Trentham is working up a hearty appetite ahead of Spudfest coming up fast on Saturday May 6.

The annual festival celebrates the humble, and not-so-humble, spud in all its glory and multitude of culinary guises, and also celebrates the local farmers who grow them. It’s also an important fundraiser for the community.

Entry is free but a gold coin donation is invited and appreciated, with all proceeds raised ploughed back into the community and its local groups like the CFA, primary school and historical society.

 This May 6 Spud Fest is shaping as a cracker with numerous stalls offering locally grown spuds, prepared and presented in all manner of methods from hand-cut fresh chips and spud spirals to spud scones, potato pizza and delicious donuts.

There’s a strong focus on local makers with multiple stalls offering original craft and produce from artisan breads to gin and wines.

Two private Trentham gardens will open their gates on Saturday, April 15
and Sunday, April 16 as part of the Open Gardens Victoria scheme.
Rhonda’s Garden, Gemmola, (pictured above) was created three years ago by local landscape designer Tim Pilgrim of TP Gardens. Designed around a new sustainable home, Tim has created a relaxing space full of light throughout most of the year.
Owner Rhonda Watson’s design brief was to provide a small lawn for her
grandchildren to play on, a small vegetable patch, plants that attracted pollinators,
and a garden that was sustainable and friendly to local wildlife. Tim then applied
his artist’s eye to create a cottage garden full of colour and movement, informal and
naturalistic.
“With great soil, wet, cold winters, and hot, dry summers, Trentham has plenty
of beautiful cottage gardens growing in its midst. I wanted a cottage garden aesthetic
and liked the style of Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf. His style of perennial mass
plantings in a naturalistic style and planting in drifts rather than blocks appealed.”
At the other end of the village is Tranquillity, described by
owners Margot Burros and David Kotzman as “an approachable, un-intimidating,
nonprofessional home garden, evolving and adapting as we learn about our gardening
conditions and as we ourselves change”.
Purchased five years ago, the owners changed and enhanced the established
garden around the house, replacing scoria gravel with buffalo lawn and removing
large clumps of flax to open up vistas. A group of xanthorrhoea johnsonii was also
relocated to the front garden.
Plants in this area are mainly Australian, South African and New Zealand species.
The ‘fence’ is an irregular line of upright bush poles with native plants and rocks
scattered between, giving a sense of boundary but remaining open to ‘see in’ and
allowing kangaroos to pass through.
“The original plan was to create mass with dense plantings of blackwood trees
(acacia melanoxylon),” says Margo. “However, this species has not done well in open
areas with our severe Trentham frosts. Consequently we are trialling new species,
including several snowgums (wolgan, lacrimans) and swamp gums (E ovata).
Rhonda’s Garden is at 32 Park Street and Tranquillity is at 3 Gunyah Drive.
Both gardens are open 10am to 4.30pm. The cost to view each garden is adults
$10, students $6, under 18 free. Tickets at the gate or via Trybooking

Volunteering to help out with staging The Great Trentham Spudfest has been a great way to make new friends and connect with the community for tree changer Belinda Tynan.
Belinda and her household shifted to Trentham from Melbourne about two years
ago and Belinda, who works in education as a consultant with Deloitte, was keen to
make connections with her new hometown.

So she signed on as a volunteer with the Spudfest committee and volunteered to
help stage the annual feature for the first time last year. She enjoyed that experience
so much that this time around she’s now serving as the committee’s coordinator of
volunteers as the town gets set to host an expanded version of the festival on May 6.
“Last year it was only in Market Street but this time we’re expanding into High
Street as well,” Belinda says. “We’ve got more entertainers, more vendors, more
makers from around the region, a classic car display.”
The festival celebrates the humble, and not-so-humble spud, in all its glory and
multitude of culinary guises, and also celebrates the local farmers who grow them. It’s
an important fundraiser for the community.
“It’s a great chance to buy spuds from the local growers including some lesser-
known and unique varieties,” Belinda says.
Spudfest entry is free but a gold coin donation is invited and appreciated, with all
proceeds raised going back into the community.
“The volunteers really make the event happen and we’ve already got a healthy
number of old and new volunteers but we could do with some more,” Belinda says.
“Volunteers do a whole mixture of things from collecting the gold coins, to
supervising the kids’ area, to helping people on and off our horse and cart, to traffic
management. We’ve also got our Burly Brigade which is our volunteers, both men
and women, who help with set up and pack down.”
The volunteers enjoy a great sense of community themselves with a special little
wrap-up session and barbecue after the event.
Anyone who thinks they may be able offer a bit of time as a volunteer can get in
contact now by emailing Belinda at belindatynan2@gmail.com

