used as portable food from ancient times to the present day! It is a healthy, easy to make Japanese rice ball. Originally, it was used as a way to use and store left-over rice. Come and learn how to make onigiri using local, seasonal produce with Mifumi Obata. It's zero waste, vegan, gluten free, lunchbox friendly. We will be sourcing local produce from amazing nearby urban farms including Farm Raiser and Sun Patch. 

• Draw Plants Together: Grass Flowering | 5-7pm

Join Draw Plants Together for a friendly inclusive twilight plant drawing session celebrating the Wurundjeri season ‘Buath Garru’ (grass flowering). A fun and creative two hours, come hang out with grasses and their allies and experiment with drawing :)

• Free Twilight Garden Picnic with music | 5-7pm

BYO picnic food and drinks, rugs and friends! Featuring music by Xiao Xiao, cello inspired by grasslands wildflowers, and River Arumets, harp in collaboration with the garden. The flowering grasses will rustle, shimmer and shake as the sun goes down. Garden-inspired drinks & sweets available at Brewlands. Seedlings from the Community Nursery. 

SAT 16 NOVEMBER

• Follow the Merri Merri | 8-10am

Join NECCHI musician/artists in residence, Ria Soemardjo and Vanessa Chapple in a contemplative morning walk along Merri Creek. This collective walk is a wonderful opportunity to take time to tune into the current season of Buarth Gurru - grass flowering.

• Family Friendly Bird Walk | 9-10:30am

Come and join a family friendly birding walk along the merri merri with champion Tawny Frogmouth spotter Arimbi Winoto from Friends of Merri Creek.

• Gardens 4 Wildlife & Grasslands Walk | 9:30-10:30am

Walk along the creek and learn about native grassland species with Pascale Pitot – see the plants in a bushland setting and find out about how to work with them in your garden to create habitat for local birds, butterflies, lizards and other insects. Victorian grasslands are critically endangered. Learn how we can care for them and extend habitat by planting these species in our gardens. 

• Stewarding Seeds & Reciprocity | 9:30-10:30am

Imagine choosing one plant and one seed to care for: to grow over many seasons, to commit to a relationship, to help keep it alive. What if everyone chose one plant?

Meg first learned about heirloom corn (maize) when she lived in the United States in 2015, and this year will be her tenth season growing and cooking maize. Meg now grows corn across a network of urban growing sites and communities in Naarm Melbourne. She holds corn parties with locals and those with cultural links to maize so they can feast together.

• Wurundjeri Council Education Session & Morning Tea | 11am-12pm

Don’t miss this opportunity to come and hear the voice of Wurundjeri Council with educator Lachlan Buxton-Green. 

As we listen, share stories and explore together, we can deepen our understanding of place, connection and history. 

Bring your questions! Lachlan will lead a dynamic discussion, bouncing ideas and stories to bring knowledge and understanding of Wurundjeri culture.

We respectfully acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the traditional owners of the land on which the festival is held. We acknowledge that they have never ceded sovereignty and remain strong in their enduring connection to Country and culture. 

TICKETS

Please use the code SOLIDARITY for flexibly priced Solidarity Admission: First Nations People, People from refugee backgrounds, unwaged, concession

Please use the code CHILD for free tickets for children under 12 year old. All children must be accompanied by an adult with a ticket. 

Please email programs@necchi.org if any questions about tickets.