It’s time to bite the cherry and taste the flavour

BY PAM WALKER
With an economic crisis upon us and climate change promising to send already spiralling food prices even higher, is it any wonder people are returning to time-honoured practices of growing their own food’

Expense is not the only consideration. Anyone who has tasted strawberries straight from the patch or eaten fresh walnuts at the foot of the tree, or even picked a tomato from the vine, knows there is no comparison with the equivalents found at the local supermarket.

And the more we learn about insecticides and chemical sprays the more we are reluctant to expose our bodies to their toxic effects.

Then there’s the massive impact on our ecological footprint of transporting food over great distances so it now makes a lot of sense to eat locally grown produce.

And let’s face it ‘ there’s nothing like taking a stroll in your own garden to pick the fresh herbs and vegetables for your next meal.

But, in the inner city especially, not everyone has large enough gardens to allow for this so inventive inner city dwellers have turned into guerrilla gardeners, taking over median strips and street verges.

Councils throughout the state are also stepping up to the plate, turning a blind eye and even encouraging ratepayers to plant herbs and vegetables in the street and to set up community gardens.

Possibly the best known sustainable gardener in Sydney is Michael Mobbs, the Chippendale solicitor who built his own sustainable house, serviced entirely by rainwater and solar panels. He is not even connected to the water mains or sewer.

Mobbs started a trend in Myrtle, Shepherd and Rose streets in Chippendale where food is grown on the street. Signs invite people to help themselves to the herbs, fruit and vegetables. Chippendale has been divided into four ‘paddocks’ ‘ at Little Queen Street, Meagher Street, Myrtle Street and City Road. Residents are also growing their own fruit and vegies in backyards and on balconies.

Only last week locals took delivery of 200 fruit trees and plants and 20 bales of mulch donated by the City of Sydney. And two massive 300-litre compost bins are in the nearby park encouraging residents to compost all their food waste.

The street gardens have improved social connections in the area according to Mobbs.
‘It has ignited an amazing response. People are changing their habits in the street, engaging more with each other. Kids are picking the fruit,’ he said.

‘We’ve had farmers come in from Richmond as we’re also trying to buy direct from farmers. The primary goal is to buy fresh locally grown produce that doesn’t come from a long way off and cause pollution. That way, farmers get more money and we get fresher and cheaper food.’

On October 11, 6000 people attended the Food for the Future sustainable food fair in the area, an initiative that aims to provide local food for residents and businesses and cafes by linking local producers and consumers without intermediaries, saving on fuel costs and securing fresh food.

Mobbs said the Chippendale project was aiming to recycle all waste. Local cafes have adopted the practice of sending all their used coffee grounds and food scraps to the farmers who supply them, creating a direct link and sidelining the supermarkets.
‘We’re looking at the full cycle of food production in recycling waste back to the farms,’ he said. ‘We need to grow food where we live and work to reduce climate pollution. There’s more impact, and we save more water and energy from growing your own food and buying local produce than from having a fully sustainable house.’

In fact, food contributes 41 per cent to our eco-footprint, most of this from meat.

So pervasive is the trend that even charities and schools have jumped on the fresh food bandwagon.

Megan Hewitt became an organic food aficionado after an illness in India in 1993 where she spent two months in hospital on a drip. Returning to England, all she wanted was a plate of green vegies to build up her immune system. She found vegetables looked perfect but had no flavour until she stumbled on the organic section and could feel the nourishment flowing into her body.

Now she runs the Kawa organic cafe, The Goods Organic grocery and takeaway store and the Organic Catering Company, all on Crown Street.

Last year, inspired by influential American chef Alice Louise Waters, Hewitt also established a fully organic tuckshop at the Crown Street Public School. Waters, the founder of Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California, champions locally-grown and fresh organic ingredients in her restaurants and her ideas for ‘edible education’ have been introduced into the entire Berkeley school system.

The tuckshop and its organic menu proved enormously popular with students and parents who loved the menu where even potato chips, popcorn, fruit bars and liquorice straps are certified organic and are extra tasty.

Hewitt is keen to run cooking classes for parents and has started an organic kitchen garden for the children in the school grounds with a $5000 grant from the City of Sydney. Parents donated their time and Slow Food Sydney managed the project. The garden is now growing and just needs to be fully integrated within the school curriculum to take off as planned.

‘It gives kids the chance to see how easy it is to grow food and it’s a good way for them to observe the cycle of seasons and to adopt good health habits through seasonal eating,’ Hewitt said. ‘And it gets them used to the idea of growing your own food which reduces our ecological footprint.’

The federal government has also come to the party, this month announcing further funding for the national Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program as part of its effort to tackle childhood obesity.

Under the program children in years 3-6 will get the chance to work in a garden, harvest the food, cook it in a school kitchen and eat it with other students and parents.

The Rudd Government has committed up to $60,000 for 190 Government primary schools to implement the program across Australia over the next four years. The funding is to cover costs for building kitchens and gardens and will see another 37 schools join the program, already introduced at Bondi Public School.

The Kings Cross Wayside Chapel has created a small garden in Hope Lane as part of Wayside’s Day to Day Living program. Wendy Suma, Wayside’s Day to Day Living program manager, said the program was coming along well, although it did not yet include fruit or vegetables.

‘People are learning as the plants arrive. The Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Community Greening Program have generously donated plants and offered ongoing assistance to maintain the garden,’ she said.

And councils across the state have also joined in, introducing food recycling services, stormwater recycling, and community and permaculture gardens.

Visit Marrickville, Randwick, Waverley, Leichhardt, Woollahra and City of Sydney council websites for details.