We had a weekend of workshops last weekend, including our Home Maintenance 101 course.

We are very thankful that Phil came along to share his amazing expertise.

Eight people came along to learn from Gordon on Saturday. They’re now experts on the basic care and maintenance of their overlocker.

So fabulous!

Gordon recently ran a similar course here for sewing machines as well.

If you missed out and are keen to come along next time, keep an eye out. We’ll schedule both courses again next year.

Alphington Community Centre is delighted to partner with Melbourne Farmers Markets to deliver ‘grow local, cook local’ a series of seasonal workshops that link the things you can easily grow in your home garden, with fun, delicious and yummy food you and your family can cook every day.

In each workshop you will get the chance to explore the key ingredient(s), chat to experts and share the joy of cooking locally grown food … and then eat it together.

Our winter series runs through the July school holidays and includes 5 workshops each with a different theme (honey, microgreens, mushrooms, winter herbs and winter greens). This series is suitable for people of all ages, and in school holidays is deliberately family friendly (for children 7+ years of age). Please note that children must be accompanied by a participating adult (who is expected to actively supervise them throughout the workshop). Also note that due to COVID restrictions total numbers are limited to 10 people per session.

Tickets cost $15. The workshops will run from the commercial kitchen onsite at Alphington Community Farmgate on the corner of Yarana Road and Wingrove Street (just down the road from us).

This grow local, cook local workshop series is kindly supported through a sustainability grant from the City of Yarra.

Honey, Honey

10am-11.30am, Monday 28 June.

This family friendly workshop will explore honey and urban beekeeping, an increasingly popular interest in our local area.

In the kitchen we’ll be making honey joys and muesli bars together and exploring other honey recipes.

We’ll pop over to The Practical Beekeeper to inspect all the equipment, have a look at hives and find out more about keeping bees in inner city areas.

Teeny Gardens for Tiny Homes

10-11.30am, Tuesday 6 July.

No home is too small for a garden! Just because you have moved into an apartment doesn’t mean you can’t grow your own food. In this workshop Farmwall will introduce you to microgreens and sprouts.

We’ll explore ways to use them in every day cooking and we’ll cook a yummy soup together, that is garnished with sprouts, breadcrumbs and a crunchy topping.

You’ll take home some seeds sown in a pot.

Marvellous Mushrooms

10-11.30am, Wednesday 7 July.

Keen to explore the world of mushrooms? This family workshop will start with a tour of The Mushroomery to see how mushrooms grow.

Whilst there we’ll pick some mushrooms and take them to the kitchen to cook delicious mushroom tacos - you can add whatever toppings they like.

You’ll have the opportunity to purchase mushrooms plus mushroom growing kits from The Mushroomery on the day.

Chive Talking

10-11.30am, Thursday 8 July.

This workshop will explore how to use simple winter herbs that are straightforward to grow in any home garden.

It will include a tour of the Alphington Community Farmgate garden to look at what is in season.

Along the way we’ll pick chives and spring onion tips and head into the kitchen to making some delicious dumplings (using wonton wrappers).

Green Snacks

4-5.30pm, Wednesday 14 July.

Have you thought about using the winter greens that you can easily grow at home in school snacks?

This after school family workshop will start with a walk around the Alphington Community Farmgate site to check out the gardens and discuss what is in season.

Along the way we’ll pick some leafy greens such as sorrel, silverbeet and kale. Then we’ll head into the kitchen to whip up some cheesy green pastry triangles … along with some kale chips. Yum.

Hi friends, well today (Thursday 10 June) really does feel like a day to stay in bed, or at least at home on the couch. What a wet and windy 24 hours we’ve had.

However, this post is to let you know that we will be reopening with programs commencing on Tuesday 15 June after the long weekend.

Please note that there are some new rules. A maximum of 10 people in an activity. And density limits are back to 1 person per 4 square metres. Also, everyone needs to wear masks inside. And … whether you’re onsite for 1 minute or 2 hours you now need to check in.

So just to be clear about specifics:

• Morning Tea on the Corner will restart on Friday 18 June

• Women in the Shed programs will restart from Tuesday 15 June (noting that Monday is a public holiday)

• Any playgroups that have over 10 people in them will NOT be able to restart until after the next rule changes

• Our Overlocker Maintenance Workshop will be able to go ahead on Saturday 19 June

• Our Home Maintenance 101 Workshop will be able to go ahead on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 June.

If you have any questions just give us a call on 9499 7227. We’re looking forward to seeing you all again soon!

By now we hope you have wandered past ACC on your daily walk and noticed the new art on our fence in the Alphington Neighbourhood Gallery.

If not, you should! The artist we are featuring this month is local Steph Briggs. The works on the fence include illustrations from a book that documented lots of familiar scenes from 2020, called ‘The year we stayed at home’. She also has some delicate sketches of houses from the neighbourhood and beyond (some done on commission if you are interested in documenting your own lovely house).

You can find out more about Steph here.

This community arts initiative is supported by Yarra City Council (thanks!).

Steph’s fur baby Leo is one of the stars of the exhibition.

Steph, Leo and Angus popped past on their lockdown walk to check it out.