Old Farm Bend

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Planting WORKING BEE Sunday 2nd August 2026 9:30 am at IFF site on Forest Creek
Last Sunday’s planting (on National Tree Day) began as drizzle, but that did not daunt the planters who worked their way into clear skies and a sea of green bags across the working area of the Indigenous Food and Fibre site.
Energetic young workers planted and hammered stakes but then turned themselves to exploration and their own working area. They were heard to say “Let’s dig a hole” and a heap of residual Phalaris roots was subjected to their mini-mini-mattocks and hand digging.
Then they said, “we need a tree” and luckily, we could supply them with one. Parents then stood by to help them in their own task - lovely signs of the continuity of Landcare and the ingenuity of the young. They romped over that whole site in imaginative exploration.
Sunday’s work joined the planting that Castlemaine Secondary College students did on Friday, bringing us up to about half of the plants that need to go in on that part of our sites for this year. These efforts are much appreciated and we have hopes of good survival with the augering of the planting holes that Djandak did for us this year; it has made planting far more enjoyable than the full-on hand-digging we have done previously.
The other element of planting is water, and we have had a good start to our planting season with reasonable rain falling before and after our plantings, but we know we are up against some very different dry and hot weather to come, so we will take advantage of planting more regularly to get us up to the 3000 plants across our sites that we committed to in the grant from the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
Bring a planting tool if you can (or use one of ours as we have plenty). Wear gloves and stout footwear.
And then, we can all have morning tea …
There are 2 ways into this site
https://castlemainelandcare.org.au/where-we-work/
Leaving Castlemaine, cross the creek and turn left opposite McGrath St onto an unmnamed road. Follow it around to the right and up the hill. Park on the grass and walk down to creek level.
Or, come via entrance E4. Turn off Duke Street into Burke Street opposite the old Best Motors site, travel 200m along what becomes Happy Valley Road, and park near the intersection with Verlin St. Walk 100m along the walking track to the first flat area as a meeting point.

Please note the following for working bees
- please register by sending a note to our special email address CLGVolunteers99@gmail.com
Bring your own tools (if you can, but we have some),
Please remember to keep a clear physical distance between volunteers, and Do not volunteer if you are unwell,
As always, wear gloves, stout footwear, and sun protection.
Morning tea (yummy) is planned Sunday Working Bees - but goes further if you register as above.
If you have questions, please contact Christine on 0418 325 350.