Newsletter - Community Garden Community Harvest - Spring '08

Community HARVEST
Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network — building local food cultures — SPRING 2008
inside...
It’s an urban food revolution............................. 3
Way down south................................................ 6
A short walk in small vegetative paradise....... 8
Sydney community gardeners’ big day out.... 11
A new policy enables community gardening. 12
Calendar team seeks support ......................... 15
What’s news....................................................... 16
Community gardening in New Zealand .......... 18
Big year for Cultivating Community................. 22
Fresh food markets in public housing............... 24
Food localisation............................................... 25
School gardens.................................................. 28
Tasty readings . ................................................. 34
australian city far ms & community gardens network
community harvest
community culture
I f anything confirms the fact that

community gardening is now a validated
and established landuse in our towns and
cities, it is the move of local government into
the activity.
recommendations and to help local people
start the new Carss Park Community Garden for
Kogarah Municipal Council.
And more still

Of course, there are still recalcitrant The good news is that the number of
councils here and there that exhibit unadaptive community gardens nation-wide is increasing.
behaviour when it comes to urban food In Melbourne, Cultivating Community (see their
production by making it difficult to start report in this edition) has started construction
community gardens and city farms. Then there
of a number of new gardens on public housing
are the few that are so encrusted with the rust
estates. They have also built a new brick
of bureaucracy that they bog the simple act of
oven adjacent to a community garden so as
facilitating community gardening in a swamp of
to create a community kitchen. That’s the
excessive regulation.
type of innovative thinking that adds value to
Enlightened local government in Sydney
community gardens by expanding their role as
is now formulating policy on community
social venues.
gardening in much the same way that New
Zealand’s Auckland City Council has done.
Gardening the global food crisis
Marrickville Council made the first Ever since UNDP published their Urban
move when it commissioned the editor of
Agriculture — Food, Jobs and Sustainable Cities,
Community Harvest to produce policy direction
the potential for bringing food production
recommendations on community gardening.
back to our cities has been clear. Now, with
Next, Woollahra Council adopted a policy to
the world food crisis generating food riots and
assist the new Paddington Community Garden
unaffordable food, as crops are diverted from
in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs.
the global food market into the biofuel tanks
Soon after, Faith Thomas, a young and
vivacious permaculture designer who has the of the world’s vehicle fleet, the true value of
Living Schools consultancy, developed policy community gardens and city farms for human
directions and a community gardening guide nutrition and urban food security offers an
for City of Sydney. And just recently, Faith and added impetus to their expansion.
the editor of Community Harvest teamed up to This edition of Community Harvest reports the
produce community gardening policy direction initiatives of those urban food producers who
are making our cities humane and productive
places to live.
Community Harvest is the magazine
...Russ Grayson, editor
of the Australian City Farms & Community
Gardens Network:
• Editor: Russ Grayson info@pacific-edge.info
• Unacknowledged articles by Russ Grayson
• Designer: Fiona Campbell
All text and images remain the copyright of their
authors/producers unless otherwise stated. www.communitygarden.org.au
All care taken but no responsibility accepted for Cover photo: Cringila primary students with tamarillos.
the consequences of trying anything described in Behind: Care Design’s Aaron Sorensen and New Zealand
permaculture educator, Robina McCurdy
Community Harvest.
2 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

Hand out the seeds and hand tools because there’s something in the air...
...it’s an urban food revolution

A t first it was just a feeling, but
suddenly it’s a fact — something, some
fundamental shift in the consciousness
of the sustainability-aware is occurring, and it’s
found a foothold in this country.
food production, processing and distribution.
Likewise, the idea that we adopt new
approaches to the installation of solar water
heaters and photovoltaic arrays that scale-up
the existing ‘cottage industry’ model of one-off
installation — which is too little, too late —
At the moment it’s a foothold in the minds
received a sympathetic hearing.
of society’s innovative fringe, but it’s quickly
spreading to the early adopters. There, it will Listening to this, I was reminded of the
blossom into new ideas and new models. words of ex-NASA scientist, Dr Robert Gillman,
during his 1995 visit to Australia. Addressing
The models we are talking about are those
gatherings in Sydney and Adelaide, Dr Gillman
of new urban food systems. Not just new,
stressed the need for sites where the public
but reconfigured, redesigned and repurposed
can see practical sustainability ideas and
existing food systems. Their usefulness will be
technologies in action. Here, ideas could be
demonstrated as societies transition from the
prototyped and visitors would come to see them
waste of glut and plenty to a world in which
as efficient, practical and desirable.
people wake up one morning to find that the
oil that keeps our societies and food systems Fortunately, Australian City Farms &
going is suddenly increasingly expensive and Community Gardens Network members, like
increasingly unavailable. CERES, Beelarong Community Farm and
Northey Street City Farm, have developed the
There is no doubt that our societies and our
types of venues that Dr Gillman described.
food systems face significant challenges. There’s
Additional to these are the growing number
the peaking of global oil extraction after which
of community gardens adopting sustainability
food is expected to progressively increase in
education as a part of their operation.
price, the limitations imposed by a declining
fresh water resource (remember that agriculture
uses 65 -70 per cent of our fresh water supply), New models of urban sustainability
the probability of declining phosphate (used to Go Local was not the first conference to address
manufacture fertiliser) within a few decades, our food future in terms of the transitional
limited natural gas resources and a warming initiatives we need to create resilient
climate that is predicted to lead to further drying
and drought in some areas and more rain and
flooding in others. Australian Community Foods
The need to develop new food systems — ...a web portal for people interested in healthy,
new ways to get food from farmer’s field to the local foods, hosting:
urban dinner plate — became clear at late May’s
• Australian City Farms & Community Gardens
Go Local conference in Brisbane.
Network — find-a-community-garden
There, among the 250 or so innovators
• Australian Farmers’ Market Association
brought together by Ken MCLeod, then with
• Seedsavers’ Network
the Ethos Foundation, were many actively
• Grassroots & Community Supported
engaged in pioneering new approaches to
Agriculture
food distribution. If any significant idea came
• Co-ops, Cafes, & FarmGate sales.
from this gathering of thinkers, activists and
social entrepreneurs it was that we need www.communityfoods.com.au
to start the development of new models for
www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 3

communities — those capable of adapting to Attending Go Local were some already taking
changing climatic, environmental and economic action towards localisation:
pressures. The Feeding Our Future conference • Sonya Wallace and Janet Millington from
in Lismore, a joint production of Southern the Sunshine Coast’s Energy Action
Cross University (in particular, water systems Centre (SEAC); Sonya is the transition
researcher Leigh Davidson) and Lismore City region coordinator and SEAC, which is well
Council, highlighted the idea of localised food advanced in what they call an ‘energy decent
systems and presented some models. action plan’ for the region to guide it through
a peak oil/high fuel cost/global warming
Localisation is a process of producing
future (www.seac.net.au)
and processing foods within a region, for
consumption within that region to the extent • Amadis and Gilbert Lacheta, whose
that is practical, and that takes into account consultancy, Village Well, provides
the sustainability of soil and water resources. ‘placemaking’ services that ‘turn public
Rather than simply a measure to reduce food spaces into places which engage those who
miles, localisation seeks to rebuild local inhabit them’ (http://www.villagewell.org/
economies by extending local sourcing to other drupal/index.php?q=our_services_cultural);
needs such as water and energy supply and the Amadis also offers edible landscaping
provision of services. services through Urban Permaculture
(www.urbanpermaculture.com.au)
Brisbane a focus of food activity • Carolyn Nuttall, the ‘learnscaper’ who

developed the use of school gardens for
Attending Go Local were people from a number educational purposes and who has written a
of Brisbane-based food initiatives: number of books on the topic (see page 34)
• Northey Street City Farm, the city’s • Cityfood Growers, a grassroots organisation
major sustainability education venue with for those interested in eating or producing
its popular Sunday morning growers’ locally grown organic food; the organisation
market, workshops for the public, schools’ provides localised growing information and
program and the availability of Accredited an online marketplace
Permaculture Training with City Farm (www.cityfoodgrowers.com.au)
educator, Dick Copeman
• Mitra Ardron, whose social
(www.northeystreetcityfarm.org.au)
enterprise, Beyond Building (www.
• Food Connect, Australia’s largest CSA beyondbuildingenergy.com), operates a
(Community Supported Agriculture) that bulk buy photovoltaic scheme bringing
provides direct connection between farmers cheaper solar electricity through its Solar
(about 80 per cent are organic growers) and Neighbourhood Programme
urban eaters via a food subscription service,
• sustainability bulk buy schemes Redlands
offering a weekly box of fresh, in-season
Sustainability Cooperative
foods (www.foodconnect.com.au )
(www.redlandsco-op.com.au) and
• Spiral Community Hub in West End, which Sustainable Maleny
manages a market garden and the Paradise (www.sustainablemaleny.org), planning
Street Community Garden for workplace bulk buy/cheaper access to solar hot water
training programs (www.spiral.org.au) systems, photovoltaics and, perhaps, electric
• the social enterprise, Growing Communities, motor scooters.
an offshoot of Northey Street City Farm, that
These were only a few of the social
provides consultancy services for school and
innovators present, but their participation
community garden development
indicates the growing trend towards new
(www.growingcommunities.org.au).
forms of social action, forms in which the
development of new food systems are an
integral part.

