Local Food Connections

Chelsea McNab has been an environment activist for many years, fighting to stop the logging of old growth forests and standing as a candidate for the Australian Greens Party in the Legislative Assembly seat of Seymour at the Victorian state election in 2002. She is currently Executive Officer at Yarra Valley ECOSS which is a 7.4 hectare permaculture-designed farm at Wesburn, just outside of Warburton on Wurrundjeri country. In this conversation, Chelsea discusses how the ECOSS farm works as a beautiful and inspiring community hub to showcase sustainable solutions to ecological and social problems.   http://ecoss.org.au/https://localfoodconnect.org.au/ Local Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song, You are What you Eat.

Dan teaches design at Monash University and has a stong interest in living systems and design processes.  He is currently exploring how we can develop stronger connections with country. Dan is working to develop a resilient local food system, through Local Food Connect, and by applying permacultural design principles in his large backyard in Montmorency, north east of Melbourne, where he lives with his young family.  Today is part two of a discussion of our relationship to the water that flows through urban landscapes.

Olwyn Smiley has had a garden since she was five years old. Her first garden was on Koolan Island, which is off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia. There she grew mainly cactus and other succulents, plants that a child could manage on a rocky island with little top soil and no permanent water supply. Since then Olwyn has always had her hands in the dirt. She started her current garden in Heathmont 28 years ago. At first it had some “diseased plants and bird poo trees” but now it has around 30 fruit trees, thriving vegetable beds, vines and chooks. There is a potting area, a grey water system and winding paths. Both the back and front yards are heavily cultivated, as is the land beyond the property’s boundaries between the bike path and train tracks, where Olwyn and her husband have planted indigenous species.As an enthusiastic amateur entomologist and passionate about all kinds of diversity, she pays close attention to the movements and behaviour of all the insect populations that have taken up residence at her place. The garden hosts blue-banded bees and the chequered cuckoo bees that lay their eggs in the holes made by the blue-banded bees. As The Backyard Vegetable, Olwyn helps people to establish their own veggie patches.

Erin and Lenny Goedhart live in a typical suburban street in Vermont where some of the older buildings are being replaced with two-storey townhouses. Theirs is one of the original houses. The land, including the house, measures about 1,000 square metres and on it grows a lot of food: grapefruits, limes, lemons, plums, peaches, figs, olives, apples and chestnuts as well as numerous berries and a large range of vegetables. There are also several varieties of bee-attracting flowers and a beehive which belongs to Adrian O’Hagan, aka The Bearded Bee. Gardening was also an important part of her daughters’ home-based education.

Long time environment activist and Sustainability Programs Officer at the Yarra Ranges Shire, Chelsea McNab is committed to community and environmental resilience. In this interview she discusses the reasons for her committment and the contributions the Yarra Ranges Shire is making to food security in the region.

Deeply interested in living systems, Dan Milne believes that we should be thinking differently about our relationship to water: where it comes from, where it goes, how we are all part of a watershed, and how even in an urban environment we can practise good water stewardship. Dan designs and teaches with interests in ecology, systems thinking and permaculture. Get in touch with Dan here: https://danmilne.au/Dan's workshop, Working with Water is at Edendale Farm in Eltham on November 18 2023. The workshop will explore the human relationship with water, how it fits within our ecology and moves through the land. It will cover: principles and patterns for catching, storing and distributing water; reading water’s behaviour in the landscape; how to work with rainwater, grey water and mains supplies to bring more life to our surroundings; and principles and design approaches to improve your management of water at home. It will also involve walking, talking and designing to explore living examples of water management around Edendale’s buildings, gardens and nearby waterways. Find all the sign up details here: https://localfoodconnect.org.au/event/working-with-water/

Claire completed her Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) with David Arnold in Violet Town about 7 years ago and since then she has maintained her 20 or so year old passion for the permaculture philosophy of sharing, keeping food production local and building community resilience.Starting from scratch at the house she bought 8 years ago, Claire has aimed to provide as much of her own food and power as possible.  She built up her soil with coffee grounds, rabbit manure, straw and autumn leaves. She has eight varieties of cherries, three types of apricot, six types of apples as well as nashi pears, plums, quince, pears, peaches, nectarines, macadamia and other fruits. Claire has deliberately cultivated her frontyard as a model for passers-by to see what is possible on a suburban block.Claire’s place sustains chickens, frogs and numerous other creatures, including bees.To harvest water, there is a tank capacity of 72,000 litres and Claire runs a washing machine and two toilets from that.  She has a 3kW solar panel system with 12 panels.Claire is a member of the Outer Eastern Permaculture Swap Group and the Permaculture Victoria Bee Group. She trades her produce at  the Mooroolbark Urban Harvest Swap.Claire also coordinates the local Buy Nothing Group’s community pantry from her house, collecting surplus fruit and vegetables from a range of sources such as supermarkets, a local church, dumpster divers, Bakers Delight and Nandos.

Fabbro’s Fields, the large creek-front paddock on Bell Street, Eltham, was once the site of a thriving market garden, Fabbro’s Farm. Chris Chapple of Local Food Connect and founder-manager of the Eltham Farmer's Market has been campaigning for an urban farm on the site for the best part of a decade. In this conversation, Dan Milne of Local Food Connect, explains the proposal, in the weeks before the following council decision was made.The Council's decision in it's own words (the bolding of the text is mine):The community were invited to have a say on the idea of operating an urban farm at 2 Bell Street, Eltham, known as Fabbro Fields from 29 June - 20 July 2023.The consultation was to gauge general community support before proceeding any further.The parcel of land at 2 Bell Street, Eltham is currently used as open space, adjoining the Diamond Creek Trail and Diamond Creek. Council currently manages the site on behalf of the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA). ...just over 53 per cent were generally in favour of the concept, while just over 46 per cent were not, indicating support for the proposal was not overwhelming.Following consideration of feedback, Council has voted not to support the proposal of an urban farm at this site.Councillors confirmed that this is not the appropriate parcel of land for an urban farm in the Shire.

Guy Palmer is the creator and manager of the Local Food Connect website which builds community around food-related events, urban farming, other food producers, community gardens, food swaps, food justice organisations and backyard food growers. It is a rich source of information about how to grow food and even how to prepare it.  Guy and Susan Palmer have a large, diverse food garden at their home in Eltham, producing fruit, nuts, eggs and vegetables.In this episode, Guy talks about his purpose in maintaining the website and in growing food at home.Go to https://localfoodconnect.org.au/ to find inspiration for growing your own food, supporting your local food economy and connecting with others doing the same.See Guy talk about his garden here:https://localfoodconnect.org.au/community-gardening/video-interviews/

Angelo Eliades is a presenter, trainer and writer in the areas of sustainable gardening and Permaculture.  Angelo's permaculture food forest in his suburban Melbourne backyard won a Darebin Sustainability Award and has been opened to the public by Open Gardens Australia.  His work has been featured in the documentary film, Fair Food, in the DVD, UrbanPermaculture by leading Permaculture designer Geoff Lawton, and in the book, Fair Food: Stories from a Movement Changing the World published by Queensland University Press.  Currently, Angelo writes for Good Organic Gardening Australia magazine. Angelo's website https://deepgreenpermaculture.com/ is dedicated to connecting people to nature and empowering them to live sustainably.