Cape York Folk Club is holding the Re-Gen Weekender event to raise money to buy a permanent site for the annual Wallaby Creek Festival. Last year’s festival was headlined by Ash Grundwald.
CAPE York locals and tourists are invited to “make soil sexy again” at Cape York Folk Club’s Re-Gen Weekender fundraiser at the Wallaby Creek Festival site near Cooktown this month.
The two-day event has a host of special guests, workshops and speakers all focused on regenerative agriculture, with funds raised going towards buying the site as a permanent home for the annual music festival.
Presenters include Dr Andre Leu, Sally Fields, Dr Wendy Seabrook, Adam Collins and Ori Albert-Mitchell, with topics ranging from regenerative farming and soil health to mushroom cultivation and biodynamic agriculture.
Co-facilitators Pasha Lynch and Guy Ousey said the event would have something for everyone from children to full-blown “soil nerds” and everyone in between.
“People are coming to this event because they want to share, we’re going to take people on a journey, we have weaving workshops, a chai tent, kids activities, tree planting, compost making, documentaries running, workshops,” Mr Ousey said.
“It’s all about sharing and growing our community, if people want to have a stall, there’s no charge, they can bring seeds or plants to swap.
“We have a local lad talking about beekeeping, we have a biodynamic prep maker, a guy is coming to show us how to make a hammock with only four knots, kids can make seed bowls, garden collages and tie dye with natural dyes.”
Mr Ousey said the agricultural principles being presented were ideal for scaling from a pot plant to commercial agriculture, and focused on regenerating or improving land often damaged by unsustainable agriculture.
“I dabble in it a little myself, as a horticulturalist, and I keep running into farmers at other events with these huge smiles on their faces, people talking about the new birds coming onto their properties and going out into their paddocks and seeing butterflies and spiders,” he said.
“We are starting to understand now that there’s a hell of a lot of science out there now showing that soil is not just there to hold the plants up, and there’s been a real paradigm shift from the old ways using pesticides, herbicides and fertiliser to regenerative agriculture – and we want to share that with you.”
Re-Gen Weekender is on 22 and 23 July at the Wallaby Creek Festival site at 720 Shipton’s Flat Road (just south of the Lion’s Den Hotel).
Entry is by donation at the gate, with the suggested amount set at $100 or $50 concession, but organisers said all donations would be gratefully accepted.