CERES Organic Market

...where it's OK to LOVE your fruit and veg
Every Wednesday and Saturday —9am to 1pm
CERES Organic Market plays a vital role in Melbourne’s local food network. The market sells freshly
harvested produce from our own market garden and the social food enterprises we support, and
we share food mile info about all of our produce. Each week, in all weather, we sell the best local
produce from small, sustainable and local growers and backyard producers around Melbourne. A
vibrant atmosphere with live music and craft stalls, the market is the centre of our food network.
At CERES Market and Shoppe you can get:
• sensational local organic sourdough breads and pastries
• bulk organic and biodynamic wholefoods
• cleaning products for your home and body (greywater friendly)
• fairtrade coffees, teas and Australian chocolates
• Biodynamic wines and organic spirits
• fresh vegetables, herbs and fruit
• CERES famous fresh laid eggs... and more.
The Urban Orchard

CERES Farm is the pioneer of the Urban Orchard project where excess fruit from local backyards is
traded, donated or given away at the CERES Organic Market each week. The project counts over
140 households as members and aims to minimise organic food waste, reduce food miles and
promote locally grown backyard produce.
Perth City Farm new resource for

local food educators...
Organic
Growers’ think global:
market eat local
SEED International’s short video is an energising way
to introduce training on food issues and the values of
WHEN: Saturdays 8am till noon. local food.
WHERE: East Perth City Farm, East Perth. Producers, Morag Gamble & Evan Raymond, have
WHY: To bring you the best produce at a good price... travelled far to document the many innovative
tasty, tangy, terrific food initiatives in local food systems. This is a great
INFORMATION: www.cityfarmperth.org.au resource for educators and local food advocates.
Order your copy: www.localfood.net.au

New food models in old cities... Hannah Malone reports...
Way down south...

...gardens, co-ops ...and a convivial conference
D own here in
Tasmania,
gardens are
growing as is our
community of active
community garden across the road provided a
great space for practical workshops.
But the most awesome thing about this
gathering was witnessing people making
connections, having the realisations that they
people passionately weren’t alone in what they are doing and
committed to growing people feeling inspired and supported to start
or continue the great work they’re doing in
a healthy future. As
their own communities. We’re planning to hold
winter started to creep
another one at the end of this year, again to
into our lives we found
keep the momentum going.
ourselves recouping, reflecting,
eating pumpkin soup and digesting all the
Community gardening in Taroona
exciting garden projects that are happening.
While Tasmania is the birthplace of Recently, a new community garden has popped
Permaculture, the Greens and numerous other up in Taroona (Hobart) and another one is being
groups and individuals doing great things, planned as an addition to our organic food co-
there has been the unfortunate pattern of these op — also in Hobart — that’s being built.
concepts and people leaving the state and The co-op is 100 per cent voluntary run.
flourishing elsewhere. So, a few of us have The collective applied and got funding last year
decided to get busy and create a pumping to build the co-op a permanent building on
community growing food and other good ideas the grounds of the uni. It’s a demonstration as
for change. to how to build sustainably using straw bales
and timber gleaned from local council removal
Pumping good communities of trees from parklands. It will include a grey
water system and, potentially, a micro-hydro
On the 10th and 11th November 2007, almost
set-up utilising the creek running through the
100 community and school garden enthusiasts
site. Extra produce from the garden will be sold
gathered in Lenah Valley, near Hobart, for
through the co-op, with the potential for a small
the Growing Communities Conference. Also community market to spring into life in the
attending were council members, teachers, future.
community development workers and the
general community, all of whom networked, And Victorians, too
learned and shared skills about growing food Peta Christensen and Chris Ennis came
for a better world. over from Victoria to share their inspiring
The program was action-packed, practical experiences from around the globe.
and engaging, involving both local and Since 2000, Peta Christensen has
interstate presenters. Phil Tidey from Wynyard worked for Cultivating Community (www.
Community Garden, Liz Smith from Cygnet cultivatingcommunity.org.au) in developing
Community Garden and Mark Healy from community and school kitchen gardens
Kingston Community Garden got the ball and have worked in public housing and the
rolling by talking about their experiences with Maribynong Detention Centre. She has run
establishing and running community gardens. not-for-profit community produce markets and
Workshops ranged from food security, is currently working on the development of a
school/community gardening, Permaculture, sustainable community food system for the City
seed saving to conflict resolution. The of Yarra.

Chris Ennis spent the last six years at CERES
• garden pathways — education, training
Organic Farm (www.ceres.org), helping to grow
and enterprise with Tim Tabart from the
a model local food system that inspires urban
Tasmanian Council of Social Services
farmers, teachers and food shoppers with its
• nutrition in the garden — with Julie
three acres (1.2ha) of organic market garden,
Williams from the Community Nutrition Unit.
an organic food market and cafe, urban orchard
project, community co-ops, mushroom growing, An open forum concluded the first day and,
food processing and propagation enterprises on Sunday, a large crowd still had energy for
— all integrated with training programs for the gardens tour which took in Woodbridge
adults, school students and young adults with School, Tarremah Steiner School and Taroona
intellectual disabilities. Community Garden.
Talk, training & conviviality Feedback positive, future inspiring

A panel discussion about school gardens We received tremendous feedback about the
involving Suzanne Purdon from Herdsmans conference as well as a lot of inspiration for
Cove Primary School, Linda McKee — who’s future activities to promote community and
had lots of experience with school gardens school gardening.
in Queensland — and Miriam Herzfeld (on Next year, we hope to continue our work by
behalf of Denise Delphine from Rocherlea Peace organising a Kitchen Garden Road Show. Stay
tuned for more details.
Garden).
Special thanks to all the presenters and
Following a healthy and super-delicious feed,
delegates, and also to the organising group and
it was into the afternoon’s concurrent workshops
volunteers on the day, in particular Hannah
which included:
Moloney, David Stephen, Della Cooper,
• how to create a garden bed — Steve Solomon
Cameron McKinnon, Jacquie Maginnis and
style with Steve Solomon, well known author
Susan McLeod. And, also, to our sponsors
of Growing Vegetables South of Australia
Veolia Environmental Services. Thanks to
(http://www.soilandhealth.org/05steve%27sfol
the Department of Education and the Cancer
der/05aboutmeindex.html)
Council Tasmania for providing in-kind support.
• integrating school gardens into curriculum
with Nel Smit, teacher and coordinator of Schools to be positive action hubs
Woodbridge School Garden
In other news, there’s a funky organisation
• no-dig gardens and using waste as a resource,
down here called Sustainable Living
with Marieke Van Dijke and Alister Mackinnon,
Tasmania (www.tasmanianenvironmentcentre.
who are experienced in property planning
org.au) which is doing great work creating
and design, sustainable communities, natural
solutions to issues such as climate change.
resource management and healthy homes.
One such project they’re working on is
a sustainable school expo which will bring
Education, permaculture,
schools, teachers and the community together
gardening
to explore ways in which schools can be hubs
After another break, delegates participated in one of positive action. There’s a lot of excitement
of the following workshops: about school gardens in Tasmania with food
• permaculture — with Della Cooper from the gardens popping up throughout the state.
Permaculture Association of Tasmania So there’s heaps happening down on this
• soil amelioration — with David Stephen from little island.
Creek Road and Taroona community gardens We’re all very excited.
• experiences at the Ravenswood Contact Hannah Moloney of you’d like any more info or to
Community Garden — with Sue Jacobs, network: bikemeup@gmail.com
teacher and coordinator of this school and

community garden

a short
walk in
a small
vegetative
paradise
To walk through North
Wollongong Community
Garden is to take a walk
along what looks and
feels like a bush track. The
difference is that the trees
above have been selected
to yield food , mulch and
habitat and the shrubs
that create the sheltered,
secluded and close
ambience yield fruit.
Aaron Sorensen and New Zealand community catalyst and permaculture educator, Robina McCurdy, in the forest garden.
A s if to demonstrate that different

landuses can be compatible when a
little design thinking is applied, North
Wollongong’s 1300 square metre community
garden occupies the corner of a sporting field,
The garden has a core group of around
ten but a larger group who attend less often.
Working bees can attract over 60. This is
a common pattern in community gardens,
especially those of the shared gardening model
extending part way along one side and along — there are no allotments in North Wollongong
one end to form an L-shape. The open lawn of Community Garden.
the field creates a vivid contrast to the multi- From the field, it appears as a solid mass of
storied structure of the community garden’s trees with a comfrey border decisively marking
the edge, where the sporting field’s lawn meets
food forest.
the forest garden. The thickly growing comfrey
“This is ‘black’ soil”, explains one of the
forms an effective weed barrier for the garden.
garden’s instigators, Aaron Sorensen. Trained
Walking by the 9000 litre plastic tank that
as a school teacher but by vocation a social
stores rainwater falling on the roof of the
entrepreneur, Aaron teamed with local
adjacent building, we enter the narrow, winding
landscape architect and permaculture designer,
track. In here it is shaded, the trees above and
Dan Deighton, in Care Design, a small business
shrubs beside the track creating a markedly
yielding far more of social value than everyday
different microclimate to that outside. It is
businesses provide. It’s also a business with a
darker, cooler and sheltered and we talk quietly
large program — Dan and Aaron are busy with
as you do in such environments.
school educational gardens in four local primary
schools and, as if that were not enough, they Something reminds me of Robert Hart’s
have created an edible landscape along the lane forest garden in the UK, the work of an inspiring
and streets around where Dan lives. man who influenced many with his innovative
ideas (www.spiralseed.co.uk/forestgarden/),
Aaron stoops to pick up a handful of the fine
which were described in his classic book, The
grained, dark soil. “It’s alluvial”, he tells visiting
Forest Garden (1996; Chelsea Green, UK).
New Zealand permaculture educator and
community worker, Robina McCurdy, and me.
“It eroded from sandstone”. It is in this stuff that
North Wollongong’s only forest garden thrives.