with Eve Lamb

DIANNE Longley’s considerable artist oeuvre depicts dreams and fantasies,
weaving real and imagined figures and landscapes to create works that intrigue
and beguile the viewer. Working at her Agave Print Studio in Trentham, Dianne uses both
traditional and digital methods and here she chats about her prolific creative practice.

Eve: How do you prefer to describe your artistic style?
Dianne: I think I have an idiosyncratic approach. I explore diverse techniques for making art and representing my ideas visually.
Eve: How did you come to art?
Dianne: Well, I always made things. Like fairy floss from cotton wool, cochineal and sugar,
cork platforms for my shoes, when they came into fashion and my sisters had them, out of wine
bottle corks placed in my mother’s electric mincer to grind them up. The mincer smoked with the
strain and then blew up.
Eve: Which artists – current or historic – have influenced your own work?
Dianne: David Hockney line etchings, his theatre/opera set designs, Hieronymus Bosch
paintings, early printed books with letterpress text and woodblock prints, devotional books of hours,
Paula Rego etchings, Jessie Trail prints, Dorrit Black linocuts.
Eve: What is your media or medium of choice?
Dianne: I work across a range of media including printmaking, pokerwork on wooden panels, artist books, mixed media encaustic works and small-scale bronzes.
Eve: What is, or are, your subject matter of choice?
Dianne: Theatre of life, chance and random interactions, absurd juxtapositions, visual narratives of imbalance and implied misfortune. How we as humans make our way in a troublesome world.
Eve: Have you ever worked in any other area besides your arts practice?
Dianne: I am currently studying ikebana, Japanese flower arranging, which has a
long history relating to Buddhism, but samurai warriors would create ikebana flower
arrangements as a meditation to reflect on man’s fleeting mortality. I go to Melbourne
for classes.
Eve: What are you working on at the moment in your current arts practice?
Dianne: I am currently working on a second book on printmaking, Printmaking
with Photopolymer Plates: a multifaceted approach. This new book is a combination of
a technical manual on photopolymer printmaking combined with prints by a range
of Australian artists using a diverse range of techniques. As well, I am participating in
group exhibitions in Adelaide (mid 2023) and Melbourne (early 2024).
Eve: When you work in the studio do you like to play music and if so what’s your
music of choice?
Dianne: Gregorian chants, Leonard Cohen, Freddie Mercury, Johnny Cash, Patsy
Cline, Antony and the Johnsons, contemporary classical, and audio books.
Eve: To date, what have been your career highlights as an artist?
Dianne: Australia Council Tokyo studio for three months in 1990, Tracing the
Echo – Artist books and folios 1978-2001 exhibition which toured SA, Victoria and
NSW. Teaching at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine, USA in 2011,
where the studios are open 24/7 and there are no locked doors anywhere. Travelling
to Oaxaca in Mexico to see the ethno-botanic garden.
Eve: Do you have any other projects in mind at the moment?
Dianne: Yes, some small artist books for my participation in Sydney Contemporary Works on Paper in September. A few ideas for concertina books and small pamphlet stitched books containing artworks and text.
Eve: Finally, what are the main rewards that you derive from your arts practice?
Dianne: Each and every day is unique and propositional.

TURNS out simply hanging with horses is really good for your health
and happiness.
It’s a basic tenet that underscores the good things happening at The Path
of the Horse, just out of Trentham.

