Council Staff and Northbank Community Garden Volunteers at completion of the initial planting of the Council Lunchbox Garden. |
Northbank Community Garden
Media Release
Date for Release: 14 May
2012
Contact: Guy Saddleton (Edible
Streetscapes spokesperson) - 0411 229 300
Nic Denshire
(Northbank Community Garden President) - 0410 532 272
Zoe Moore
(Bellingen Shire Council Sstainability Officer)
(02) 6655 7305
Lunch
can’t get more local than this!!
The Edible Streetscapes
project took another leap forward this week with the creation of the Council
Lunchbox garden in Maam Gaduying. The
Garden will provide fresh greens to Council staff and community members and was
installed as part of the Edible Streetscapes project. It complements existing
projects under the Edible Streetscapes banner including the edible gardens out
the front of Guy Saddleton Real Estate, Number 5 Church St (Installed by
Bellingen Solar), the old Kombu Site and Alchemy. Bellingen High School
students also helped to plant citrus trees in Connell park as part of Edible
Streetscapes.
Guy Saddleton
(Bellingen Chamber of Commerce president) said, “The Edible Streetscapes
Project is a great example of us achieving more together. This collaboration between Northbank
Community Garden (NCG), Transition Bellingen and the Bellingen Chamber of
Commerce and the help of numerous community members has achieved more than any
one organisation could have achieved on their own”.
The Council Lunchbox
garden was instigated by Councils internal sustainability team; the BATS.
Council’s sustainability officer, Zoe Moore, said, “The BATS team were
incredibly keen to start the Lunchbox Garden as one of their sustainability
actions. Working in with the Edible Streetscapes
project is a logical partnership. We want this garden to be used by our local community
so people should feel free to pick some salad for their lunch. We hope this
will be the first of many similar local food projects to come throughout the
shire,” she added.
In 2009, Bellingen
Shire Council resolved to support a community target of ‘one earth living’ by
2015. ‘One earth’, in this context,
relates to the aim to embrace a lifestyle that could be adopted by all humans
in the world, without permanently depleting earths’ resources. Northbank Community Garden President, Nic
Denshire, explains, “A significant proportion of an individual’s ecological
footprint is accounted for by food. This initiative is a meaningful progression
toward increasing the proportion of local, low impact food consumed in the
Shire. NCG has been building our capacity
to deliver local food to the community for over four years. This collaboration between Edible Streetscapes
and Council is a symbolic but significant move in the right direction”.
For further
information on the Edible Streetscapes project contact Guy Saddleton on 0411
229 300.For the Council Lunchbox Garden contact Zoe Moore on (02) 6655 7305