Portarlington initiatives share food and friendship

TWO Portarlington women say their food swap initiatives are a great way to meet interesting and like-minded people within their community.

Gabrielle May is behind Port Produce Tree, GROW FREE & Food Swaps in Brown Street, while Celia Adams offers a Port Free Food Hut in Welfare Street.

Gabrielle said it was lovely when she crossed paths with someone at the Tree and had a chat about all things food and swapping.

“I’ve had people say it is the only thing they do to socialise, so it’s great for mental health,” Gabrielle said.

“And it organically happens … I came to donate some food to the hut and Celia ended up teaching me about pumpkins and pollination, so it’s also a very educational experience just chatting.

“It’s lovely talking about food and sharing, and when people drop food off and don’t want anything in return, it’s a very humbling gesture and project to be involved in.”

Both the Port Produce Tree and the Free Food Hut are for members of the local community to grow, give, take and share their excess homegrown produce, seeds, seedlings, plants and cuttings, and the Hut also allows for pantry items.

“Give what you can and take what you need, just come and fill your pantry if you need it,” Celia said.

“I put photos up (on Facebook) and say I’ve got this, that and the other, and people will come down.”

She said the produce tree and whole free food idea was also about food security.

“There are people who need to have that as a back-up, and a lot of people who come don’t need it, but it’s a nice way to get to know people and participate and have access to fresh, organic and home grown food,” Celia said.

“We do get gluts, we do have lots of apples and lemons at the moment, and people come grab a whole lot of stuff to do preserving.”

Gabrielle said a good example was if someone took a whole lot of tomatoes and then dropped back some chutney at the Tree … so the cycle continued.

Celia is currently in talks with the City of Greater Geelong about creating a Portarlington Community Garden.

“This will be one for everyone,” she said.

“We are putting together a design and proposal … we will have single plots for people who don’t have much garden space in the backyard, that’s how community gardens started in the cities.”

Gabrielle said they also wanted to offer workshops and teach people who might want to do some gardening, especially kids.

“I think it’s important that kids know where their food comes from and how vegetables are grown,” she said.

The Tree holds organised swaps on the second and fourth Saturday of the month between 10am and 11am. Follow Port Produce Tree, GROW FREE & Food Swaps and Port Free Food Hut on Facebook.