By JOLENE OGLE
COMMUNITY gardens tick all the right boxes, according to Veggie Village president Bettina Walters.
The Peregian community garden Veggie Village, located on Rufous Street, has been growing strong since 2010 with more than 100 members now attending to 16 individual plots, but president Bettina isn’t surprised by its popularity.
“It does tick a lot of boxes for desirable outcomes for the community,” she said.
“There’s things like social cohesion, where people can meet and talk and that actually goes through genders and ages and that can be a very beautiful thing.”
Bettina said networking was important for people in business, but having the chance to catch up over compost can have many social rewards for community members who simply want to connect.
“There are incidental talks and there is no pressure as in social networking groups where you introduce yourself and you have an agenda. The agenda is to grow food together,” she said.
“So, it’s a very easy way for people to connect without suspicion, intentions, agendas and so on. For that, it’s great. The conversations often go beyond the gardening, but they don’t have to.
“In terms of fighting isolation, older people, single parents, all alike have an easy way to network and it decreases stress and depression in that sense.”
Community gardens are also a great way for old and young to come together and share their skills and knowledge, Bettina said.
“We have many older people who are very much valued for their expertise and their wisdom. For gardeners, it is one of those beautiful things where the older your get the more you know, the more seasons you have under your belt,” she said.
“And the younger people can usually help with the more physical labour.”
The Peregian Veggie Village community garden has taken off since its inception, with a planned expansion due to be completed by the end of winter.
The extension will include a walk-through food forest and extra plots that people can adopt to grow their food in.
The garden even received a visit from environmental campaigner, Erin Brockovich, in February this year who was on hand to honour the founder of the community organisation, Bruce Molloy, who had won a prize in an environmental competition.
