Elders and Independent Living Service Support Worker Katie Mackay and Healthy Lifestyles Team Member Rani Stokell tend to the new community veggie garden this week.
If you’ve been out the back of the Elders and Independent Living Services building lately, you will know that the new community veggie garden we planted is thriving!
It has been a terrific team effort to get the garden going, and we are really reaping the rewards now.
Spearheaded by Rhiannon Hayes and Rani Stokell and with the support of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, Bunnings and a small crew of GEGAC helpers, the garden has been making it easier for mob to eat healthy during these times when good, fresh produce can be expensive.
“With all the rain and sunshine we’ve had lately, everything has just taken off,” Rani says, as we walk through the garden beds overflowing with zucchini, silver beet, tomatoes, basil and other herbs.
Produce from the garden goes into the kitchen each week for the Elder’s Lunch and they quite often all go home with a bag of fresh goodies.
And because the harvest has been so good, GEGAC has been able to also send boxes of fresh produce out to mob that need some, as well as providing fresh produce weekly for our food bank.
“That’s what it is so nice about this garden,” Rani says. “Yes, it’s about soil and plants and growing things, but it’s also about supporting community, and coming together.”
There’s good things planned for the garden over the coming months, including opportunities for community to come down and get involved.
We’ll keep you posted.
