“This is so nice,” said the little girl, “but why did you have to put it in here?” she added, waving the pod.
This partly explains why Ms Thomas is committed to education and collaboration in the setting of community gardens.
It’s also why garden coordinators in Dunedin and Mosgiel are networking to explore how the gardens can maximize opportunities by pooling resources.
The move comes as community gardens become more popular as people learn to eat more seasonally to lower food costs, she said. The fact that products were offered in exchange for a short time in the garden was also a plus, not only for those on a tight budget, but for people who wanted food to be as chemical-free as possible and to learn how to prepare their food. could cultivate. own.
Garden helper Jules Haldane agreed. “There’s definitely a trend away from buying vegetables at the grocery store,” she said.
She is concerned that products lose their nutritional value the longer the time between harvesting and eating.
North East Valley Community Garden member Tom McKinley said he too had seen more demand in recent months.
He was a big believer in the idea of a garden network, “but it’s still in its infancy”.
The East Taieri Community Garden takes a slightly different approach to helping people keep their food bills low.
Coordinator Alison Willems said the approach was “less about people coming into the garden and more about growing for the food banks in Mosgiel and Presbyterian Support in Dunedin”.
The garden, on the grounds of the East Taieri Presbyterian Church, operated under a governance agreement with the church. The long-running project was revived about three and a half years ago, Ms Willems said.
“Next year the plan is for [most of the produce] to go to Mosgiel and support locally.
“And in the winter we are redesigning the garden to make it even more suitable for food bank crops with more potatoes, pumpkins – we harvested 90 this year – and carrots.”
Two community gardens, in Brockville and Tomahawk, are being revived in response to demand.