Local Food Connections

Today we’re speaking with Chris Chapple, the president of Local Food Connect, a not-for-profit group that’s been building community through food across Melbourne’s northeast. Local Food Connect supports everything from home gardening to farmers markets, always with a strong focus on sustainability, local economies, and food justice. It is an affiliate of 3CR and sponsors this show.  localfoodconnect.org.au Chris is not only the driving force behind the Eltham Farmers Market, but also the decade-long campaign to revive Fabbro's Farm, a former market garden site in Eltham. He now leads a Local Food Connect collaboration with Bundoora Secondary College in  the creation of BSC Greenwood Farm where students grow food as part of their curriculum and make connections with the local community. Chris joins us today to talk about the challenges and victories of local food activism.  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.

Anna Lindstad is an architect who believes in regenerative design.https://parlour.org.au/parlour-annexe/regenerative-designers/She grows pomegranates and other produce, including large juicy pears in the small courtyard garden at her house in Abbotsford. In the early 90's when the historic Abbotsford Convent was under threat from housing developers she began a campaign to save it. Soon a skilled, committed and connected coalition formed whose effective action saw the  Convent preserved as site for events, festivals and artistics and educational pursuits for the people of Melbourne.Anna also discusses the fate of the community veggie plots at the nearby Collingwood Childrens Farm. Follow us!InstagramFacebooklocalfoodconnect.org.auLocal Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song, You Are What You EatPlease 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.

Leigh McGaghey is a landscape architect specialising in therapeutic sensory gardens. She is the president of Therapeutic Horticulture Australia. In this second part of our conversation, Leigh continues to explore the concept of biophilia. She describes how garden design that takes into consideration the sensory effects of nature on our brains can enhance our well-being and connectedness.Learn more about Leigh's work here:https://www.wiredfornature.com.au/(link is external)Follow us!InstagramFacebooklocalfoodconnect.org.auLocal Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song, You Are What You EatPlease 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.

Liz Cronin, one of the conveners of the Warrandyte Food Swap, describes how a food swap works and discusses how coming together to share food without money is not only transactional but transformative. Liz grows fruit and vegetables sustainably at home with a pragmatic attitude to her garden, doing what she can and letting some things go, while she meets the demands of a full-time job. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmoKLr_uiBk&list=LL&index=2 Follow us!InstagramFacebooklocalfoodconnect.org.auPlease 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.

Ruth Rankin has lived in the same North Warrandyte street for 45 years, caring for the wildlife, the land and the Birrarung which flows past the place she shares with her husband Wayne Rankin. The street is unique, with many of the characteristics of David Holmgren's vision for a 'retrofitted' suburban landscape in this country. Ruth in this episode speaks of the privilege of being a custodian of the place she lives in and of living in a street which has its own sourdough baker, choir and nursery. The book about the street is called Into the Mist.Follow us!InstagramFacebooklocalfoodconnect.org.auPlease 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.

Ann chats with Zarah Copeland and Thuch Ajak about an urban agriculture display at the 2025 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. Based on interconnected wicking beds, the installation demonstrates how to grow 25Kg of food a year in cities using a one metre squared bed with a water reservoir at the bottom, allowing water to 'wick' through the capilliaries of the soil. The wicking beds on display are made with recycled soft plastics like lolly wrappers and the growing medium is the compost made from local council recycling systems. The display showcases the potential for growing traditional foods of Africa, which are familiar to African Australians and also compatible with Australian growing conditions, especially as the climate warms. https://unitedafricanfarm.org/foodcube.com.au Follow us!InstagramFacebooklocalfoodconnect.org.au 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.

In this episode Amy chats with Peter from the Footscray Community Garden and Learning Place. The Footscray Community Garden & Learning Place is focused on developing co-operation between communities, building up community knowledge, and educating in sustainable and equitable practices that can improve liveability.Check them out onlinehttps://footscraycommunitygarden.net/https://www.facebook.com/footscraygardenlearningplace/Follow Local Food Connect and the Local Food Connections Show:https://localfoodconnect.org.au/https://www.instagram.com/local_food_connections_3cr/https://www.facebook.com/people/Local-Food-Connections-3CR/61559821634482/

This is the second part of our interview with placemaker, people power advocate and positive thinker Gilbert Rochecouste about his work showing people and organisations the possibilities for more connected communities in a post-capitalist world.https://www.villagewell.org/https://www.gilbertrochecouste.com/Follow us!InstagramFacebooklocalfoodconnect.org.auLocal Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song, You Are What You EatPlease 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.

Gilbert Rochecouste, the founding director of The Village Well, is devoted to placemaking. He helps people and organisations bring the values of village life to the modern world, promoting a radical localism in which people of all generations gather to eat, trade and celebrate, where are streets are full of the spirit of community and where accessibility and equity are paramount. Gilbert's previous life in the management of Chadstone shopping centre, 'the biggest palace of consumption in the southern hemisphere', has given him an understanding of the story-telling that influences people's behaviour and he brings this to bear in his work of showing us the ways in which we can regenerate our communities to reduce consumption and increase health and happiness for ourselves and the rest of nature.https://www.villagewell.org/https://www.gilbertrochecouste.com/Follow us!InstagramFacebooklocalfoodconnect.org.auLocal Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song, You Are What You EatPlease 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.

Leigh McGaghey is a landscape architect specialising in therapeutic sensory gardens. She is the president of Therapeutic Horticulture Australia. In this first part of a two part interview Leigh chats about her disillusionment with her previous career in the banking sector, and her current work re-connecting people with nature, each other, and their own spirits (though I don't think she uses that word) through gardening which connects us directly with nature through our senses.Learn more about Leigh's work here:https://www.wiredfornature.com.au/Therapeutic Horticulture Australia volunteers are going to be at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show [26-30 March] and they’ll be leading free walk n’ talk tours around the display gardens, unpacking why garden spaces are beneficial for our wellbeing.  They’ll also be at the Beyond Blue marquee running free hands-on activities for kids and adults. Follow us!InstagramFacebooklocalfoodconnect.org.auLocal Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song, You Are What You EatPlease 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.