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Australia: The green shoots of city gardening: the old Melbourne church yard becoming a fertile farm

Charlie Brennan (left), Kelly Donati and Nick Rose at St Mary’s Anglican in Preston where they are turning the church yard into an urban farm. Photo: Justin McManus.

With our compost, we have saved over a tonne of food waste from ending up in landfill.

By Richard Cornish
Good Food
September 25 2021

Excerpt:

Behind an old church in the heart of Preston in Melbourne’s north, a remarkable transformation is taking place.

For years the vicarage at the back of St Mary’s Anglican church lay empty, the house growing mould inside, the garden overgrown with weeds and overrun with vermin. Now a team of urban agriculture farmers are turning the site into a fertile food garden, growing vegetables for disadvantaged people in surrounding suburbs and the volunteers who will work there.

Called Oakhill Food Justice Farm, it is another project from Sustain, a Melbourne-based not-for-profit organisation specialising in designing and building sustainable and healthy food systems. It is headed by executive director Nick Rose and founding chair Kelly Donati, lecturer of food studies at William Angliss Institute.

Working with Sustain on the 1500-square-metre site – leased rent-free for two years from the Melbourne Anglican Trust Corporation – is US-based urban agriculture expert Charlie Brennan from regenerative design consultancy Garden Juju Collective.

Read the complete article here.