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Can community gardens increase our food security?

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All hands were needed to establish the community garden in Casino’s CBD. Photo: Susanna Freymark
All hands were needed to establish the community garden in Casino’s CBD. Photo: Susanna Freymark

Bernice Shepherd, indyNR.com

Community gardens and city farms have been around for a long time, but they are enjoying a resurgence in popularity in Australia.

The past three years have seen covid, bushfires, floods and global instability causing panic buying and empty shelves.

Farmers are contending with increased costs of production and transport while also feeling the impacts of climate change.

And now inflation is sending food prices into the stratosphere. The need for greater food security has never been more evident. So can community gardens be part of the solution? Those who work in them would say “absolutely yes”.

We are lucky to have several gardens in our area and I visited three of them; one well established, one partway there, and another in the beginning phases.

Coraki Community Garden

The tiny town of Coraki was one of the hardest hit during the flood, but the fledgling community garden has endured, if a little sodden at the moment.

Reluctant to take any credit, Shelly Hayes is the driving force behind the garden, managing to inspire a small group of people to come and work every Tuesday and Thursday.

Although out of flood,  the garden was still very waterlogged on the day I visited – complete with a new ‘pond’. 

But far from being a burden, the group has seen this as an opportunity to see what works and what doesn’t, modify the design and incorporate some new elements such as a wet garden to grow watercress, water spinach, water chestnut and taro, all of which like wet feet.

Shelly herself was impacted by the flood along with most of Coraki’s residents.

She said the therapeutic effects of gardening have helped cope with the aftermath, “It’s made a huge difference to me mentally”.

She has even found a silver lining, “The flood got rid of a weed in my garden I could never get rid of before.”

Perhaps an extreme form of weed control, but the ability to find a positive from such a devastating event is testament to the mental benefits of getting out in the garden.

Coraki’s ‘secret’ garden is tucked away down a back lane and is full of artistic touches. The volunteers have painted old fridges to make raised beds and collected all kinds of materials to put to good use – apparently Jen is the champion scavenger of the group.

Shelly has some ambitious plans for its future and would love to run workshops like basket weaving using plants grown on site, making balms and salves with herbs and medicinal plants.

She’d like to involve school children and older residents in the garden and create a sensory garden of textures and fragrance.

An awareness of food security is also high in Shelly’s mind. A former schoolteacher, she says “I am aware of children who go hungry in our community”.

She has plans to create a food box service for those most vulnerable in the community and to develop a community food bank.

And in the spirit of community, which has been so evident during recent months, the next project – slated for August – will be a sausage sizzle and plant sharing day, to bring plants, cuttings or seeds to donate to those who lost their gardens in the flood. 

Casino Forest Garden

In December 2019, a group of local gardeners asked if they could create a food forest on a piece of vacant land belonging to Casino RSM.

Manager Neale Genge enthusiastically agreed and the garden was born.

I spoke with volunteers Neil Mison and Paola Maher.

Called a food forest because it consists of trees, shrubs, perennial plants and fungi all interplanted together – it is as close to a forest or natural landscape as a human-made garden can get.

The garden has been planted with many native food trees as well as exotics – citrus, stone fruit, tropical and subtropical fruit trees, herbs, flowers, edible groundcovers – pepino and climbers – dragonfruit, choko, passionfruit and tromboncino.

In its short life, the garden has become a haven for wildlife.

Kookaburras and butcher birds love to sit on the pergola to see what they can spy. At least five types of frog have taken up residence.

An abundance of birds, insects and lizards are regularly spotted – and even a blue tongue visited one afternoon.

Paola said one of the best things about the garden was, “being able to grow plants I can’t have in my garden.”

Neil and Paola agreed that the social benefits of the garden are significant.

“It’s good being with like-minded people and having the same goals,” Neil said.

They also enjoy being able to contribute to the local community – many passersby harvest chokos or passionfruit from the fenceline – which is what the garden is all about.

The Hive at Evans Head

Kathryn and Kevin have been volunteering at the Hive for around eight years and gave me a tour of their wonderful garden one sunny Wednesday morning.

The garden was established long before they arrived, although Kevin said after years of neglect it was “a mess” when they began.

But the Hive is definitely now abuzz with activity. Six or so regular volunteers work there on Mondays and Thursdays and many community members walk through and harvest food.

“It is open for everyone and anyone can pick food if they want,” Kathryn said.

Kevin said it has been used more in recent times – “In the last 12–18 months, since covid and especially after the floods, we have seen a lot more people getting food from the garden”.

He said it seemed to be a sign that people were needing this community resource more than ever.

They used to take some food over to the food bank but they never have enough now as it gets harvested.

The group is very happy to provide fresh produce to those who need it, but said one of the pitfalls was that people would harvest things too early, before they are ripe, or pull out a whole plant rather than take some leaves.

The garden is chemical-free with volunteers finding that the wildlife generally keeps the pests down – they have resident butcher birds and magpies.

The volunteers used to chase away the ibises until they discovered they are voracious snail eaters.

Kathryn said the Hive is funded purely on donations and the odd sausage sizzle.

They have a Donation Bee which, happily, is well used – there were a few dollars in there the day I visited. Kevin said tourist season was always the best.

They also receive many donations of plants and seedlings from community members, and even some fruit trees from a local GP.

But it is not all about the plants: there have been weddings and children’s birthday parties and pizza lunches using the volunteer-built pizza oven.

And Kevin tells me a group of older men come and have a catch-up most afternoons under the shade of a big tree, have a beer then head home – the daily gossip with mates.

It is clear from speaking with community gardeners that the contribution to community and the social interaction are enormous benefits for volunteers.

It is also a very effective way of ensuring a good food supply for the local community.

At the beginning, they are hard work. But in the end, community gardens really are all about the community.

This article appeared on indyNR.com on 30 July 2022.

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