Local Food Connections

James grew up on a regenerative farm, loves nature and outdoor education, and brought his passion to an innovative not-for-profit initiative called Farm My School on the Bellarine Peninsula. In this episode he explains the potential for schools as hubs for education with the power to regenerate whole communities through local food growing on underused school land.Follow us!InstagramFacebookPlease subscribe to 3CR. We need your support to keep us on the air. Just go here https://www.3cr.org.au/ and press the big button or call the station on 94198377 or drop in to 3CR at 21 Smith Street Fitzroy. Tell them Local Food Connections sent you.

Kirsty Bishop-Fox is a sustainability educator, consultant and anti-waste campaigner and  Jess Ness, long-time sustainability advocate, was an independent candidate for the seat of Deakin in the 2025 Federal Election. In this episode they discuss their committment to reducing waste and the upcoming Zero Waste Festival, taking place at Federation Square on 6 September 2025. Follow us!InstagramFacebookPlease subscribe to 3CR. We need your support to keep us on the air. Just go here https://www.3cr.org.au/ and press the big button or call the station on 94198377 or drop in to 3CR at 21 Smith Street Fitzroy. Tell them Local Food Connections sent you.

Sabi was born in 1944 in Germany amid the destruction caused by the Second World War. While her father travelled in search of work, Sabi and her sisters lived with their mother in a forester's hut in the Black Forest. With no electricity and relying on melted show for water they lived on what the forest provided in berries, fungi and wild vegetables. Sabi is active in the Hurstbridge Edible Hub and is currently editing an anthology of the life stories of people in Hurstbridge and the surrounding areas. She is the author of A Life in Two Suitcases and Fighting Dragons all on my Own Follow us!InstagramFacebookPlease subscribe to 3CR. We need your support to keep us on the air. Just go here https://www.3cr.org.au/ and press the big button or call the station on 94198377 or drop in to 3CR at 21 Smith Street Fitzroy. Tell them Local Food Connections sent you.

Robin and Paul Gale-Baker of Sustainable Macleod, join us to talk about their latest initiative, a tool library operating out of the Sustainable Macleod Community Garden. There's a growing movement of  'Libraries of Things' in which people, usually for a small fee, can borrow things instead of buying them, thus make a choice in favour of  the sharing/circular economy and therefore of sustainability. The Sustainable McLeod Tool Library is supported by the Banyule council. It includes not only a library of tools, but a kitchen library that includes a dehydrator, garlic fermenter, thermal pot and a portable induction cooktop.  Follow us!InstagramFacebookPlease subscribe to 3CR. We need your support to keep us on the air. Just go here https://www.3cr.org.au/ and press the big button or call the station on 94198377 or drop in to 3CR at 21 Smith Street Fitzroy. Tell them Local Food Connections sent you.

During her science degree at Melbourne Uni, Bron Woods majored in Zoology and was particularly interested in animal behaviour. It's not surprising that this led to an interest in bees, whose social organisation and working life is fascinating. Bron is now a bee-keeper who runs classes at various levels, including a Cert 3, for aspring and practising bee-keepers, emphasising the importance of understanding the biology of animals before entering into a relationship with them. Bron also believes that bee-keeping, like many activities, is better if done in the company of others. Follow us!InstagramFacebookPlease subscribe to 3CR. We need your support to keep us on the air. Just go here https://www.3cr.org.au/ and press the big button or call the station on 94198377 or drop in to 3CR at 21 Smith Street Fitzroy. Tell them Local Food Connections sent you.

Connie Cao is a Melbourne-based urban permaculture gardener, homesteader, photographer and digital content creator. In her backyard, in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, she grows veggies, fruits, berries, cut flowers and beneficial plants. Connie is the author of Your Asian Veggie Patch—a beautiful, beginner-friendly guide to growing and cooking a wide variety of Asian plants at home. In this episode, Connie describes the passion for growing food that began in her childhood and how this is expressed in her life now. Follow us!InstagramFacebook Please subscribe to 3CR. We need your support to keep us on the air. Just go here https://www.3cr.org.au/ and press the big button or call the station on 94198377 or drop in to 3CR at 21 Smith Street Fitzroy. Tell them Local Food Connections sent you.

A big thank you to all the listeners who brought us to our target by the end of our radiothon show.  Without you we could not play our part in keeping this great radio station on air. We look forward to bringing you more brilliant guests in the next year, continuing the conversation about how to relocalise food growing, and to restore us to right relationship with the ecosystems that keep us alive.A big thank you to Amy Ciara, sometimes co-host of Local Food Connections. Check out Kill Your Lawn and Kick Your Fence, Amy's show about building community and loving the planet. 3CR every second Friday at 10am.A big thank you to Chris Chapple and Guy Palmer, the steady hands of Local Food Connect, an affiliate member of the Community Radio Federation which governs 3CR.

This is the second part of our interview with Jess Ness, Independent Candidate for Deakin in the 2025 Federal Election. Jess ran on a policy platform that strongly emphasised  empowered local communities, care for the natural environment and social justice. Jess talks about what she learned from listening to people, about her conviction that policy should be 'driven by what people need—and what the planet can sustain' and that 'collaboration, not conflict, is how we get results that last'. https://www.jessness4deakin.com.au/policy-platform Radiothon is coming in the month of June! Local Food Connections wants to raise at least $1000 towards the $275,000 that 3CR needs to stay on the air. This is your chance to participate in ensuring the future of the best radio station in Melbourne.Tune into the Local Food Connections Radiothon Show on 22 May 25, right after the Gardening Show to show us your support by donating. All donations over $2 are tax deductable.Your Station. Your Voice.

Jess Ness grew up in Central Victoria, the child of parents who grew their own food and believed in self-reliance that is embedded in community connections. Jess saw the value of this when she moved to suburban Melbourne and saw that neighbourhoods without this ethos can be isolating and lonely. Soon she became involved in community building as well as building the large community food garden and sustainability hub at Bedford Park. In this, the first of two episodes, Jess describes how this drive to build community led to her stepping into the political arena as an independent candidate for the the seat of Deakin in the 2025 Federal Election.Radiothon is coming in the month of June! Local Food Connections wants to raise at least $1000 towards the $275,000 that 3CR needs to stay on the air. This is your chance to participate in ensuring the future of the best radio station in Melbourne.Tune into the Local Food Connections Radiothon Show on 22 May 25, right after the Gardening Show to show us your support by donating. All donations over $2 are tax deductable.Your Station. Your Voice.

In this episode we're joined by Rhydian Cowley, Treasurer of the Fawkner Food Bowls, a small urban farm at the corner of Lorne and Creedon Streets in Fawkner.Rhydian's come in to chat about Fawkner Food Bowl's new cookbook. The book's called Fawkner Feasts – it's filled with recipes shared by local residents and illustrated by local artist Angharad Neal-Williams. If you would like to purchase the book, go to fawknerfoodbowls.comAmy and I interviewed Regan DeFoe about Fawkner Food Bowls last year. Have a listen.https://www.3cr.org.au/localfoodconnections/episode/fawkner-food-bowls-regan-defoeFollow us!InstagramFacebook Please subscribe to 3CR. We need your support to keep us on the air. Just go here https://www.3cr.org.au/ and press the big button or call the station on 94198377 or drop in to 3CR at 21 Smith Street Fitzroy. Tell them Local Food Connections sent you.