At this location, Langi Kal Kal in Victoria, we are very lucky to have access to a half acre block dedicated to a community garden. As this is a community garden with an emphasis on sustainability, we all need to work together and draw on each other's skills and knowledge to achieve a common goal.
I am the volunteer garden billet and some of my responsibilities are garden plot allocation and seed distribution. Some of the other skills we draw on are steel and timber construction, pottering, plumbing and seed harvesting. The gardening knowledge that is passed down the line is priceless.
To have the time and opportunity to grow from a seed and all the way to harvesting and cooking is a great sense of achievement and satisfaction. We are always looking for ways to improve and share outcomes.
Some of the sustainable practices we try to incorporate include compost/soil produced from the prison’s food waste. We harvest seeds to resow, we also use some cow, sheep and chicken manure for fertiliser. We recycle scrap timber and steel to make garden beds, setting, shade houses, hot houses, bee hotels and garden sculptures.
I and many others are very happy to have therapeutic and practical outcomes from having a space to get our hands dirty. There are many of us here who eat something out of the garden with nearly every meal. I would like to thank the ongoing support from the staff for their enthusiasm and encouragement, they too see the holistic benefits of community gardening.