Above us only trees
Above us, only tree canopy and the pale blue
sky of Autumn. This is no ordinary canopy, of
course — these trees produce fruit and nuts
surprising for their number and variety in so
small an area. This whole garden is surprising
and it reminds me of the traditional home
gardens with their diversity of tree, shrub and
vegetable found in rural areas in the developing
world of the tropics.
But there’s something strange about those
trees. “We coppice the native trees in Autumn
to about three metres, and use the foliage for
mulch”, explains Aaron. “Coppicing lets in more
light over the winter months and provided
Clumping bamboo and bananas are just a couple of the
organic matter and nutrients to the other many species in the forest garden. Bamboo can be cut for
plants”. structural material of use in the garden. The seat provides a
sheltered resting place behind the mosaic art work in the path.
There are trees grown especially for
coppicing, such as the leguminous acacias
that provide nitrogen to the garden, one of
the macronutrients needed for plants to grow
healthy and productive.
It’s this mix of natives and exotics that make
use of the natural functions and yields of the
trees and shrubs to provide food and amenity
for people, and habitat for birds and terrestrial
wildlife.
“This is the type of mixed vegetation we
need in urban areas”, I suggest, “ ...a blend
of the native and exotic that provide multiple
benefit to life of all kinds, including people”.
This is garden-as-ecosystem and it is more
beneficial than gardens of ornamental exotics or
those of native plants only. A Coffee arabica with immature coffee beans. The beans
Imagine this long, narrow forest garden. On turn red when ripe.
the ground grow those earth-hugging plants Robina checks out the prolific comfrey in a vegetable bed.
Note the explanatory sign indicating uses for the plant.
that form little bunches, or grow as taller
bushes, or that twist and twine across the soil.
Above them is a layer of shrubs ranging in
size from the metre or so of the sweet-scented
pineapple sage that grows in a keyhole bed
where more light gets into the forest garden,
to the two to three metre height of the Coffee
arabica with its dark, glossy leaves and bright
green, unripe beans. Above, the canopy of fruit,
nut, native and mulch trees.
Thanks to the effort of schoolchildren and
the generosity of Wollongong Council in making
a $1500 grant to the garden, artful signs tell you
about the plants you look at and their role in
the garden ecology. We stop frequently to listen
to Aaron as he tells us about some particular

plant, such as the large-leafed and uncommon
PNG passionfruit climbing up the fence, or the
stiff foliage of the jaboticaba of South American
province that yields a succulent, white-fleshed
fruit. He explains the ecological design of
the garden, too, a prime example of applied
permaculture thinking. At the end of the forest
path we come to an open, sunny area behind
which is a building and a chook run.
Here, the chooks have a large scratch yard
and a two and a half metre wide fenced strip
along the fence along which they can range to
forage within the shelter of the edible forest. A
salvaged child’s cubby house, bright red, serves
as spaceous accommodation. Well aware of
the need to harvest, store and carefully use
water, the gardeners have attached guttering
to the edge of the chook house roof that takes
rainwater to a large olive barrel.
Adjacent to the vegetable garden is low
shrubbery in which ponds are partially hidden
to provide water and refuge to wildlife and to
add to the garden’s already plentiful ecological
and habitat values. Nearby, a shelter structure is
under construction and there’s a bathtub made
into a large worm farm for the production of
vermicompost — worm compost.
Much to inspire, inform, discover

North Wollongong Community Garden is
(top left) Aaron explains one of the art works that dot the community garden. not your average garden. It is managed
(top right) Aaron lifts the lid on a liquid compost. Used olive barrels make using organic methods and easy-to-make
cheap and effective liquid compost and rainwater storage containers.
no-dig garden beds. Ideas derived from the
(above) An old children’s cubby is now the community garden’s
commodious chook house.
permaculture design system are much in
evidence — it’s not surprising that Aaron and
(left) Comfrey edge and Dan hold qualifications in permaculture design.
coppiced native trees.
“We have had up to 300 school visitors in
(below) Garden signage
is educational and a day”, says Aaron, “ ...and we have hosted
informative.
Greencorp programs. The garden has an
educational value to the local area’s schools as
well as to the wider community”.
With Aaron’s explanations to Robina’s many
questions, it’s taken us more than an hour to
explore the community garden. It’s a surprising
find among the modest suburban houses of the
suburb, and a delightful one too.
This, we realise, is the way to bring food
production back to the city and create much-
needed habitat at the same time, this small,
dense and productive vegetative paradise.
...Russ Grayson

Sydney community gardeners...
Big day out

T he night’s rain departed and Sydney
region community gardeners had a mild,
late Autumn day at Randwick Organic
Community Garden (ROCG) for their annual
confab.
of members from the outside community
but includes a number of university staff and
students
• Glovers Community Garden in the Inner
West — Sydney’s oldest, started in 1986 — has
Stragglers enjoy
a social moment
in the garden
after the get-
together
Around 70 attended for workshops, to adopted the biodynamic method of compost

share news of their community garden, meet production and has constructed a total of ten
colleagues and to learn from each other. allotments; the garden had previously been
a shared gardening site without individual
Community gardeners from the region,
plots; the allotments has strengthened
a consultant evaluating local government
the garden; all gardeners participate in
sustainability programs, some local government
maintenance of shared garden areas and
staffers, permaculture practitioners and
there is a beekeeper — honey is produced
the plain curious were fuelled by the tasty
in the community garden — as well as 12
food produced by the Randwick community
chooks and a rooster
gardeners. Organised by Arts in the Garden
maven, the exuberant and colourful Maery • a spokesman for the proposed Clovelly
O’Connell, the event lasted until the sun sank Community Garden in the oceanside
low in the western sky. Eastern Suburbs explained their progress to
date and said that they have communicated
ROCG was its sparkling, productive best for
with the landholder of the proposed site,
the occasion and the four Isa-Brown chickens in
the Water Board; Randwick City Council
residence were surely amazed to encounter so
has assisted with meeting space and the
many humans on the one day.
Australian City Farms & Community Gardens
Network’s Fiona Campbell and Russ Grayson
Progress is being made
ran a two-session strategic planning program
Formed into a circle, participants brought news for the would-be gardeners, as they did for
of their gardens and other initiatives: the proposed Manly gardeners, this is a
• ROCG spokeswoman, the landscape service provided by the NSW branch of the
designer, horticulturist and educator, Emma Network
Daniel said that, now nearly three years on • four from the Willoughby Community
site, all allotments are claimed and garden, its Garden crew attended to explain that their
gardeners and chooks are flourishing present site on Willoughby Council land
• Matt Heffernan, a home gardener and was temporary and that they are to start
member of Permaculture Sydney South, looking for a permanent site; the community
told of how Kogarah Municipal Council gardeners operate as council volunteers
is to convert a disused bowling green into a • news came from Young Earth Community
community garden Garden in the western suburbs; the garden
• Rob Joyner brought news of the support was started for the local community centre in
received from Woollahra Council and local the late 1990s by Sydney permaculture design
residents for the Paddington Community course graduate, Alicia Bourner.
Garden; he and partner Vicki said the garden • Gardeners agreed that garden representatives
should make a start by Spring this year would meet more regularly to liaise and plan.
• there was news of the Macquarie University
Community Garden which consists mainly

New policy enables
community gardening
A policy directions document developed for Marrickville
Council by the editor of Community Harvest will enable the
expansion of community gardening in the municipality...
IT WAS A SURPRISE TO BE ASKED TO In Sydney, these

PRODUCE a policy directions document for include:
Council and it was reassuring when Council • gardens
accepted it in late 2007. managed by
Local government staff at a number of community
Sydney councils, community gardeners, arts in groups on local government, church, school
community gardens practitioners, researchers and community centre land
and sustainability educators — both within and • a council managed community garden based
outside local government — were consulted in on the UK allotment model
obtaining information for the report. • council managed gardens in which the
gardeners are regarded as council volunteers.
A clear, open and fair procedure NSW Department of Housing gardens were
not covered in detail as those gardens were
It became clear during the research phase
developed for a particular community of
of the project that there was a need for
gardeners only — people living in public
local government to adopt a structured,
housing.
clear, predictable, open, negotiable and fair
community garden application process. This Opinion suggested that council managed
community gardens might not allow the
was a view expressed by both community
development of the social capital values of
gardeners and local government staff.
cooperation, shared responsibility and decision
Respondents said that such an application
making that community managed gardens
process would be preferable to the present ad-
engender. Major decisions, such as those about
hoc, one-off approach of local government in
design, management and membership dues,
NSW. This leaves the fate of community gardens
remain with council. Gardeners have less
up to the personal predilection and biases of
influence.
individual council staff or councillors, and raises
issues of fairness and openess in their dealing
with community garden groups. Consequently,
Management presents challenges
an application process was outlined in the The council managed garden operated by
policy directions document. Waverley Council was controversially taken
from a community-based gardening group
Gardens of many models when Council decided not to renew their lease
Discussions with participants during the (assisted by neighbouring Woollahra Council,
research phase disclosed a number of the dispossessed Eastern Suburbs Community
approaches to community gardening. Garden team now has a new garden).
The garden has since been razed and rebuilt
by council at considerable expense. A council
officer confirmed that gardeners have little
input into management. Interestingly, Waverley
licences, rather than leases, allotments,
however the annual renewal period may be too

short a time for gardeners to have a sense of It was also suggested that the gardens, where
security about their tenure. space and other considerations allow, be made
Willoughby Council, on Sydney’s Lower North available for compatible, non-gardening uses,
shore, takes a different approach to its Council such as that of the Arts in the Garden team which
managed community garden. use community gardens as performance venues,
The garden was resumed by council after the or for visits by people in aged care or schools.
community dispiritedly abandoned it some years
ago when Council announced the sale of the A few modest proposals
public open space occupied by the garden. The The policy directions document recommended
sale is yet to happen, however Council plans to
that councils:
retain a community garden somewhere.
• adopt a policy proposing support for
As a council managed community garden,
community gardens
gardeners are regarded as council volunteers
• not set up its own community garden but wait
in the same manner as bush regeneration
for demand to come from the community
volunteers. For insurance purposes, they sign in
• adopt the community self-management model
each day they garden and have little formal say in
of community gardening
the management of the garden.
• adopt a procedure for accepting and
The gardener experience with the sale of the
processing applications for support from
land is an example of how local government
community garden groups
decisions can discourage communities from civic
engagement. • develop a lease agreement that guarantees
security of tenure for the garden with
automatic renewal, providing both parties have
Sustainability education and
adhered to any agreements regarding land use
multiple use
• development of a memorandum of
The policy directions document proposes that understanding between council and gardeners
councils negotiate with community gardeners, to create some expectation in regard to what
access by council’s sustainability education the community garden will be used for
officers for workshops and courses open to the • council make use of the community garden
public. This recognises the valuable role already for sustainability education and the display
pioneered by a number of community gardens and of sustainability technologies, processes and
city farms in sustainability education and seeks ideas.
to establish community gardens, where there is
interest, as sustainability education centres.

