Community garden sprouts in Jewells

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community garden in Jewells
Harrison Street Community Garden Coordinator Marilyn Deas ahead of the official opening. Photo: Peter Stoop

It has been 18 months of dreaming, planning, building and sowing seeds. Holy Family Anglican Church will now launch a community garden at Harrison Street, Jewells, to teach people how to live simply and sustainably.

Garden Coordinator Marilyn Deas and Reverend Greg Colby were the visionaries who brought the project to fruition through the principles and ethics of Permaculture – a method designed to work with, rather than against, nature.

Mrs Deas says the garden will be a great asset for the community.

“It’s on land that hasn’t been used for a long time,” she says. “We want to help people learn how to grow their food and be more resilient to the ups and downs of living.

“Times get tough for people so, if you can access fresh food cheaply or for nothing, then it’s obviously a good thing.

“We also have a lot of people in our community who are lonely and it’s just a nice place to come and sit.”

Mrs Deas adds she has been busy propagating seedlings, as well as working with volunteers and community service participants to get the garden beds built and ready for planting.

Seed saving will play a big part in keeping the garden sustainable.

To prepare the garden for its launch, volunteers have used a variety of materials scrounged from kerbside collections, including free recycled timber from a business in Redhead.

Port Hunter Conveyors also donated a recycled conveyor belt to create a level path for people in wheelchairs, while other donations of materials from the community and volunteers showed the ease with which a garden could be created with minimal finances.

Lake Macquarie City Council awarded the project a Community Sustainability Grant, enabling volunteers to buy a shade house to protect a growing collection of seedlings and cuttings, and Rutherford-based business Aussie Shade & Hot Houses contributed $800 towards the initiative.

A community food cupboard has also been attached to the garden’s shipping container under an awning to provide non-perishable food and toiletries to those in need in the local community.

The garden’s official opening is marked down for Sunday 29 March from 11am. It will include activities for the whole family, as well as free soup and dampers made from pumpkins harvested in the garden. Call Marilyn on 0408 431 737 for more information.