Green thumbs and worm goodness in Ocean Grove

THE Ocean Grove Community Garden (OGCG) held a workshop on Saturday that saw recycled food grade containers transformed into inground worm farms.

OGCG president Fiona Cadorel led the workshop, where members and social members drilled holes in recyclable food grade containers before a live demonstration.

“People are learning how to build their own worm farms, they’ll be built into garden plots so they can use their kitchen scraps and put them into the garden directly,” Ms Cadorel said.

“The bacteria and the worms will do their job in breaking down that material, then the nutrients from that will then go into the garden and create beautiful worm castings.

“It’s building soil health while trying to reduce food waste that goes into landfill.”

Ms Cadorel said a lot of people had messaged her wanting to know about managing their own food waste rather than having to put it into landfill.

About 25 people arrived where they were given containers, and a step by step guide to building their own worm farm, followed by wood oven pizzas, prepared onsite.

“We have 150 members and run regular workshops. People join the garden to learn new things, while others already have extensive knowledge that they’re happy to share,” Ms Cadorel said.

“We always have a communal gathering after the workshops, whether it’s a morning tea or in this instance wood fire pizzas, everyone sits around and talks about gardening. It’s about getting to know each other and building a community. We’ve got heaps of kids involved and families that come along. It’s a lovely sharing culture here at the garden.”