I heard about the Hillbrook Sustainability Day through the Permablitz network. It sounded like a great platform to make connections with the community, even though it was outside of our ideal promotional area.

It was hectic leading up to the day as I wanted to present the second prototype of our top bar bee hive. We'd been receiving other jobs through May so time had slipped away from me a little. Never-the-less, I got the bee hive in a state fit to present, complete with hinged roof and viewing window! On top of this I had to have a banner and photos printed and add finishing touches to our new web site, http://www.allyoucaneatgardens.com.au.

Northey Street folk and other people helped us unload and we put up a tent kindly lent do us by the Benarrawa community centre. We assembled one of our raised beds on the lawn to show people how they looked in person, as well as a stack of photos with them full of thriving plants. We brought some crates and sugarcane mulch to make the bed look full, but the few plants we brought wilted and looked sad and did not do the bed justice. Tip: only put plants in if you have enough to look full and they look happy!

At 11am I held a talk about natural beekeeping using the top bar bee hive. At first there were only 3 people but near the end of it I think there were perhaps a dozen. There was demand for another talk but the town crier was needed to announce it and he was no-where to be seen. There were a few people seriously interested in the hives, and one called me out to meet his family to talk about it. I'm in the process of drawing up a quote.

We were flat out fielding questions most of the day until about 2 or 3pm when the crowd thinned. That gave me a chance to look around the other stands. It was a really interesting event and I didn't even get to see any of the presentations.

A draw was held with the first prize being a 500g jar of honey recently harvested from my top bar bee hive, which we were letting people taste. Second prize was a handful of seed potatoes, and third prize was some sugarsnap and beetroot seeds. We drew the winners at the end of the day and I delivered the prizes on Wednesday.

Wendy, who won the honey, texted me later: "I wanted to thank u for the great honey u delivered last week. My 4 year old has already been converted & now says she loves it. Goes to show the difference from the store bought stuff." She also asked me if I would be selling the honey - which is a definite maybe!

I'd definitely be keen to hold another stall in the future and at other schools. It was certainly well run and the staff were very friendly and supportive.