Here on his beautiful 11-hectare property embraced by the Wombat State Forest,
qualified psychotherapist and experienced horseman Dean Mighell and his horses are
helping make life better for all sorts.
Kids with ADHD, teens with autism, NDIS clients and traumatised emergency
service professionals and returned military service veterans with PTSD are among
those whose health and wellbeing is benefitting from what happens here.
Dean started The Path of the Horse as a registered charity back in 2016 and now
has 10 horses – think characters with big equine personalities.
With a background in the army and the trade union movement, and personal
experience of post traumatic stress disorder, Dean was inspired to start his unique
equine-assisted service after watching a documentary about two American ex-military
veterans who took a life-changing horse trek in Colorado.
At 50 and looking for a new direction in life, Dean was so inspired by what he
saw that he realised he could use his own many years spent around horses – and his
bushland property – to do something pretty special.
He also signed on to study with the Equine Psychotherapy Institute to become
an equine-assisted learning practitioner, and then after four years with Gestalt
Therapy Australia, he emerged as a fully qualified psychotherapist.
Joining forces with his equine friends, some of whom are rescue horses and have
themselves survived traumatic pasts, Dean has not looked back.

When The Local headed out to the forest to pay The Path of the Horse a visit
recently, Dean explained that the time clients spent hanging with the horses mostly
(95 per cent of the time) did not involve riding them – “except where fear is an issue
and it may help with this”.
Instead time spent at The Path of the Horse is far more likely to involve just being
with and near these dignified, cheeky, charismatic creatures.
This might involve leading a couple of horses through the forest, and just chatting
together with a client, Dean says.
Or it may involve grooming a horse. Or kicking back and shooting the breeze
in the excellent company of a horse. Photos capture clients and horses reclining –
literally flat out – just soaking up the sunshine and each other’s presence.
“It’s very client-led in terms of how they interact, and it’s a lot of fun as well,”
Dean says. “We call it invisible therapy.”
Confidence-growing, trust-building, and social skill enhancing are all typical
benefits Dean mentions.
Learning how to “self regulate” is something to which he repeatedly refers during
the course of our conversation.
“The horses are just beautiful at self regulation. They love affection and they give
it back. When we’re out there with the horses, our minds are in the here and now.
“It’s very grounding for people who are anxious. Our horses are treated with
respect and they are so calm that people will sometimes say ‘do you drug them?’ And
we say ‘no, we love them’. We get people of all ages, but our youngest regular is a
three-year-old boy with autism.”
A gentle giant of a horse named George has formed a special bond with this little
autistic boy, Dean says, noting that the formation of special connections between
particular horses and clients are quite common.
“The change in this little boy is amazing. He’s gone from non-verbal to verbal.
He’s learned how to self regulate,” Dean says.
Among those who love what’s happening at The Path of the Horse so much that
they regularly volunteer here is Kyneton local Eva Parkin, inset.
With a background in local government economic development, Eva is now
completing an equine assisted learning course and ultimately hopes to become a
qualified psychotherapist as well.
“Being with horses is for me very therapeutic in and of itself,” she says. “It’s very
rewarding work helping others with life challenges.”
Like Dean, she too has personal experience with some of the issues clients may
be dealing with. “I have experienced severe anxiety in my past,” says Eva who was also
drawn to The Path of the Horse because she grew up with horses and loves just being
around them.

While this uniquely therapeutic enterprise does receive some payment for the
NDIS work it gets, it survives on donations and support including some it gratefully
receives from returned service organisations like the RSL, Melbourne Legacy and
Young Veterans.
“We’ve seen hundreds of veterans and we’ve assisted people from all walks of life,
but the Department of Veterans Affairs can’t fund us,” Dean says.
He says that right about now some more support from individuals or sponsorship
from businesses would make a huge difference.
Words & images: Eve Lamb

Progress towards the new Trentham community hub has picked up pace in recent days with sub-surface works beginning on the car park.

