SEGT 2021

I found this post from the SEGT 2021, which was originally scheduled for March, but got put off until May thanks to weather issues!

--

Not recommended for introverts, but a really great day.

I had the place set up for 9am, starting to put it all together around 6:30am. Misty cool, even a little chilly, and overcast. Good weather for people visiting, so long as it didn't rain.

(It didn't; a spatter or two around 1:30-2pm, but otherwise cool pearly skies or else the blue of a Sydney autumn.)

My first quartet turned up at 9:30am and about five minutes later 2 more turned up. They stayed about 30-40 minutes, then I didn't get any until 10:40 and after that it was a steady stream of people all through the day until around 3:30pm.

Lots of conversations about the garden, about putting together a garden, about contexts and patterns vs. details, about community groups that people belonged to, and chickens.

There were at least two visitors who came specifically to see me and my garden - a cousin and her three kids, and a friend from my childhood church with her daughter.

The cousin is Cousin T's older sister, and I think she sees a bit of T's independence and verve in me. With two daughters (oldest and youngest), she's also intent on making sure her daughter have examples of women. Her son is trans, and she and her husband have been really great in supporting him, but I think there was initially some resistance in the extended family because of the conservative Christian upbringing. So far as I know, they're respecting Xave's pronouns and gender.

Friend from childhood church checked to see if it was okay she come and just visit with her daughter; she's part of a fruit/veg co-op program, and the daughter has interests in gardening and wants chickens. (Daughter's twin brother, however, apparently walks through the zoo holding his nose...)

Lots of people were interested in the chickens, in the keeping of them, in the way I set up the keeping of them for maximum gain with minimum fuss. I think most of them understood that the chooks were about more than just the eggs - after all, these are people who are taking time out of their busy autumnal Saturday to run around and look at edible gardens on international permaculture weekend. Still, it was good for people to realise that a chook yard can look very different to what they've been seeing all this time...

Anyway, because there weren't too many people, I could mostly give attention to the groups, although I didn't manage to speak more than a 'hello/goodbye' to some people. I feel bad about that. Still, I think that most people got some value from the day...

I had a solid breakfast by 8am, then 'refilled' at 10:30 during the quiet 30 minutes. I felt halfway bad about eating an eighth of a wheel of cheese and some of those fruit&nut cracker thingies that I really have to learn how to make, but as it turned out it was a really good decision because I was slammed from then on until about 2pm when my first 'admin help' of the day arrived. Just one or two groups, but always people around and having to ask them if they'd logged in and everything.

Next year, I will ask wildly around for help long before the final week, because having someone to help manage the 'front desk' would have been wonderful for that early stretch.

My throat is sore from all the talking, I can barely write straight, and while I would really like to put my feet in a hot mustard bath, I think I might have to settle for a hot shower and a good night's sleep.