AFTER years of building, grant applications and countless volunteer hours, the Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre community garden is providing for several of the facility\u2019s programs.<\/p>\n
In addition to the vegetables, fruits and herbs being utilised for the Our Kitchen Social Enterprise project, the garden also offers a space for classes about growing food, health and cooking, as well as encouraging wider community involvement.<\/p>\n
Neighbourhood Centre community engagement officer Sandy Darrington said there are hopes to expand the garden\u2019s offering and space in the coming years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see people slowly come back out and get some more people at the centre again, get the community back together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast week, the Permaculture Guild came in and helped us re-establish it and we have the Rotary guys here today to help clean-up the benches and tables.<\/p>\n
Thanks to one of the Neighbourhood Centre\u2019s dedicated volunteers, the garden continued to grow throughout the pandemic and now with support from other community groups, it\u2019s thriving.<\/p>\n
While working in the garden, president of Ballarat Young Ambitions Rotary Club Jane Jens said while it\u2019s been a hard year for everyone, it\u2019s great to be able to get back into community work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really important to get back into it, get engaged and see everyone again and do community work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m their treasurer at the Neighbourhood House so the free food program, Our Kitchen, are sponsored by Rotary for the next 12 weeks and we also wanted to help with the vegetable garden as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AFTER years of building, grant applications and countless volunteer hours, the Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre community garden is providing for several of the facility\u2019s programs. In addition to the vegetables, fruits and herbs being utilised for the Our Kitchen Social Enterprise project, the garden also offers a space for classes about growing food, health and cooking, […]<\/p>\n