Garden’s produce keeps foodbank in business

THE Springdale Community Garden is not only growing people’s skills but is also doing vital work supporting a local foodbank.

In 2014, 10 locals came together to start the project, formed partnerships with local businesses and groups and sought funding to turn 1,200sqm of bare land in Drysdale into a sustainable, environmentally friendly and inclusive garden.

The group established a memorandum of understanding with the Drysdale Community Church to provide produce for families experiencing food insecurity through the church’s weekly foodbank in exchange for the use of the land.

Chris Mann from Springdale Community Garden said the garden now served the social and produce needs of its members and the community by providing a place to gather, socialise, share gardening expertise or gain gardening knowledge.

“Our garden members are predominantly retired but we also have members who work full or part time.

“Occasionally we have families who bring their children. We have three children between the ages of 10 and 14 who come with their mum and genuinely love to get involved with spreading mulch, wheelbarrowing, and maintaining the children’s garden with its painted spoons, gumboot planters and range of vegetables.

“Today there are more than 40 beds – raised and ground level plots, fruit and citrus trees, apples, berries and bushes, providing an abundance of produce for us and the community.”

Drysdale Community Church foodbank co-ordinator Jake Hogendoorn praised the work of the garden and its volunteers.

‘The Drysdale Family Support Foodbank faces many challenges in providing nutritious food for our clients,” he said.

“The food rescue system provides a lot of food, but it doesn’t always have the life that it had when it was on the supermarket shelves.

“Some of our clients have food intolerances and allergies and need fresh produce to be able to eat without complication. They find freshly grown quality seasonal produce, grown right here on the same property.”

For more information on the garden, email [email protected] or head to Springdale Community Garden Inc. on Facebook.

If people are experiencing food insecurity we encourage them to contact the Drysdale Community Church or the Springdale Community Garden, become a member and have access to produce for a small input of labour.

Pastor Jake, Foodbank Coordinator, Drysdale Community Church. The Drysdale Family Support Foodbank faces many challenges in providing nutritious food for our clients. The food rescue system provides a lot of food, but it doesn’t always have the life that it had when it was on the supermarket shelves. That is one reason we are so grateful for the partnership we have with the Springdale Community Garden.

Every week we are supplied with nutritious and fresh vegetables to give to our clients.

Some of our clients have food intolerances and allergies and need fresh produce to be able to eat without complication. They find freshly grown quality seasonal produce, grown right here on the same property. It helps Drysdale Family Support to treat our clients with dignity and respect and really is a special bonus for them.