Next to Blaxland East Public School (BEPS) there is a Grow Free Lane designed, developed and implemented by Beth Healy. It is an amazing initiative that allows negibours and passers-by to collect local, organically grown, in season fruit and vegetables for free!
Hope Gardens is a project close to my heart. When I first started volunteering at Blaxland East Public School, there was a homeless person residing in the laneway, not often seen in the day, but evidence of their existence.
There is a need to offer something different for our community. It began in June 2016 when I launched the first Grow Free Cart in NSW. It was small but productive and a lot of seedlings, plants and cuttings were exchanged. The cart was upgraded to a new market stall style Grow Free Cart as a gift from a parent in May 2019.
The dream of expanding gardens in the community was an initiative while studying the Diploma of Sustainable Living at UTAS, specialising in environment, health and wellbeing. While studying Global Food Security, my thoughts about solutions to economic problems and food security in the community changed. We needed something more than a hamper or pantry items. We needed free food for all, fresh, locally grown and chemical free produce.
I designed the gardens for my assessments. I approached the manager and owner of the laneway, Chambers’s Cellars, and they were keen for me to use the space for the community. Once the design was done, I contacted local community organisations and neighbours to invite them to be involved. With limited funds, we focused on the ‘free garden’. The cheapest gardens were purchased, with the intent to fundraise for more sturdy gardens in the future. The garden beds were donated, we used locally grown compost, repurposed old haybales and made hügelkultur style garden beds. Seedlings and seeds were donated as well as sugar cane mulch. In 2021 in lockdown, I was unable to work onsite at school. This is when the dream came alive. The planning, preparing and design came to fruition and we expanded from just the herb bed in November 2021.
We have regular volunteers that water, plant and maintain the garden. Also, someone who mows and trims the edges. We have a volunteer who creates artworks and signs, though these go missing in the public space.
I host regular visits with the local daycare centre, preschool and playgroup in the area.
This space is evolving, and like all gardens, takes work. We need more volunteers as some have returned to work. We plan on regular working bees in 2023. We are plotting on.
