You can find this article in "Waterwise Gardens" (issue 4), available in newsagents now.

Click on the image for the first page of the article.

I've been rather busy with the articles the last couple of months. Here's another article of mine, which can be found in "Green Garden and Home", Issue 2 (also available now).

Click on the image for the first page of the article.

During March, in a run of articles on self-sufficiency and gardening classes in the Moreland Leader, Tessa Hoffman wrote warmly about the Edible Eden home gardening classes. 

For those of you that missed the March 30th edition, it is available for download here.

Fancy a fig, but can only grow Silverbeet?

When a friend of mine, Glenda, told me about food swaps, I thought that as I grew about half my fruit and vegetables, and already swapped my produce with family, friends and neighbours, that it wouldn’t be worth my while to go. The idea of meeting up with strangers in a park for an hour or so didn’t appeal.

However, Glenda is a persuasive woman, and in October last year I went to the ‘Yarra Neighbourhood Orchard’, held in Smith Reserve, next to Fitzroy Pool, with some baby fig trees to offer up.

I was really impressed. Glenda and Peta had persuaded many others like me and here they were, proudly emerging from their back gardens with their favourite and excess produce.

The atmosphere was festive, with home-made goodies to snack on and a lively group gathered under a little marquee. There was produce from the beginning to the end of the food cycle, with seeds, seedlings, vegetables, fruits and home-made jams covering the table.

All produce was weighed, so that the good this swap does for the local community (and even blow-ins from the Northern Suburbs!) can be quantified. (The swap in December yielded more than 90kg of produce to be shared amongst the grateful participants.)

People came and went during the two hours, bringing and taking. I was there at the end, and produce of all types was pressed upon me, as others hadn’t taken ‘enough’!

I am now suggesting my class participants and clients go to food swaps, to help them on their path to growing their own food. One of them recently asked me how the distribution of produce is controlled; perhaps in this day and age, we are unaccustomed to strangers sharing politely at a table covered in food, but that’s exactly how it is!

Reasons to go to a food swap:

1. You’re not an accomplished gardener - you can only grow Silverbeet but hanker for more
2. You have hardly any garden – but you grow lovely herbs in pots
3. You have no room for a fig tree, but love figs and have lots of Pepinos
4. To meet other local food gardeners and swap seeds, cuttings and recipes
5. To feel inspired by seeing strangers sharing! (After a few swaps they won’t be strangers)
6. You have a shady garden and grow leafy veggies and herbs, but can’t grow Eggplants
7. Your neighbour’s tree has fruit falling to the ground, and they’re happy for you to take it
8. You realise that growing and sharing food close to home saves (a lot of) transport fuel
9. You’d rather get some extra veggies from a park close to home than a supermarket…
10. You're practising Permaculture - sharing your excess...

Finding my local food swap:

Last weekend, I made my first visit to a new food swap close to my home, at McCleery Reserve, Coburg, at the Inner Northern Urban Harvest, organised by the charming Alicia and Emma. They offered home-made cake and bread to visitors, and pressed produce onto too polite participants (all of us!)

There were eggs, 3 types of figs (!), cucumbers, chillies, carrots, garlic, herbs, lemongrass plants, Pepinos, grapes, not to mention homemade plum jam and delicious spicy tomato chutney (I am half way through my jar already!)

We sat around on rugs and chairs, and chatted about produce, plumbing, recipes and how to grow carrots and lemongrass.

Finding your local food swap:

 Yarra Neighbourhood Orchard – 10.00am –1.00pm first Saturday every month, Smith Reserve, Alexander Parade, Fitzroy (next to Fitzroy Pool)

This is a well-established and well-attended food swap with BBQ afterwards.

Contact: Peta - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   0411 899 618 Or Glenda 0149 375 161

 Inner Northern Urban Harvest – 10.00am – 11.30am 3^rd Saturday every month, McCleery Reserve, Corner of Munro & Vincent Sts, Mel 29F1.

This is a new and vibrant food swap with a friendly vibe.

Contact:  Alicia - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Emma – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 Bulleen Art & Garden Centre, 6 Manningham Road West, Bulleen, is holding food swaps on an irregular basis – check the front page of their website for details: www.baag.com.au

Ceres Urban Harvest – at Ceres Community Farm, Lee Street, East Brunswick.Each Saturday at the market, there is a volunteer at a table for dropping off and picking up produce.

In early 2008, I was lucky enough to visit an inspirational housing estate, Village Homes, at Davis California, an hour or two from San Francisco.

Village Homes is a sustainable housing project of 245 dwellings, on 70 acres, built just over 25 years ago, by developers Michael and Judy Corbett. House lots run North-South, so that passive solar design is supported here. Streets are narrow, to cut down on heat absorption and re-radiation from the hot Summer sun. Shady street trees help reduce air temperature too.

A large percentage of the trees on site are fruit or nut trees, in fact the almond harvest from the almond trees lining the Eastern boundary, I was told by a resident, pays for the 3 gardeners who maintain the extensive shared gardens.

Most homes have no back fences, and a smaller area of privately owned land per household is compensated for by the large areas of communally owned land. This land is landscaped with swales, the water management systems of Permaculture, which manage the flow of rainwater entering the site and  sustain the groundwater, allowing the landscape to flourish with less irrigation water. (The gardens at Village Homes use 2/3 less irrigation water than neighbouring developments.) The shared land has been landscaped with productive plants (fruit, nuts, herbs) which are available to all the residents (the almond harvest is reserved for the Maintenance Fund.)

The curving streets are lined with fruit trees, many in Spring blossom when I was there. Tall citrus trees were heavy with fruit. Wider areas of land created by the curvaceous planning of the site supported small orchards and vineyards. There are community buildings and also a large grassy playing space - somewhat contraversial amongst some residents.

The meandering walking or bike paths at the rear of houses create safe car-free areas for children to play, and also allow disabled residents to move freely for exercise without the concern of cars.

The Western boundary has a wide strip of vegetable gardens and chicken coops – this land is allocated according to residents requests each Spring.

It would be entirely possible to supply all your own vegetable, fruit, herb and egg needs from these gardens as a resident.  

This estate is a living example of gardens filled with beauty and productivity. These houses and gardens in harmony show that it can be done, to grow your food where you live, to enjoy the freshest food possible, knowing that no trucks carried it half-way across the country for you.

Experiencing this development has inspired me even more to bring edible plants into the gardens I work with, so that more of us can use the (often) ample space around us in a productive fashion. Village Homes shows us that productive, sustainable gardens can be beautiful gardens.

There are photos of the gardens of Village Homes in the Gallery section of the website.