Policy directions for community gardening
Effective community gardening

Participant’s ideas on what makes effective community gardening...
Responses included: A council sustainability educator listed as the main

• good communications contributors to effectiveness:
• stakeholder participation in decision making • strong leadership in the garden

• having good process • gardeners who know what they are doing
• flexibility • good design
• providing training to new gardeners • gardening knowledge.
• willingness to compromise A council waste education coordinator and
• adopting roles for participants — gardeners community garden liaison cited the example of
sometimes find that they like doing a particular Wooloomooloo Community Garden in Sydney Place
activity and making it possible for them to do this as an example of garden effectiveness. The City of
is helpful to the functioning of the garden. Sydney designed and constructed the garden to
replace an earlier, small community garden sited
A one-time participant in the now-disbanded UNSW
adjacent to the Eastern Suburbs rail viaduct, and
Permaculture Community Garden, now with the
continues to provide support.
Randwick Community Organic Garden, stressed the
importance of the community garden’s constitution Factors observed that contribute to effectiveness
as contributing to the effective management of the include:
enterprise. • the importance of competent organisation
“It is important to the resolution of disputes and how • democratic and participatory group structure
things get done”, she said • commitment
Structure is important to Glovers Community Garden • the ability to deal with issues through an informal
in Rozelle. The community garden’s largely shared conflict resolution process
structure (they are only now starting allotments) was • having a management plan for the garden.
cited as the means of maintaining the effectiveness A North Shore local government Bushcare officer,
of the garden as people come and go. responsible for a community garden, listed as critical
A member of the new community garden group in to effectiveness:
Manly local government area listed as components of • democratic process
effectiveness: • allowing gardeners to be heard
• democratic process • giving them the freedom to try things
• a focus on the social aspects of the garden • learning by the gardeners
• a regular commitment by members • the development of interpersonal relationships
• good garden aesthetics. • sharing of a common space
• the feeling of being supported.
The value of policy

I n the late 1990s, prior to amalgamation with City of Sydney, South Sydney Council
produced what was probably Australia’s first local government policy on food
security, What’s Eating South Sydney.
The policy promised council support for food cooperatives, sources of fresh
food and community gardens. It was due to the policy that council cooperated
with Department of Housing and UNSW School of the Built Environment in the
development of the Waterloo Estate community gardens.
Much of that expertise — first developed by community worker and council waste
coordinator, Rhonda Hunt, and then by Micheal Neville, now City of Sydney Waste
Education Coordinator — travelled with Michael to the City upon amalgamation.

Calendar team seeks support
S ome of us have to think a little to work

out what date it is... or even what month
it is. Sure, we know approximately, but
there’s nothing like knowing for sure.
Now, a project by a team of avid community
Vehicle innovator becomes
garden innovator
In Sydney’s southern Suburbs an

innovative garden designer has got
gardeners just might fix our confusion.
together with an innovative vehicle
Maery O’Connell writes...
manufacturer to make an edible
“We are seeking sponsorship for the production garden
of a Sydney community garden calendar for
Matt Heffernan writes...
2009.
“My name is Matt Heffernan and I have
“The A4-size calendar will feature beautiful
completed a PDC (Permaculture Design Course).
photos of many of Sydney’s community gardens.
“I have just finished a food garden at Toyota’s
There will also be monthly planting guides for
head office. This is at Taren Point, near Cronulla
Sydney’s climate, organic veggie recipes and
in Sydney’s Southern Suburbs. The business sits
inspiring text. Each month will feature one is on about five acres (about two hectares) of
garden, with details of its address and contact a reclaimed tip, previously mangrove swamp I
details. expect, that now has very impressive ornamental
“The aim of the calendar is to build our own gardens created by the landscaping company.
interconnections and to raise the profile of “I submitted a proposal for a food garden next to
community gardens in the wider community, in their cafeteria, which they accepted.
so doing inspiring and mentoring the creation of “There is about 35sq m of culinary herbs, citrus,
many more gardens in the city and the region. figs and some annuals. The kitchen staff are using
“Sponsors will be gratefully acknowledged and enjoying the garden.
on the outside back cover of the calendar, or “This summer, I hope to fill spaces and trees with
you may choose to sponsor a particular month travelling curcubits to impress even the most
for $500 or more. Your name and logo will stifled executive. If all goes well, ultimately, the
garden will provide all fruit and veges for their
acknowledge your valued contribution and will
cafeteria.
be viewable for that entire month.
“Toyota believes the food garden fits in well with
“If you would like to sponsor the calendar,
their long term objective, which is to create zero
pre-order calendars (rrp $10, special price
waste from their entire business process — eg
to gardens of $5) or simply require more biodegradable dashboards, recyclable panels.
information, please contact Mary O’Connell
“They are trialing a biodigester using their kitchen
from Randwick Community Organic Garden at waste. Wastes are collected in a digester via the
m.oconnell@unsw.edu.au”. kitchen, removed by truck and used to generate
bi ut I, being poor, have only my dreams: clean energy through methane. So, as a motor
car company, they are aware of where things
have spread my dreams under your are headed.
feet; “I also contract to Optus, which has a huge
t
green space that has me thinking”.
read softly because you
Kind regards,
tread on my dreams.
Matt Heffernan, Garden Feast
...WB Yeats (1865-1939)

What’s news...
CERES goes local at farmers’ market access to fresh food in their planning of towns
To highlight the city’s local food system, CERES and cities. Professor Heather Yates from the
University of Wollongong said councils often do
community farm has joined the Melbourne
not understand their influence on food security.
Community Farmers’ Markets (www.mfm.com.
Kiama Mayor, Sandra McCarthy, said her
au) as a regular stallholder at the minimum-
council took food security seriously and is
waste, Slow Food market at Abbotsford
looking at how dairy farms might also grow
Convent.
fresh foods.
The market has a policy of no plastic bags
The project aims to boost the availability of
and of supporting Melbourne region food
fresh foods in the Illawarra through establishing
producers.
more growers markets and a food trail to
Access to fresh food boosted by funding encourage farmers to sell what they produce
locally. A food strategy is to be implemented
The 16 February edition of the Illawarra Mercury
that includes food gardens in schools and
carried a page one, lead story entitled “Illawarra
community gardens.
leaders’ plan to help us eat our greens”.
The prominently-placed story, by reporter Rumour to contrary untrue:
Courtney Trenwith, announced the cooperation Organics can feed the world
of three local governments to design and
The Ecologist magazine on 17/07/2007
implement a food security plan using a federal
published a report — Organic farming CAN feed
government grant of $1.15 million.
the world, saying that...
Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama
councils are behind the three year project. It “A new study by scientists at the University
follows disclosure in a study that 19,000 citizens of Michigan in the US suggests that on farms
of the region do not have adequate access to in industrialised countries, organic farming can
fresh fruit and vegetables. produce comparable yields to those achieved by
conventional farming.
Wollongong Council’s Lisa Miller told the
Illawarra Mercury that food production in the “In the less-industrialised world, however,
Illawarra had diminished over the past 30 years. the study showed that up to three times greater
yields can be obtained by farming organically.
The project will include the edible
These results were achieved using existing
landscaping of streets, community gardening,
quantities of organic fertilisers — such as
an existing program of educational gardens in
manure and green manure — and without
schools and access to affordable food.
turning more land over to food production.
The announcement was associated with a
“Professor Ivette Perfecto, lead author of
seminar on food security at the University of
the research, said she was struck by the yields
Wollongong, attended by local government,
which could be obtained from organic farming,
churches, local health services and community
and how these could be obtained by simple
groups including the Illawarra Food Fairness
methods such as growing nitrogen-fixing crops
Alliance (www.healthycitiesill.org.au/
in-between harvest and sowing times. She
foodfairness.htm), with which some local
added that assuming the world would go hungry
government officers also work.
if forced to farm organically was ‘ridiculous’”.
Speaking at the conference, the University
of Sydney’s professor Tony Capon said it was
important that developers and councils consider

When in Brisbane...
Northey
Street
City Farm
Organic Growers’
Market
Sundays...
6:00 am — 10:30 am
• all the old favourite stalls

• extra new stalls
• hot coffee, chai, breakfast, treats at the
City Farm’s Chai Cafe
• City Farm’s Edible Landscapes nursery
• lots of bike racks & parking
• certified organic produce & products
• walk around the City Farm... fruit,
vegetables, chooks, market garden,
water tanks, unusual crops... visit Breakfast
Creek’ mangroves... there’s lots of
inspiration for you and your children.
Find us at NORTHEY STREET, Windsor... coming from the city along Lutwyche Road,
cross Breakfast Creek bridge and turn next left into Northey Street.
In Sydney’s urban west

T he Holroyd Community Garden is located at 73
Fullagar Road, in Wentworthville (western Sydney),
as part of Lytton Street Park. It is a little difficult to find
We have established a native garden area with
plants donated by some of the large wholesale
nurseries in Sydney and have now moved on to
as it is actually behind the tennis courts and Lapidary establishing the vegetable plots. There are also plans
Club, so to gain access people need to walk down for a formal orchard nursery, raised vegetable plots
along side the canal and then they will not miss it. to accommodate disabled people and a pergola in
which we intend to conduct workshops.
The garden is on land owned by the Holroyd Council
but has been given over to the Cassia Community The long-term vision for the garden is to have it open
Centre to develop and administer. It has been in at least twice a week for local community groups, the
existence since 2003 but it is only since June that local school and disabled groups in the area.
progress has been made and the garden has got off
the ground. In terms of a lot of community gardens, Contact details are: Cassia Community Centre.
the area is quite large, spanning 1600 sq meters. P: 9688 3215 or 0425 306003
Lynne McLaughlan, Community Garden Coordinator.

