Council helps community gardens grow
Wingecarribee Shire Council is encouraging residents to get involved with local community gardens to help the environment and create healthier meals.
Council has partnered with both Moss Vale and Bundanoon Community Gardens to support the movement which encourages communities to create a more self-provisioning economy by growing their own food.
Community gardening has many benefits for personal and environmental health and there are many different reasons for getting involved. For some, the interest in production and consumption of local food stems from concerns about the global economic and environmental impact of peaking oil supplies, climate change and food security. For others, it may simply be that the food they grow themselves, buy at the local village markets or from local producers, simply tastes better and offers more variety.
With funding provided via the Environment Levy, Council has committed to supporting this movement in a number of ways:
• Council recently assisted Moss Vale Community Garden with a Seniors Week grant application and the removal of four cypress leylandii trees shading the garden. Council will also support the connection of Moss Vale Community Garden with Meals on Wheels and assist with infrastructure development proposals later this year. For information about Moss Vale Community Garden please visit: www.mossvalecommunitygarden.org.au
• Council has partnered with Bundanoon Community Garden in its first year of operation and has assisted to build an anti-aviary to protect fruit from bird attack. The garden’s successful grant application to NSW Environmental Trust was supported by Council and the resulting ‘FooooBY’ project will offer more than twenty hands-on workshops on food growing this year. For more information about the Bundanoon Community Garden please visit: garden.bundanoon.nsw.au
• Council will be contributing to an informative workshop ‘Growing in the Communal Backyard’ at the upcoming Harvest Festival at Penrose on Sunday, 14 April. Council’s Sustainability Officer Kimberly Elliott will present this interactive session alongside local community gardeners Tony Coyle and Sandra Menteith. The workshop will look at the benefits of community gardening, how to get started, what role Council will play and what success will look like. For more information about the Harvest Festival please visit: www.harvestfestivalpenrose.org
• To celebrate World Environment Week, Council will be launching the celebrations at Moss Vale Community Garden on Wednesday 5 June (11am-2pm), and co-host a screening of ‘Symphony of the Soil’ with Bundanoon Community Garden on Sunday 9 June (3-5.30pm)
Council is always looking for opportunities to support the establishment and growth of new community and school gardens throughout the Wingecarribee Shire.
For further details on any of these upcoming events or for more information about community gardening, please contact Kimberly Elliott on (02) 4868 0811.