Beruflich Dokumente
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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
Hand out the seeds and hand tools because there’s something in the air...
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)
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.
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
...Russ Grayson
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
Find us at NORTHEY STREET, Windsor... coming from the city along Lutwyche Road,
cross Breakfast Creek bridge and turn next left into Northey Street.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Information
Hawkes Bay Food Trail: www.savourhawkesbay.co.nz
Hawkesbury food Trail: www.hawkesburyharvest.com.au
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.
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.
Photos:
Kate Hubmayer
Black Forest primary
school, Adelaide
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
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
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).