AOTEROA/NEW ZEALAND
NEW GARDENS
for Aotearoa’s cities
WELLINGTON, CHRISTCHURCH, Here, Robina
AUCKLAND, NELSON... makes
community gardening has come to New use of the
Zealand’s cities. participatory
T
techniques
aking the lead, Auckland City Council
she has
has developed a policy that facilitates
developed over
the practice of community gardening.
the years, her skills in working with groups and
In Wellington, links between city government
experience in food production.
and community gardeners are opening up, with
a city councillor lending her assistance to a Time for trans-Tasman cooperation
community garden group.
We hear all too little about our community
Cultivating Christchurch gardening colleagues across the Tasman, yet
there surely is much to learn from each other.
The South Island’s major city, Christchurch, has
Here’s to a closer relationship and free flow of
at around 14 community gardens.
information.
Strickland Street Community Garden sees
its civic role encompassing neighbourhood More information: Strickland Street Community
Garden: ssgardens@paradise.net
development and sustainable living, and
promotes itself as providing fresh produce
at low/no cost to the community, a friendly Common Ground story next page...
environment in which to share and learn
gardening skills, workshops on composting,
food preserving, seed saving and horticulture
and activities for school groups.
Gardening Wellington
Wellington has three community gardens, one
of which is Common Ground, described on the
next page.
Others include Arlington Community Garden,
which occupies local government land. Te Communication yields common direction. In Common
Ground Community Garden, a sign protected from the
Aro locals associated with the group known rain communicates the garden’s needs to gardeners.
as Growing Community salvaged plants from
a garden built to protest the construction of
a road bypass and used them to create the
Arlington garden. Innermost Gardens is planned
to be an intercultural place for local and migrant
women.
Making a start in Nelson

In Nelson, at the top of the South Island on
Cook Strait, permaculture educator, organics
advocate and international development Common Ground gardeners salvaged used roofing iron
to make this practical, weatherproof storage shed. With
worker, Robina McCurdy, coordinated a new its multi-colour panels, it looks like an artwork.
community garden.

AOTEROA/NEW ZEALAND
Community gardening
in wild, windy Wellington
IF THERE’S ONE THING YOU NOTICE
about Common Ground Community
Garden, it’s the windbreaks. They’re there
for a good reason — the winds pour down
the gorse-covered slopes above to roar
through the garden on their way to the
valley below.
A garden of allotments and common

areas, Common Ground occupies the
same midslope plateau as the Sisters of
Compassion food garden. And the gardeners
have the Sisters to thank for Common Ground,
for it was they who said ‘yes’ when the Rowan, Common Ground’s coordinator.
community garden group approached them for
access to an area of their land. Allotments with shadecloth windbreaks and, in the
background, the shed made by the gardeners.
Like so many other community gardens,
the Common Ground gardeners use organic
techniques to maintain a productive soil and
grow their crops. Compost production is carried
out in the big bays the gardeners have made of
recycled timber. Mulching is much in evidence.
Walk through the garden and notice how
the gardener-recyclers have put together a
rustic garden shed from panels of salvaged
galvanised iron, how they make use of vehicle
tyres for planters, and notice, too, the sheltered
blackboard that notifies gardeners of what
needs doing. To minimise maintenance, the
garden beds have durable edges that deter weed
invasion, and some of the paths have been It’s really windy at Common Ground, and strong winds damage
vegetables and herbs. A polycarbonate windbreak erected to
made more durable by the laying of bark chips. keep the winds from an allotment. Note the allotment’s sturdy
There is plenty of evidence that the timber wall.
gardeners have put time into site analysis. All

those barriers of blue shadecloth are to protect
the vegetables and herbs from Wellington’s wild
winds. Perhaps the most elaborate windbreak is
that made of polycarbonate roofing panels that
surrounds one of the allotments.
Tall shrubs, too, form windbreaks. The
gardeners have found the legume, pigeon pea
(Cajanus cajan) to be useful for this purpose.
Common Ground is a productive community
garden designed to brave the challenges of its
hilly terrain and cool temperate climate... and
Wellington’s wild winds.

AOTEROA/NEW ZEALAND
Supporting community gardening with

CITY POLICY
I t seems they like the idea of urban
agriculture in Auckland, New Zealand’s
largest city up near the top of the North
Island. There, city government has adopted a
policy on community gardening.
It uses vacant or unspecified open space
— either in the public domain or owned
by another organisation or business (for
example by a church or through a public
housing body).
In its policy, Auckland City Council states… Community gardens may have an
explicit gardening philosophy such
Community gardens involve residents as organic growing, permaculture or
in sharing in the creation, maintenance biodynamic gardening, or they may
and rewards of gardening. They allow participants with individual plots
provide food, recreation and to manage them as they see fit. They may
therapeutic opportunities for a also establish nurseries to propagate and
community. They can also promote raise seedlings for their gardeners.
environmental awareness and provide
community education.
Positive move for city government
Where they exist, community gardens As far as is known, Auckland is the only city
form an important part of a city’s public open
government in Aoteoroa to adopt a policy
space network. Today, there are approximately
specifically on community gardening. As have
10,000 community gardens in United States
policies elsewhere, it provides an official
cities alone. At least 15 community gardens are
framework for the development of community-
known to exist in New Zealand.
based, urban food production.
Auckland city defines a community garden
Gardens thrive in other cities too —
as:
Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson — and no doubt
…a small scale, low-investment
neighbourhood communal gardening will continue to increase in number. It seems our
venture, growing vegetables, fruit and/ trans-Tasman colleagues have made a positive
or flowers. start to bringing food production back to the city.
gardening offers a way around the alienation and

isolation of contemporary life.
“The gardens lay down a set of values that people

seem to need”, writes Christine. “It’s to do with
authenticity, a demonstration of hard work and the
COMMUNITY GARDENING is a book of documentary value of work, creating a good relationship with
style photographs that capture the people who work neighbours... (the gardens) give a sense of security”.
Christchurch’s community gardens as well as the
The writers explain how community gardens were
gardens themselves.
established throughout the city in the 1980s, mainly
Published by the Christchurch Community Garden’s as “spontaneous localised actions” to satisfy social
Association, the black and white images in the 38 needs. Another motivation was to provide access
page book were made for the Community Gardening to healthy and affordable food. More gardens have
exhibition that toured the city’s community venues been started in recent years, bringing the total in
and public libraries in 2006. Christchurch to 14. Documentary photography, as
in this book, is a genre with the potential to write
The book displays the work of photographer, Stephen community gardening into the historic record of our
Trindler. In their accompanying text, Christine Blance cities. We need more of it.
(who manages the Strickland Street Community
Community Gardening; 2006; Christchurch
Garden) and Ross Paterson write that community
Community Gardens’ Association. ISBN 0 473 10909 3.

AOTEROA/NEW ZEALAND
Following the
FOOD TRAILS
O N SYDNEY’s URBAN FRINGE, we have
the Hawkesbury Harvest Farm Gate
Trail. On New Zealand’s North Island
they have the Hawkes Bay Food Trail. Two sides
of the Tasman, two good ideas for local food
producers and local food aficionados.
The food trail is an idea that links food
producers, processors and retailers in a drive-
yourself route through a food producing area.
For visitors, its the opportunity to buy food
products they otherwise might not get to taste,
to have a pleasant day’s drive in the country (fill
your car with friends) and the chance to sample
Sydney gardener, Matthew McLennan and local
local foods and wines. organic gardener, Sister Loyala (Sisters of Compassion,
Wellington) discuss things horticultural while leaning on
a Common Ground Community Garden windbreak
On the edge of Sydney
Hawkesbury Harvest’s trail takes you to a wide
range of venues on the Sydney rural fringe.
These span the Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens,
through arts and crafts premises, a cheesery,
seafood smoker, fruit and vegetable farms, an
alpaca stud, winery, berry farm, pecan orchard
and lavender farm, among many.
Over the Tasman

Over on the Pacific coast of New Zealand’s
North Island, the Hawkes Bay Food Trail visits a
diverse range of food venues.
There’s avocados, fruit orchards, Elmwood
Table Grapes, a strawberry farm, mushroom
farm and the free range Other Side Chook Park.
Idea...
Not enough space for a community
There’s honey, a rustic food store, an garden? Why not grow it vertically?
organic coffee company, Harald’s Bread World,
Vertical garden by Terry Bail, Archology.
Roosters Brew World (beer, and their own local
wines), Saucy Sisters artisan kitchen, cheeses,
olives, chocolates, venison, Pataka Organic
Cafe and Bakery and, of course, wineries —
Hawkes Bay is New Zealand’s North Island
wine country.
Information
Hawkes Bay Food Trail: www.savourhawkesbay.co.nz
Hawkesbury food Trail: www.hawkesburyharvest.com.au

