Local Food Connections

This interview was first aired on Local food Connections on 22 December 2024Jack Adams cares about the devastating impact of meat-eating on our environment, about supermarket monopolies, and imagines self-reliant communities where food is locally-grown. Jack and his partner Mei started up a successful not-for-profit that supplies plant-based foods to university events, where people were previously served the classic Aussie sausage. The success of their enterprise speaks to the power of incremental change and of showing people how delicious plant-based food is, rather than telling them why they should eat it.Google Give a Fork to find out what Mei and Jack do and why they do it.Follow us!InstagramFacebooklocalfoodconnect.org.auLocal Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song, You Are What You Eat

Sarah Swierzy and Collette Couper are members of the Murundaka Cohousing Community which is based in Heidelberg Heights in Melbourne. Murundaka (which is a local Wurundjeri word meaning 'a place to stay or live') is an all-rental, values-based co-operative-living community. First established in 1986, it was once made up of eleven free-standing houses but there are now 18 custom-built apartments and 2 free standing houses. The apartments are built on two residental blocks of land which sustain many fruit trees and veggie plots (both individual and communal) all fed by an on-site compost system and a worm farm.The residents of Murundaka are members of the Earth Common Equity Rental Cooperative and the Common Equity Housing program, both of which are part of the cohousing movement in Victoria and nationally through the Sustainable Living Foundation, addressing not only the problems of environmental urgency, but the huge shortage of housing and unaffordable rents. Local Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song, You are What you Eat.

Today I’m joined by Brian Daniells, Assistant Principal of Bundoora Secondary College. Brian has been a driving force behind the establishment of Greenwood Farm, a small urban farm and community agricultural education centre at the school, developed with the support of Local Food Connect, Banyule Council and various grants.Greenwood Farm integrates urban agriculture, conservation, and animal care into everyday learning, offering students opportunities to gain real world qualifications and engage meaningfully with their wider community.

Delldint is a permaculture educator and facilitator working in regenerative design and community learning, describing herself as a permaculture teacher, writer, forager and cook. She is based in Lower Widdicome, in Central Victoria, and has long been active in local food initiatives, including running Food is Free Blackburn, with other members of her permacultre sharehouse. She teaches Permaculture Design Courses (PDCs) and is involved in social permaculture projects that connect people with the earth and each other, contributing to community connection and resilience. She recommends her PDC's as great for people who want to grow more of their own food, be more disaster resilient, be more connected to local community, understand how the natural world works, want to feel more deeply connected to their land/country/bioregion, or who are looking for a more ethical way of living. If you want to find out about Delldint's next course, start here:https://localfoodconnect.org.au/event/pdc-delldint/

Today we’re speaking with Patrick, Artist as Family, a household known locally and internationally for their committed permaculture practice, low-impact living, and active involvement in changing the dominant paradigm of food, economics and culture. Based on a thorough rethinking not only of daily habits but of the organisation of human societies broadly, Artist as Family model a way of living that challenges many modern assumptions beyond food. Patrick speaks about what has been lost through monotheism, capitalism, colonialism and scientism and what might be regained if we foreground love, deep listening, and a recentering of the feminine.Patrick is joining me in this episode from Daylesford on Djaara Country. Find out more here:https://artistasfamily.is/resources/#booklinksReferenced in the discussion:https://www.youtube.com/@profjiangclips

Therapeutic horticulturalist, Shani Shafrir joins us today. Shani's work brings together gardening, culture, and community wellbeing. Shani led workshops at the Brunswick Multicultural Festival, held by Brunswick Neighbourhood House on Sunday, 23 November, in Warr Park, Brunswick. In these workshops, she explored the cultural significance of various herbs, inviting participants to tell stories about the use of herbs in their own families and kitchens. Sharing stories about foraging for herbs or gardening and cooking with them is a powerful way to connect people with their memories, with the old and new land and with each other. Find out more about Shani at wellgrown.com.auOr listen to our previous chat https://www.3cr.org.au/localfoodconnections/episode/therapeutic-horticulture-shani-shafrir

Jennie Ramage grows fresh food in her backyard in Ivanhoe and comes from a family tradition of food gardening. She has recently given a workshop on growing green beans in which she advocates learning to grow one type of vegetable well as a novice backyard gardener. In this episode, she describes her methods of growing green beans and obtaining a yield of 400g of beans daily for 3 weeks in the summer. That's a lot of beans!In her article on the Local Food Connect website Jennie explains the whole process and also gives her favourite recipe - green bean and almond salad. Read all about it here:https://localfoodconnect.org.au/community-gardening/growing-green-beans/

In this episode our guest is Tracey Langbridge from the Mooroolbark Community Garden. This is a nearly one-acre garden at the corner of Charles and Station Streets in Mooroolbark and it’s a space for locals to come together to share skills, ideas, and a love of growing organic, sustainable food.Access to the garden is free to all - there are no fences and the plots are tended communally. The land was given for use as a community garden by the Yarra Ranges Council. Tracey explains how the garden was started and the principles of inclusivity and diversity by which it operates.

Today my guests are Kerrie and Ben Brooker.  Kerrie and Ben are from Treasured Perennials Nursery and have come in to chat about an event they're hosting in Sassafras. It is a showing of 'Kiss the Ground', a documentary which explores how regenerating our soil can be a meaningful solution to climate change, restoring ecosystems and growing abundant food. The event, which will raise funds for 3CR, will include a Q&A panel with local regenerative horticulture practitioners, as well as stalls and workshops.Saturday 15 November 2025 11:30 AM - 4:00 PMFerny Creek Horticultural Society100 Hilton Road, Sassafras Victoria 3787trybooking.com(You might have heard from Ben because he's a frequent guest on the 3CR Gardening Show).

Food gardener Julie Bennett grows produce for three restaurants on the Mornington Peninsula and is the founder of Seeds are Free. She joins us in this episode to talk about the importance of saving heirloom seeds, which have been passed down through generations, if we want to preserve the stories, tastes, biodiversity and nutrients in the foods we eat. Julie explains that seed saving is an easy skill to learn and a way to grow food that is well adapted to our local environments, supporting a more sustainable and resilient food system.seeds_are_free_au