Community garden workshops

From FERN | 31 Aug 2010

MAKING PERTH EDIBLE
Workshops to teach valuable skills for community self-reliance.

Ever wanted to be able to grow all of your own food, but don’t quite have the skills or resources to do so? You’d be surprised at just how much is possible, even with a full-time job in an urban environment! This September, innovative NZ permaculture educator and biodynamic gardener Robina McCurdy will be coming to Perth to host a series of workshops on ‘Local Food Reliance’ to demystify the simple art of home food-gardening and to help pave the way to real food security for Perth families and the greater community.

The dynamic workshops will be an in-depth sharing of Robina’s easy hands-on methods for creating sustainable community food systems, suitable for the backyards and shared public spaces of Perth’s mediterranean climate. Everyone who completes the ‘Local Food Reliance’ workshop will leave with a good clear idea of what it takes for community-scale food self-reliance, with immediate action steps toward achieving this individually and collectively, starting at your own back door, within your own neighbourhood.

The second workshop, “Small Space: Big Harvest" is designed to give people with gardening/permaculture experience the ability to share their skills amongst the community so that others can enjoy the benefits of having their own edible home gardens.

For three decades, Robina McCurdy has been inspiring, guiding and offering specific tools and techniques for people to access their gifts, develop their potential, build their resourcefulness, and live their dreams.

She is a founder-trustee of Tui Land Trust & Community and the Institute for Earthcare Education Aotearoa. She is also the pioneer-developer of the international programme, S.E.E.D. (Schools Environmental Education & Development), now a national programme within South Africa, and 'PLANET Organic’ – a vocational training in bioregional & community-scale sustainable landuse design, management & facilitation.

Robina has worked alongside hundreds of organizations, with many thousands of people, to bring about significant changes in individual lives, communities and the environment.

The workshops will be held at FERN (Fremantle Environmental Resource Network), Corner of High Street & Montreal Street, Fremantle in September on Friday 10th at 7.30pm: (Local Food Self Reliance presentation & slideshow, $5/$10), Sat 11th from 9am - 5pm (Local Food Self Reliance workshop, $45/$60/$85) and Sun 12th - Mon 13th from 9am - 4.30pm (‘Small Space: Big Harvest’ - Home Garden Facilitators workshop for people familiar with gardening and/or
Permaculture, $120/$170/$220). *Cost for both workshops is based on income: beneficiaries &
students/mid income earners/higher income earners.

For more info or to register, visit www.fern.org.au or contact Ginny Holland on 0427 644 181 or email ginny.holland@gmail.com