Food for All Edible Garden Community Day 2023

On the 18th of October 2023, Food for All- Swan Hill Region held the Food for All Edible Garden Community Day at the Swan Hill Town Hall. The Community Day had presentations, local stall holders to learn information from and interactive garden activities and seed packets and strawberry plants to take home with them.

There was a variety of stallholders at this event including: Guard n Grow, Swan Hill Regional Library, Sustainable Living in the Mallee, GIFT Permaculture Community Garden, Bunnings- Swan Hill, Swan Hill Christian School- Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden, Think Water, Food for All Food Hub, Good Grove Gardens, SHDH Social Support Garden group, Ripannleigh Farm/Nannas Kitchen, Swan Hill Rural City Council, Sustainable Gardening Australia, Fruit Fly Murray Valley, Mallee District Aboriginal Services and Swan Hill and District Garden Club.

Edible garden topics that were covered on the day included: growing fruit and vegetables, growing from seed, The Seed Library, Fruit Fly management, local garden groups, The Swan Hill Food Hub, composting, worm farms, smart watering, native plants and bush tucker.

Presentations: Specific topics that were covered by presentation included; composting by Good Grove Gardens, Smart watering and growing from seed by Sustainable Gardening Australia.

On the day we had 150 community members and stallholders come to the event. The attendees were a mixed demographic including; young children, parents, working professionals and older adults. From our evaluation survey which a third of attendees completed there were people who already had a home edible garden and those who wanted to start one or join a community garden.

Attendees benefitted through the growth of knowledge from talking with stallholders and/or attending a presentation. Attendees also had opportunities to plant a seed of their choice, a strawberry plant, and get some seeds to start an edible garden after the event. Alongside community members, stallholders were able to network and connect with other stallholders and how they could work together to promote edible gardens in Swan Hill.