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Additional food planted on the first community plant-in day (the following plants relate to the areas on the drawing that we’ve labelled annuals and/or herbs):
Annuals – a variety of brassicas, peas, nasturtiums and marigolds.
Perennials – native parsnip, lemon verbena, lemon grass, lavender, rosemary, pigface, dianella, rhubarb, thyme, mint, comphrey, whiteroot, Vietnamese mint and strawberries.
We would love to make this map of the food forest more interactive and web accessible. Any budding web designers out there interested in helping us?
The ground was extra soft because of all the rain we have had, making the holes easy to dig.
This is Richard and Heidi. We only found this ground at all because of Heidi. When we had the idea to plant a Food Forest, we had great difficulty finding some land. Heidi, a local resident heard we were looking and suggested we approach St Michael’s. The rest, as they say, is history. In the making. Thank you, Heidi!
After saying goodbye to Heidi and Richard we spent a few hours mulching the Forest floor, leaving a meter around the periphery bare so people know where to settle their plants during tomorrow’s Plant-In.
Just before lunch we went out to the 
So people can identify what’s what, we then wrote each plant’s name on a small copper tag and hung it on the corresponding tree.
It’s rained nearly every day we have worked on the Forest. But this afternoon’s downpour was too heavy to work in, even for us Victorians. So it was tools down, and bottoms up at a hotel around the corner.
We will be on site tomorrow from 10am to 4pm come rain or shine. Come one and come all!
And dianella and lomandra 
We also planted a variety of citrus: grapefruit, mandarin, lime, lemon, orange and kumquat.
We also planted feijoas, coastal rosemary, lilly pilly, Brazilian guava, Hawaiian guava, avocados, lemon grass, loquat and 
With all the rain and planting the ground was getting pretty muddy, so we barrowed some mulch to make a path.
Then we cut down some trees and whittled them into stakes. Ha ha, not likely, although maybe one day the Forest will be abundant enough.
We fastened some hessian tree-tie to them, to support and guard each plant.
Just as the rain cleared, St Michael’s Rev Francis Chalwell (right) came to say hello and introduce Bishop Alan Stewart.
And then a little later, Greens Senator, Scott Ludlam, Sustainable Cities portfolio, (right) and Tony Hickey, Greens candidate for the Federal seat of Sydney, (middle), came to see the Forest. 
Dignitaries abounded, but the really very special guest was a visit by a beautiful native minor bird who danced around the oranges and had us entranced.
As well as updating this blog with the Forest activity, we have been documenting the progress on digital film, which we will edit into a short piece a little later on. Watch this space.