2007: a BIG year for CC
The year 2007 was a big one for Melbourne’s Cultivating Community, the Victorian end
of the Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network. President Pam Varcy
outlines the accomplishments...
C ultivating Community (CC) has

completed an extremely productive
year and has grown substantially as an
organisation over the last twelve months. Much
of this growth has come about because CC has
Expanding educational role
Our schools consultancy project received a
great boost when it was awarded a grant from
Department of Victorian Communities, together
with SMEC financial and in-kind support, nearly
diversified its role to include: $60,000.
• consultancy for school gardens Following this, our school garden
• urban food co-ops consultancy business model is now being
• neighbourhood renewal projects trailed at three schools. It is predicted that
• and our ongoing commitment to supporting this work will become a growth area for the
community gardens. organisation. CC continues to have garden
support workers and teachers in several
CC has also become more actively involved with schools.
educational programs.
This growth has been reflected in an increase School gardens — going solo
in employed staff and a major growth in funding
In March, the time came to break away from
from a diversity of sources.
our collaboration with the Stephanie Alexander
CC is now in a strong position financially
Kitchen Garden Foundation to pursue our own
and is well respected for delivering high quality
outcomes to projects. Not only is CC now visions for the establishment and support of
recognised nationally as a strong voice for school garden programs.
community development, it is also becoming This means that CC is no longer involved
better known internationally. with the programs at Collingwood College and
Nunawading Primary School. Heidi and Andrew
Innovative Projects have both made excellent contributions to these
projects and our thanks must go to both of them
CC’s biggest project of the last twelve months
for the wonderful work they have done.
has been the very successful staging of the
fourth annual Australian City Farms and
Moving into education
Community Gardens Conference entitled
This year has seen CC involved in the
Cities Feeding People – grow it where you live
presentation of two courses at the Burnley
(download audio: http://www.ceres.org.au/
campus of Melbourne University.
community/conference.htm).
The Community and Therapeutic
This involved many months of planning
Horticulture course was a success for the
and hard work. Well-known national and
third successive year, this time with twenty six
international speakers were featured as well
participants.
as workshops on topics such as local food and
food security, gardens in schools, community The second course was a new Kitchen
gardens and seed saving. Tours, networking Garden course that attracted forty-four
and social events capped off a very exciting participants.
conference with over 700 participants.

Future Directions this will hopefully open doorways for both
organisations
CC can look toward a very strong and exciting
• our schools garden program is growing
next twelve months. More and more, people
rapidly and new funding in the area of
are turning towards sustainable living and CC
food security is allowing for some exciting
is there at the cutting edge to give support and
developments.
direction:
• of particular note is our newly-forged Download the full Cultivating Community Annual Report
2007 from: www.communitygarden.org.au
association with Royal Botanic Gardens;
Community gardens in public housing

CC continues to support and maintain very colourful scarecrows made by individual
gardeners and the life-size photos of many of the
twenty community gardens on public
gardeners added a festive feel to the garden;
housing states:
congratulations must go to Ailsa, Esther and the
• social events such as outings, barbeques and other volunteers
arts projects provide positive experiences for the • once again, Housing Week was celebrated in the
gardeners various gardens with many different activities
• the wood-fired oven in the Fitzroy Community • this last twelve month period has seen a major
Garden is getting lots of use challenge for gardeners with the drought and
• in September, Flemington Estate Community severe water restrictions being imposed; many of
Garden celebrated its first birthday; this has really the gardeners have struggled with watering their
been a wonderful success story after all the delays plots by carting buckets of recycled water from
in its redevelopment their flats; Yarra Valley Water and City West Water
• this year, CC opened a community garden to the granted CC exemptions to allow a change of
public through Australia’s Open Garden Scheme; watering times in many of the gardens
it was Flemington’s turn and highlights over the • after much consultation and collaboration, a
weekend included cultural dancing and singing, new set of Garden Rules and Guidelines has been
the availability of a variety of food and drinks developed and ratified by DHS providing stability
and garden tours led by Penny Woodward; the across all gardens.
Farewell Garden of Eden

It was with great sadness that Garden of Eden Inc
was disbanded.
CC had an excellent relationship with this
organisation and we are very grateful to them for
their donation of two laptop computers and one PC,
plus a donation of nearly $6000.
This paves the way for CC to become directly
responsible for the planning and construction of
garden upgrades.
Thanks to the work of Amadis Lacheta and crew for Photo: The community garden network and SEED International’s
making Garden of Eden a memorable place. Morag Gamble (www.SEEDinternational.com.au) takes a long,
last walk down the path at Garden of Eden

Cultivating Community’s innovative fresh food markets
Fresh food markets for

public housing communities
C ultivating Community’s Fresh Food
Markets are tenant run, not-for-
profit initiatives that aim to increase
access to fresh, in season and affordable
produce for the tenants of the Fitzroy and
How it works
Food for the markets is purchased at the
Footscray Wholesale Market by the buyer who
shops for the CERES Market in East Brunswick.
Collingwood public housing estates as well as This in-kind contribution is invaluable.
wider communities addressing issues of food Although the aim of the project is to supply
insecurity and social isolation. the cheapest produce possible, an emphasis is
also placed on quality and sustainability, so the
some produce is food is bought when it is in season and with an
as-local-as-possible ethic.
sourced directly from a
Some produce is sourced directly from a
farmer in the Southern farmer in the Southern Grampians who heard
Grampians about the project and wanted to be involved.
Other produce is grown for the markets at
The project aims to assist information the Richmond Fellowship’s Sprout Supported
exchange and to be a training ground for Community Garden project in Thornbury.
tenants, a place where they can build skills in
The produce is then dropped off at the estate
everything from English expression to retail,
where tenant volunteers set up the shop.
business to community development. The
Each volunteer takes home a $10 box of
project also aims to break down some of the
produce to reward their efforts.
barriers between the wider community and
public housing communities. The market has
volunteers from cultural groups including
Vietnamese, Chinese, Pakistani, Greek and
Sudanese.
Why a market?
The idea for this project follows the
identification of food security as a major issue
Our food leaves little to waste...
in the Collingwood and Fitzroy public housing
Manly Food coop specialises in good food,
communities, with many tenants in the most minimally packaged. Organic, fresh foods...
vulnerable food insecurity categories. In the vegetables... fruit... herbs.
Collingwood and Fitzroy areas, there is only Find us not far from the surf at
one local supermarket where produce is often 21 Whistler Street, Manly.
expensive and of poor quality.
The project has been running since 2004,
initially supported by the Brotherhood of St
Laurence and the Fitzroy Office of Housing.
Funding ran out in December 2005 and
the project is currently being run solely by Sydney’s low-waste food source
volunteers.

The Rainbow Region Community Farms crew
Food localisation now on the

community sector agenda
Up Lismore way, where the days are long and (http://byronfarmersmarket.com.au) — who is
hot, where weeds grow like trees and the also an organic farmer — in a panel with Cuban
cane toads grow to the size of cats, there’s an urban agriculturist, Roberto Perez.
enthusiastic bunch of people planning the city’s
first community garden. Australia’s most successful CSA
I had the good fortune to meet this creative Let me tell you about Food Connect.
bunch and to enjoy a meal with them while The organisation is a model for the
visiting the town as a speaker in a relocalisation localisation of our food supply. It is the
of food conference. most successful CSA (community supported
First off, though, was participation on a agriculture) project in Australia, numbering a
panel three days before the Feeding Our Future large group of farmers and a very large number
conference. That was in a town just 30 downhill of city-based eaters as participants. The food it
kilometres from the Lismore metropolis. offers is largely organic. Food Connect sources
There, the editor of Kindred magazine its produce from within a five hour drive of
(www.kindredmagazine.com.au) Kali Wendorf Brisbane.
— Kindred is a parenting magazine with a heavy Robert just made it to the Byron Bay seminar,
emphasis on sustainability (they published an having hitched up from a Food Connect meeting
article on community gardening in their March- in Yamba and waiting 275 cars for a lift. When
May 2008 issue) — and Ken McLeod, then with he made it to the later Lismore conference,
the Ethos Foundation, had invited me to join he accounted for the malibu crammed up
Brisbane Food Connects’ (www.foodconnect. against the front and rear windows of his car
com.au) Robert Pekin, a former organic farmer, by spinning a tall and frankly unbelievable tale
and the manager of Byron Farmers’ Market of how it was required at the meeting to serve

local food systems go north
brings a refreshing coolness before climbing up

to the small town of Clunes.
The road passes through this town of old
weatherboard homes juxtaposed with more
recent brick structures, past the sign on the
outskirts advertising local coffee, and then its
more or less a downward trend (in topography
— not quality of town, countryside or residents)
through diminutive Rosebank and onto the flats
that speed you into Lismore.
Australia’s first
Leigh Davidson is a middle aged man. He is
softly spoken and astute of thought. Leigh is a
wastewater expert and carries out his research
at Southern Cross University (SCU), where he is
employed.
The Feeding Our Future conference, probably
Australia’s first conference to focus on the
localisation of the food supply, was held at
SCU, which was one of the sponsors. Other
organisers were Tropo, the local organic
farming agency, and Lismore City Council (who
as a table, their being none of those in Yamba. I
had actually brought me up to speak at the
think Robert was fibbing.
conference).
On arrival in town several days before,
Local foods difficult to find
Council’s sustainability educator had talked
After the Byron Bay seminar I met with Ken me into doing radio interviews with ABC
McLeod and Robert just up the highway in Local Radio and the town’s community owned
sunny and sane Brunswick Heads. There, we broadcaster. She also told me that a week
lunched at the Riverside Café in view of the before they had a total of 80 registered for
town’s shallow but broad river. the conference. That had grown to 200 in the
At Riverside, the owners attempt to use as previous three days.
much locally produced food as possible. But People arriving at the conference were
finding that, they say, can be a challenge — greeted with free coffee grown within 30km of
sourcing locally grown is not all that easy. In
part, that’s because the market for local food is
only in its infancy and because there is no local
foods logo or other means of eater assurance
for what is claimed as local really is that.
The localisation road runs west