The hub is scheduled for completion early next year but in recent days the area earmarked to become the hub car park, has been excavated to the future pavement level and stormwater drainage pipes and pits have been installed, the Hepburn Shie Council has resported in its online newsletter.

Underground electrical infrastructure will be installed to allow for car park lighting and an electrical vehicle charging station.

The car park works have been brought forward to make the most of the fine weather.

THE site of the old Trentham Police Station on Camp Street is getting a makeover.
Built in 1866 it is one of the town’s oldest buildings and now the home of the Trentham and District Historical Society. And, along with its museum, lockup and stables, it will soon feature a new installation, the Trentham District Story project, commemorating the district’s history and people up to the
present day.

“It is a project we have wanted to do for a long time,” society vice president
Susie Spence said. “We have a very active committee and have decided to use the
large outdoor space at the old police station to make a walk-in display.”
The society has realised the project through support from Hepburn Shire
Council, Bendigo Bank, Cool Country Classic Car Club, Trentham Masonic
Centre, private contributions and fundraising. Work is almost complete and the
official opening with Mayor Cr Brian Hood will take place on Friday, March 24.
There will be 12 panels featuring detailed history of the region including
the lives of the original indigenous inhabitants, flora and fauna, the arrival of
European settlers seeking timber and gold and the town’s ups and downs through
disease, wars and economics.
The new exhibit will also include, with the support of Gardens For Wildlife
Victoria, a native garden featuring many of the plants the first inhabitants used for
food and medicine.
And to mark the contribution of agriculture and timber harvesting to the
timeline of local history there will be a single furrow plough and Trewhella tree
jack.
An important part of the display will be the often overlooked role of women
contributing to the wellbeing, prosperity and character of the area; from the wives
of early settlers and bush nurses to teachers and the Grasshoppers women’s football
team of the 1950s.
“The women’s stories start with Louisa Tubbs adapting to the loneliness of
station life at Tylden,” Susie says. “Then there was Betsey Trewhella who made
the arduous journey from England with her children to join husband Ben on the
Blackwood goldfields and Charlotte Robson who nursed the sick and delivered
babies in the fledgling Newbury community.”
The mining, timber and agriculture industries of the area posed inherent
dangers for the early European settlers. Furthermore, outbreaks of measles,
typhoid, whooping cough, diphtheria and the perils of childbirth made life in the
Trentham district one of isolation and hardship until well into the 1930s.

And during World War II when many of the men enlisted to serve overseas,
agricultural survival depended on the mothers and daughters left behind.
“Many people today would have no idea about that sort of thing and the
impacts it had on the community. But the Trentham District Story project paints
a very good picture of what life has been like here. I’m not sure that everyone will
take the time to read the lot but locals particularly can come back and take in
some more every time and reflect on the changes that have taken place over the
years.”
The official opening of the Trentham District Story will start at 11am on
Friday, March 24 at the old Trentham Police Station at 3-5 Camp Street.
For information and to RSVP contact info@trenthamhistoricalsociety.org.au

Words: Tony Sawrey | Images: Contributed

Attention all spud lovers. The Great Trentham Spudfest is gearing up for Saturday, May 6 – and it’s not just potatoes!

Vendor coordinator Susie Wyatt, pictured, said the day would not just be about
“our awesome spuds” but include music stages, community groups, a growers market
and loads of vendors.
And that is where Susie steps in.
“We pretty much already signed up all the vendors we had last year so I think that
really shows how much they enjoyed it last time,” she said.
“And we also want to expand our focus from the awesome spuds to a lot of other
really cool produce and people from around the area – we want to make the event
bigger than ever.
“Last year we had a smaller event, because of Covid, but this year we will fill the
whole of Market Street and the Railway Station along with a growers market in the
town square so those business owners benefit from the foot traffic that is generated.
“We are definitely looking for people who grow things and the more local, the
better. We want to keep it as Trentham-y or Hepburn Shire-y as possible.”
Susie said there were already quite a few new vendors but more were needed and
she had been doing the rounds of local markets and putting feelers out on Facebook
pages to find people. “Maybe those little makers who don’t have a shopfront – this is a
great opportunity for them to come and join in.”
Susie said community groups were also welcome to come along to create a
fundraising opportunity for themselves or just help out on the day.
“Everyone is looking forward to it and the committee is really excited that we are
going to have a big event again – and we really hope as many people as possible come
along and enjoy themselves. It’s going to be a great day.”

