Vittoria Pasquini on behalf of the Coordinator Marisa Katis
Our beautiful organic vegetable garden blossomed in 2021 among many difficulties (Covid lockdown the main one), many thanks to Ann Game’s continuous, generous work and expertise, to Marisa Katis for general coordination, to Jill Romuld for account keeping and to our volunteers working in the garden individually or in pairs whenever restrictions allowed them and if they felt safe to go to the garden.
Throughout the year the garden looked fantastic! Full of veggies and flowers. Bees did their best to pollinate plants and we even had a blue tongue lizard taking naps in bed number 11! Our horse manure is top quality, our compost comes from our kitchen’s organic leftovers, the green manure helped heaps, so that almost none of our plants got sick. And our compost box, thanks to Murray Cox who built it, is the envy of local gardeners!
We produced: kale, silver beet, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, chili, radicchio, snow peas, green beans, and a variety of different herbs.
Due to protracted lockdowns our team unfortunately wasn’t able to gather and make our delicious pesto like we have done for many years, hopefully we will do it this year!
We were very happy to donate our veggies to people in need, especially during this very difficult time. In particular our produce went to:
(In the first months of the year):
– Redfern Community Centre (Indigenous Drop In Centre)
– Jarjum College (College for Indigenous young students)
(In the following months):
– The Safe House (female refugees or asylum seekers fleeing from modern slavery)
– Our Big Kitchen (non-profit organization preparing and distributing meals across Sydney to people in need including refugees, asylum seekers and Indigenous people).
Although we couldn’t attend to the garden as a group as usual, we still had many conversations via WhatsApp, emails, texts and telephone calls, reporting, advising, seeking advice etc. – all in all trying to envisage the best possible solutions to help the garden do well during this difficult time.
Ten years ago, we started; Valerio had wanted to build an organic vegetable garden and our community of good intents did it in his memory.
Through many ups and downs, a turnover of people, many discussions on how to do it better, the garden is still alive and well and we know that we are doing good for people who are in need.
The result is positive, and we are looking forward to having great crops in 2022!
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