The winding, asphalt two-way from Byron
to Lismore twists around some wonderfully
curvacaous bends just outside of Balgalow, then
passes through an arch of tree canopies that
Dr Leigh Davidson, conference organiser, organic grower,
pioneering intentional community resident

local food systems go north
Lismore as well as free passionfruit, similarly

grown. All food on display at the stalls displayed
food miles on little signs.
The Che Guevara of urban

agriculture
Roberto, who was first speaker up, is a young
Cuban with good English and a clear speaking
voice, his accent not so pronounced that it
gets in the way of clarity. It is said that he is
perhaps the only Cuban speaking English with
an Australian accent, a pecularity attributable
to the Australian PGAN (Permaculture Global
Assistance Network) team that went to Havana
in the 1990s to teach Cubans about urban
agriculture and permaculture. Roberto was
brought to Australia by permaculture educator,
Robyn Francis’ Cuba-Australia Permaculture
Exchange (www.permaculture.com.au).
Roberto is easy going and non-dogmatic. His
curly black hair falls to his shoulders, enclosing
a trimmed beard and plastic-rimmed glasses.
Could Roberto be — if it’s not stretching a
likeness too far — the Che Geuvara of Cuba’s A few words says it all... food that has taken
the road less travelled
urban agricultural revolution?
Other speakers included Dr Leigh Davidson, Soon to be growing in Lismore
Rebecca Lines-Kelly of NSW DPI (on the UK This was a busy few days in the north. The day
response to their recent food crisis), Alan after the conference included a meeting with the
Roberts of TROPO (who spoke on food miles local community garden crew, Rainbow Region
and energy costs), David Roberts from TROPO Community Farms Inc (http://rainbowregion.
(organic growing options), Jude Fanton from the com.au/communityfarms/index.php).
Seed Savers Network (www.seedsavers.net) and They are an imaginative, capable bunch
myself (www.pacific-edge.info) speaking on the who have already operated a Work for the Dole
localisation of the food supply and community gardening skills project.
gardening’s role in its relocalisation.
Rest assured that Lismore, that flood-prone,
Morag Gamble and Evan Raymond’s sleepy town tucked into a valley inland of Byron
(www.SEEDinternational.com.au) Bay, is about to see a resurgence of community-
new 15 minute video, Think Global, Eat Local based food activity. The town already has an
(www.localfood.net.au) was screened. The organic farmers’ market and a focus such as
video is designed as a conversation starter for the proposed community garden can only add
discussions on food localisation and I think it impetus to the food localisation scene in the far
works rather well. north. Let’s grow it and eat it.
...Russ Grayson

...celebrating 25 years
of school gardening
at Adelaide’s
Black forest primary
HERE ARE SOME PICS from our school
gardens 25th birthday celebration.
Malcolm Campbell judged the pumpkin
competition (above) and we invited the
volunteers who started the garden 25
years ago. They were really happy to
see it still going strong.
I’ve got plans to extend the garden a
little to make room for more fruit trees
and chooks.
Cheers
...Kate Hubmayer
Black Forest Primary School, Adelaide
Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network state contact

gardening our school grounds
The logistics of gardening with...

Junior primary children
Kate Hubmayer teaches at Adelaide’s pioneering Black Forest Primary, where she makes
use of the school’s long-established food garden as a teaching resource.
H ow does one adult undertake a

gardening activity with a class of 25, five
to seven year old children? The answer
is YOU DON’T! If you do, you’ll end up with
squashed plants, lost seed, chaos and tears.
for its body, a jacaranda pod beak, casuarina tail
and gumnut legs and eyes.
Collages with leaves, flowers and seeds,
potato printing, weaving with native grasses
and leaf rubbings are other options.
However, it is possible to have successful, A noisy but fun activity is placing a piece of
fun and educational lessons when you divide a calico or cheesecloth over an autumn leaf and
class into smaller groups, recruit adult helpers hitting it with a hammer until the coloured juice
and rotate the groups through a number of comes through, leaving a print of the leaf.
different activities. While nature crafts aren’t trendy at the
moment — you’d be lucky to find one nature
Planting — worth the trouble? craft book in your local library, compared to the
numerous books on beading or mosaics — there
Young children tend to view ‘gardening’ as the
are still quite a few ideas around and with a bit
act of planting a seed or a seedling, and this
of imagination you can dream up your own.
seems to be what they most want to do in the
A third activity, which ideally ties in with
garden apart from playing with mud and looking whatever it was that was being planted, is a
for bugs. brief lesson, story or worksheet. We’ve been
The problem lies in the fact that the actual planting an area of local native vegetation, so
act of planting takes very little time at all, and the perfect story to accompany this activity was
one is left wondering if it was worth going to The Lorax by Dr Seuss (essential reading for
all the trouble of preparing the pots, seeds, every gardener and environmentalist).
soil, labels etc, when it is all over in a matter of
moments. But of course planting is worthwhile,
and the followup of watching the plant grow
over time is probably even more important as
the initial planting itself.
Nature craft a solution

So while one group of children is planting in the
garden, what do the others do?
A nature craft works very well. Parent
helpers are usually very happy to supervise
such activities and many seem to gain as much
pleasure from doing the crafts as the children.
Glue guns & seed pods

Making creatures using glue guns and a variety
of seed pods is a great activity (see over page).
Soup’s on at Black Forest’s 25 celebration
A fantastic platypus can be made with a banksia

Garden art
When pruning grapevines in winter, save some of the longer
pieces and twist them into wreaths. Hang them to dry, then nearer
Christmas time they can be turned into beautiful wreaths with the
addition of gum nuts, small pinecones, dried leaves and a bright
ribbon. A hot glue gun is perfect for sticking seedpods on easily and
quickly.
All sorts of creatures can be made using seedpods, seeds, sticks
and hot glue guns. A kangaroo can be created using a banksia cone,
jacaranda pod, gum nut caps and wisteria seeds. Children love
this activity. It’s a fun and creative way to teach them to recognise
various seedpods and to remember their names.
Pressed flowers or leaves arranged on a piece of cardboard and
then laminated make attractive bookmarks. The example (right) was
made by primary school students using plants indigenous to their
local area, so it tied in with a curriculum focus on preserving local
biodiversity.
Terracotta pots make colourful totem poles when painted and threaded
onto a metal stake. They can be taken apart and planted with a succulent at a
later date.
Leaf prints can be made using paint or by placing a colourful leaf under
some muslin fabric and hammering it all over so that the sap stains the fabric
in the shape of the leaf.
…Kate Hubmayer
Photos:
Kate Hubmayer
Black Forest primary
school, Adelaide

creative
cringila
IN THE NSW ILLAWARRA, those clever folk from Care Design — Dan Deighton and Aaron
Sorensen — have set up four educational food gardens in local schools. The Cringila
primary garden is one of these, and it demonstrates the commonsence of good design for
learning.
There, the garden ambassadors — students The garden is small but it contributes some
trained to meet with visitors and explain the food to the school cafeteria and provides a calm
garden, as well as teach younger students — and productive environment for the children.
can tell you all about the design of the garden, The garden packs many varieties — exotics and
name the plants and their uses and even tell you natives — into its compact perimeter, creating
the regions in which the plants originated (their an intriguing place where the children like to be.
centres of diversity).
Windbreak of Banna
Grass
Subtropical fruits &
herbs grow in shelter of
windbreak
Taller plants at rear of
garden allow do not
block sunlight from
lower-growing
Open gathering area
with bark mulch for
students and visitors
Lower-growing plants
established on sunward
side for access to light
(top of page) a sitting circle

— a good idea in any school
garden.
(right) in vertical structure,
the Cringila school garden
is like the forest with ground
layer, middle layer and
canopy height plants.

Leonie Shanahan reports on her innovative
school program that brings fresh food and school
gardens to the Sunshine Coast’s children
Let’s make food healthy

Healthy children — luxury or myth?
What is happening to our food? Do you know? In ten schools on the Sunshine Coast, I,
Do you think about it? Why is it that so many as coordinator of Edible School Gardens
children are becoming sick and obese? (www.edibleschoolgardens.com.au)— have
If we are to believe all the information that taught and implemented permaculture gardens
the food manufacturing industry is telling us, (permaculture is a design system for sustainable
the food they are marketing to us as ‘healthy’ living) in primary schools since 2003. I train
and ‘good’ doesn’t seem to be working. students, teachers and carers — not only about
Something manufactured in a factory and chemical free, nutrition-rich gardening but
marketed as nutritious is never going to equal also about how to enjoy and experience the
fresh food picked directly from an organic many varieties of foods coming from the school
garden. gardens.
Leonie trains students, a truly amazing day of

teachers and carers community spirit
about how to enjoy and Edible School Gardens offers a 12 month
program run once a week. Initially, the students
experience the many are taught about permaculture and design and
varieties of foods from they come up with a design for a school vegie
the school gardens garden. Students then approach the school
and the local community for recycled products
The way we make, market and eat food (eg. besser bricks, polypipe) to be used in the
today creates unhealthy results — rampant garden.
illness, hunger, poverty, community
disintegration and ecological degradation — Blitzing the school garden
and threatens our future food supply. We, the There is a very special set-up day where the
responsible parents, have to stop the addiction school community and Permaculture Noosa
to sugar, low nutrient food and junk food. Why (www.permaculturenoosa.com.au) members
wait for the government to address the major come together with the students to have a
health problems of our children? We need to act
‘school garden blitz’.
now, ourselves.
This is a truly amazing day of community
Edible school gardens — an initiative spirit, unity and productive work. At the end
making it happen of the day we are all rewarded with an instant,
no-dig permaculture garden with worm baths,
How are we going to step up to this change?
herb spirals, veggie gardens and lots of proud
It’s already happening.
children.

