Blitz 130 in North Coburg
The morning was cloudy and pleasantly cool; the soil and compost piles spread between house and fence. Camellias dropped their last flowers with the rustle of wattle birds on their branches, as the worms continued their slow battle through the clay… Louis casually threw a rock onto the soil mound and as he watched it roll slowly down, the Blitzers pulled on their boots. Into cars and onto bikes they got and after trams they ran, arriving at the site in numbers fit for a dance party.
With tools named, the flailing began, directed by the one legged Lex and in no time backs and legs and arms were ready for the task ahead. Groups were formed and tasks described by a bewildered-blue-overalled lady. The sun came out, the shovels went in and the day was underway!
The clay was puddled and a pond was lined (and holds water!)
The broken concrete was fashioned into brand new beds
A steep slope was transformed into an apple terrace
An avocado, strawberry patch, herb garden and banana circle were planted
A chook/duck coop was erected
Some veteran plants were moved on to their next incarnation
A mandarine was given a cutting edge haircut
An experimental Wicking-bed was undertaken… alas unfinished
The tea poured, the conversations meandered, the seedlings were tucked in nicely
A cabbage was gifted from the garden next door and accepted with great appreciation
The neighbours looked on with astonishment and wonder…
There were kids at the park and kids in the mud and kids playing Lego inside
There were people from Northcote and Brunswick and Northcote and Thornbury and Northcote and out west somewhere and Coburg of course
There was food made by two food making angels and we ate it and smiled and ate it and ate it until we stopped
Then we got back to work and shovelled and cut and levelled and carried and drilled. We mulched and weeded and watered and raked and planted and puddled some mud.
It was nearly the end and we looked around and said “Core! what a sight”. We patted our backs, made a circle of hands and this time said “whoooooa…..” which seemed fitting, drank some beers, collected up tools and said our goodbyes till next time.
The blue-overalled lady woke up the next morning and said “Hey, Louis we have a garden, I can’t believe it, were those Blitzers a dream?” and Louis said, “nup” as he made his way up the left-over compost pile.