Details: Vendor coordinator Susie Wyatt at vendor@trenthamspudfest.org.au
or 0420 554 217.

Trentham Haiku

Chaplins cafe
butterflies flower
on the dogwood
an earth-moving truck
drives between the cafe
and the pub
butterfly morning
three poets sipping
coffee
annual holidays
an old man carries an empty bag
towards the shops
strolling
around a duck pond…
a siren in birdsong
deep in thought
a duck glides through
murky waters
wisps of clouds
in the treetops
white cockatoos
picnic tables
mother and daughter
out for a walk
what kind
of duck is that mum?
a magpie

Contributed by Myron Lysenko
Myron Lysenko enjoys writing haiku in the
Macedon Ranges. He is a member
of the haiku group Fringe Myrtles.

Words: Eve Lamb | Image: Kyle Barnes

PREPARING to cycle 650 kilometres through the heat of a Cambodian January may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
But three intrepid Trentham residents are relishing the chance to do just that to help raise funds for a particularly good cause.
Right now, Mia Gartley, Steven Peirce and Paul Williamson are preparing – and training up – to join 22 others from around the world to cover the distance over eight days in January.
They’ll be raising money for REACH Siem Reap, a not-for-profit which helps Cambodian families struggling to survive in serious poverty.
The last such similar fundraising cycle event – run by another charity organisation – happened pre-Covid, back in 2019 and both Paul and Steven were part of it, but for Mia it’s going to be a whole new experience.
And Mia does not even describe herself as a cyclist.
“No. This is my first go at long distance cycling,” the office administrator said.
“I decided to do it because of the cause. It’s just such a good cause and I know exactly where the money is going – directly to the people who need it. It goes to cover things like education and food.”
Mia says getting some respectable training kilometres under her tyre tread has seen her out tackling a lot of trails and unmade roads around East Trentham over the past month.
She says the challenge motivated her to dust off her old bicycle – “that I’d kept since my 20s”.
“The biggest challenge has been the cold days – down to two degrees here in Trentham East, and when it’s been really cold I’ve done my cycling on an indoors bike instead.
“When we’re in Cambodia we’ll be tackling everything from unmade roads to busy main roads and keeping a look out for everything from tuk tuks to bullocks and buses.”
Ahead of the ride, Trentham’s Williamson family is hosting a special private fundraising afternoon, but anyone else who wants to help the three participating Trentham riders reach their fundraising goals can do so online.
“I’ve done about seven of these rides and I’m not even a bike rider,” says Paul Williamson, whose daughter Emily Williamson founded REACH Siem Reap and opened a school in the northwestern Cambodian location.
“I put myself through the pain for the end result,” Paul says.
“We will start at the southern end of Cambodia and go right up through Phnom Penh, to end at Siem Reap and be clapped in by the students at the school.
“I’m expecting it will be bloody hot and we will be riding through a lot of jungle and crossing the Mekong (River) two or three times.”
For those who would like to help them reach their fundraising aims, Mia said that each of the Trentham Riders had their own REACH fundraising page – “and we have to raise $5000 each,” she says.
“I’m pretty close. I’ve got about $4000 already.”
REACH Siem Reap communications officer Tadiwa Sibanda said the participation of the Trentham Riders in the upcoming Ride to REACH fundraising cycle was extremely valuable.
“We actually will be running two charity cycling events in January 2023 – our international event, Ride to REACH, where our international supporters join in Cambodia and cycle the length of the country, 650kms in eight days,” she said.
“And our second event is Side by Side – our local, youth-led event. To empower our students, and give them a life-changing experience, they will cycle 200kms in two days.
“Our two January bike rides are raising funds to support more than 200 Cambodian kids and their families in their fight against poverty.
“Our programs are dedicated to helping local families and youths combat the cycle of generational poverty and are focused around the basic needs of education, nutrition and health.
“As a non-government organisation all of our funding is reliant on generous individuals who donate to our cause. Our bike rides are our biggest campaigns, and to a large extent the most exciting.”