(left) Children and adults from Permaculture Noosa at a school garden construction blitz.
(centre) There’s plenty to show for all the hard work on harvest day.
The garden is prepared. It’s time for the We need to provide our children with
students to get their hands dirty. They plant nutrient rich, health-giving, fresh food. We need
seeds, seedlings and herbs, make compost, set edible gardens in all schools where children not
up the compost worms, grow their own mulch only learn how to grow organic food without
and taste the produce. The harder the work, the chemicals or pesticides, but also experience
happier they are. fresh food that is good for their brain, immune
It’s Harvest Day — a day of celebration. In system and brings the benefit of antioxidants.
the morning we harvest all the crispy, fresh
produce for our visiting chef to make lunch for
another six want the
the students. They enjoy being involved with the Edible School Gardens
cooking and let their taste buds explode with
program
the new-found natural flavours of freshly picked
food. Because they have grown it, they will eat Currently, I’m working in four schools and
it. Bring out the dances and musicians and all have another six wanting the Edible School
our amazing food, and we are celebrating like Gardens program. Funding, of course, is
kings. essential for such a positive programme.
Leonie Shanahan: LSSB@bigpond.com
Health, education, life skills and more www.permaculturenoosa.com.au
School organic veggie gardens not only

provide the students with the essential life Food is humanity’s staple.
skill of growing their own food. The gardening Education and advocacy is our staple...
experience: Sydney Food Fairness Alliance
• improves their health now and into the future We are many — nutritionists, health
• gives them greater self-esteem, confidence and community development workers,
community gardeners, urban agriculture
and a sense of achievement and local food advocates, permaculturists,
• help reverse the effects of climate change by local government, Transition Town
advocates — but our message is the same...
sequestering carbon in soil and plants
Join us to work towards an equitable food
• affect how our children live as individuals and
system and keep Sydney’s urban fringe
as members of local and global communities farmland productive, not paved.
• most importantly, the pleasure gained from www.sydneyfoodfairness.org.au
growing, harvesting and sharing food will
be life-long and will teach them about
sustainability and how precious our natural
environment is.

Edible reading
for school garden mavens

Outdoor Classrooms — www.outdoorclassrooms.com.au
A co-production of two ex-teachers — Janet Millington, a
permaculture educator on the Sunshine Coast, and Carolyn Nuttall
in Brisbane — the book focuses on hands-on learning in the outdoor
classroom. Curriculum, the outdoor classroom, teaching and
learning, the revival of school gardens, the teacher as gardener and
a history of school gardens are just a few of the topics covered.
Outdoor Classrooms
authors Carolyn
Nuttall (left) and Janet
Millington.
Carolyn wrote ‘A
Children’s Food Forest’
— the book that help
launch food gardens as
educational venues.
See next page).
Innovative, practical and affordable...

CC’s Edible Classroom Program
Cultivating Community’s Edible Classroom consultancy service provides Melbourne
schools with affordable and practical assistance in designing, building, planting and
maintaining food gardens.
An edible classroom is a natural setting for implementing an holistic Edible Classroom
learning. The Edible Classroom Program program at your school. Staff have over five
involves students in growing food at school years of direct teaching and project management
and integrating garden based activities into experience in establishing food gardens and
the curriculum. We recognize the value of an activities in a range of different school settings.
outdoor learning space to engage students
The Edible Classrooms consultancy service
in earth-based education and education for a
provides a one-stop shop for schools who want
sustainable world.
to make more of their school environment.
An experienced and inspirational staff The program is currently active in the
Cultivating Community has an inspirational following schools: Thornbury Primary School,
team of expert garden teachers, garden Fitzroy High School, Doveton North Primary
designers, community facilitators and School.
construction specialists to guide schools in Information: http://cultivatingcommunity.org.au

more tasty reading
The Children’s Food Forest Kitchen Garden Cooking
Topics include the experience of Drawing on her experience in
the Seville Road outdoor-indoor working with school children to
classroom, making an organic prepare and cook what was
school garden, choosing a site grown in the school garden, this
and getting started, keeping is a large format publication of
school chickens, curriculum Stephanie Alexander’s recipes.
planning, children’s play and 2006, Alexander S; Kitchen Garden
more. Cooking; Penguin, Camberwell.
ISBN 13: 978 1 920989 49 1
Line illustrations are by Mary-Anne
Cotter. Community Gardening
1996, Nuttall C; A Childrens’ Food in SA
Forest; FeFL Books, Wollongabba.
ISBN 0 646 29482 All you need to know about
starting a community garden from
The Food Forest Resource
the South Australian community
Sheets garden network crew. The ideas
A book of worksheets designed in the manual are applicable in
to assist teachers and students states other than South Australia.
create a food garden in their See www.communitygarden.org.
schoolground, the A4 size book au to download a copy.
provides practical know-how as it
educates.
Northey Street City
Illustrations: Mary-Anne Cotter. Farm Training Manual
2003, Nuttall C; The Food Forest For community garden trainers
Resource Sheets; FeFL Books, and learners, all you need to learn
Highgate Hill, Qld. ISBN 1 875 640 428.
about community gardening.
Seed to Seed Gardens in Distilled from the experience of
Schools. the Northey Street City Farm crew
in Brisbane. Info: Northey Street
Entitled Seed to Seed Food
City Farm, 16 Victoria street,
Gardens in Schools, the book is
Windsor 4030.
aimed at teachers and parents.
E: northey@bigpond.net.au
It describes the establishment of
www.northeystreetcityfarm.org.au
food gardens that are biodiverse,
organic and waterwise and that Getting Started in
use a low input approach to the Community Gardening
full plant cycle, from seed to seed. Faith Thomas’ manual for the
Chapters include the rationale City of Sydney, which supports 23
for gardens in schools, planning, community gardens.
planting and maintaining, www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
harvesting and eating from the
garden. And, of course, how to Starting in Community
save seeds. A printed copy with Gardening
black and white photos sells for What you need to know to start
$20, post paid. Alternatively, a community garden... the online
download the free, full colour pdf guide by Russ Grayson.
file: www.seedsavers.org
www.communitygarden.org.au

Around the gardens...
In inner-urban Sydney, the small Greg Hewish Memorial

Community Garden provides allotments for nearby
residents, many living in adjacent public housing. Solid
brick, raised garden beds provide easy access and, At Brisbane’s Northey Street City Farm, a raised vegetable
combined with well-made paths, make for a low- bed made of durable galvanised iron and timber provides
maintenance garden. access for less-agile gardeners. The Edible Landscapes
Nursery and one of the City Farm’s many rainwater tanks
are seen in the background.
Food amongst the towers of a public housing estate...

Solander Community Garden, Waterloo, inner-Sydney.
As well as the city’s premier sustainability education centre
offering training to the community, ranging from nationally
accredited courses in permaculture design to one day
workshops, Northey Street City Farm’s edible landscape,
community gardens and market garden is an easy place
to get lost in.
Fiona Campbell checks out a twining art work during an

early Spring visit to Perth City Farm. The farm provides
training to TAFE students and labour market programs and
operates a weekly organic farmers’ market
Signage fills an educational role in community gardens.

The design, thoughtful wording and attractiveness of signs
rewards visitors, who gain insight into the design and the
installations found in the gardens (photo at Northey Street
City Farm).
Vegetables in the subtropics — the mandala vegetable

garden at Yandina Community Garden, Sunshine Coast.

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Community HARVEST

I f anything confirms the fact that

And more still

2 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

...it’s an urban food revolution

www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 3

Brisbane a focus of food activity • Carolyn Nuttall, the ‘learnscaper’ who

4 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

CERES Organic Market

The Urban Orchard

Perth City Farm new resource for

www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 5

Way down south...

6 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

Talk, training & conviviality Feedback positive, future inspiring

teacher and coordinator of this school and

www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 7

A s if to demonstrate that different

8 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 9

Much to inspire, inform, discover

10 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

Big day out

Around 70 attended for workshops, to adopted the biodynamic method of compost

www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 11

IT WAS A SURPRISE TO BE ASKED TO In Sydney, these

12 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 13

Effective community gardening

Responses included: A council sustainability educator listed as the main

• stakeholder participation in decision making • strong leadership in the garden

The value of policy

14 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

S ome of us have to think a little to work

In Sydney’s southern Suburbs an

www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 15

16 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

• all the old favourite stalls

In Sydney’s urban west

www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 17

Making a start in Nelson

18 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

A garden of allotments and common

gardeners have put time into site analysis. All

www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 19

Supporting community gardening with

gardening offers a way around the alienation and

“The gardens lay down a set of values that people

20 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

Over the Tasman

www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 21

C ultivating Community (CC) has

22 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

Community gardens in public housing

Farewell Garden of Eden

www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 23

Fresh food markets for

24 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au

Food localisation now on the

www.communitygarden.org.au SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST 25

brings a refreshing coolness before climbing up

The localisation road runs west

26 SPRING 2008— Community HARVEST www.communitygarden.org.au