Organic Gardening Workshop ~Simple Living Toowoomba and How to Start up a Simple Living Group

Simple Living Toowoomba's June workshop will be held on the 13th and a horticulturist will be coming along to present an organic gardening workshop. I am sure this will be a very informative morning so if you live in the area and would like to come along you can book in here.

If you can make it feel free to bring along any of your plants you are having problems with and the presenter will be able to give you some tips and advice. If you have any questions please email me and I will collate them and let him know beforehand so that he can address them during the workshop. 

Here are the details:

Date: 13 June
Time: 10-12 noon
Cost: $5
Where: Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 23 Glenvale Road, Toowoomba.
What: A horticulturist from Bunnings will be coming to give a presentation about organic gardening.
Bookings Required: RSVP 10 June

Before the workshop you are welcome to come along earlier for a cuppa and to join in the swap. We bring from one to five handmade/homegrown items to swap and you take home the same number of items. The swap table is set up by 9.45am and the swap takes place around 9.50am.

If you are interested in organic gardening you may like to check out the post Natural Pest Control - Updated which includes the information we were given in a previous workshop. 

 Breadmaking workshop

We have had an assortment of workshops since our group started back in September 2012 when Glenys showed us how to make Cauliflower Pickles.  There were only three of us plus our presenter at that first meeting and the group has grown somewhat since that first workshop. Others often comment that they would love to have a simple living group in their area so I thought I would share a little about ours and how it got started.

 Lemon Butter Workshop

After Rhonda wrote her first book Down to Earth she and Hanno visited Toowoomba and spoke at the Toowoomba Regional Library and I think from memory that each of her sessions were booked out. Our co-ordinator Margy and I were at the same session but we had never met before and, afterwards Margy asked all of the attendees if we would be interested in starting up a simple living group and of course I signed up :-)  A few weeks later she emailed those who had expressed an interest about meeting together to discuss how to form a group and what we thought would be suitable topics etc. As a result of that meeting we started up with just a few of us and the rest is history. Perhaps you are part of an organic gardening group...why not ask the members if any of them would be interested in a simple living group.

Rag Rug Workshop

We have been very fortunate to have access to a hall with a fully equipped kitchen which is really beneficial with some of the hands-on workshops. However, if you have a few friends who are keen to start a group then perhaps you could meet at someone's house to start off with. I know that one of our large shopping centres has an upstairs room where not for profit organisations can hold meetings so perhaps that is an option. Also I have been told that our Bunnings is happy for groups like ours to hold their meetings there on a certain night of the week. Of course, a hands-on workshop would be out of the question there but if you were having a presenter coming along who was just going to be sharing knowledge that would be fine. 

To find such presenters ask around amongst your friends to see if they know anyone who has knowledge about a particular topic, e.g. gluten free diets, organic gardening. You might be surprised at how quickly you come up with a list of names of potential presenters. Then ring or email them to ask if they would be interested in helping out. 

Once you have your list of potential members and a presenter then email everyone and tell them the details of the workshop coming up. We have found that lots of people don't book in until the last minute so make sure you email everyone the week before the workshop to jog their memories. 

Then turn up on the day and enjoy your new simple living group! 

Here are Mandy from The Old Dairy and our co-ordinator Margy getting their hands dirty. 

You could promote your group by starting up a website like Margy has done for Simple Living Toowoomba. This is a Weebly website and she has included a booking form and blog on the site. You could also start up a Blogger or Wordpress one if you preferred. Most libraries are happy for patrons to promote community events and also shopping centres usually have a community billboard where you could advertise your event. 

You might like to have some business cards printed for members to give to interested friends. Vistaprint has a variety of free cards and you just have to pay the postage for 250 cards. 

These are just a few ideas which might be helpful. Feel free to ask any questions you might have. I look forward to hearing about the new group you start up in your area :-)