Words: Eve Lamb; Image: Kyle Barnes

DOG owners and their woofers out Trentham way are on the front paw for the new year ahead, releasing a doggedly handsome 2023 calendar in pursuit of a pooch-pleasing project.
The Dogs of Trentham are a group of local dog owners who want to see a council- endorsed public space provided in which to safely exercise dogs – off leash – in their patch.
Towards realising their goal they’ve just produced the Dogs of Trentham 2023 calendar featuring 12 local pooches posing in front of the town’s landmarks.
“The Dogs of Trentham is a small committee that we set up about this time last year,” says local dog owner and Dogs of Trentham president, psychologist Dr Kerry Proctor.
She says that in particular they hope to progress a vision, with Hepburn Shire Council’s support, to trial a block of land in Trentham’s Victoria Street for use as a safe and fenced off-leash dog park.
In the meantime, an agreement has been reached to trial two small temporary spaces at the Market Street Reserve after the group met with Mayor Cr Brian Hood and Infrastructure director Bruce Lucas last Friday.
Dr Proctor, said while it was not ideal “but a step in the right direction while a decision being made on a permanent site in the 2023-2024 Master Plan”.
She says that having somewhere off leash for local dogs to exercise safely is not just essential for the dogs’ health but also for their owners’ health and social
connectivity as well.
Over previous months, a large number of dog owners had been using the Market Street Reserve to exercise their dogs off-lead with many friendships formed in the process.
But the little central reserve also accommodates public toilets, tennis courts and a children’s playground as well, and its ongoing use as an off-lead dog exercise space has become vexed, with some conflict arising between its multiple public uses.
“The council received a complaint from a member of the public, and last December put up a sign saying ‘No Dogs Off Leash’ at the Market Street Reserve,” Dr Proctor says.
“In April the council unanimously voted in recognition of the need for an off-leash dog park and it’s now in their strategic master plan.”
The Dogs of Trentham group then identified the Victoria Street land as an ideal site to trial as an off-lead park – big enough to accommodate dogs of all sizes.
“The block of land at 14 Victoria Street has been bequeathed to the council for community use. It’s a perfect size. It just needs to be fenced,” Dr Proctor says.
“We want to get formal approval from the council to initially trial it as a temporary park. We’ve costed it and we believe it can be fenced for under $20,000.
We’ve got a lot of support for it. We ran a petition and we got 450 signatures in two weeks.”
Negotiations between the council and the group have been taking place, and the Community Bank Trentham & Districts has provided $3500 to print the calendar that’s now being sold to raise dollars which dog owners hope can eventually go towards fencing the Victoria Street site.
Trentham photographer, and dog owner, James Walshe donated his time and considerable expertise to take the shots which feature in the calendar – all of them local dogs including Dr Proctor’s boxer dog, Crumpet (aka Miss March), and James’ border collie Paddy (aka Mr May).
“It was a bit of fun,” said James whose professional background as a photographer includes photographing animals for Guide Dogs Victoria and for the RSPCA as well.
“The cover shot has four dogs in one shot and I thought it might prove a bit difficult to get them all looking in the right direction at once. But they behaved beautifully,” James said.

Admittedly some tasty payola helped James out while on location, and now the $20 calendars are being rapidly snapped up.
“We had 450 calendars printed and I think about 250 of them have already sold within a week,” Dr Proctor says.
Copies of the calendar are available at the Trentham Post Office, the Community Bank Trentham & Districts and via the Dogs of Trentham Facebook page. They’ll also be for sale at the town’s December 17 market – “and also some street stalls that we’ll also be having between now and the market,” Dr Proctor says.