The goal of Food Resilience is to ensure that people have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life using shared knowledge, skills and resources. Many of us are concerned about how our food is grown and processed and are taking more responsibility for what we eat. We aim to provide training and information that will help you get the most from your efforts. We have a regular monthly Nourish project that has topical discussions or practical training. A steering group is making good progress on developing community gardens in Darfield and encouraging these in the wider district.
Nourish Project
The Nourish project relates to people and healthy gardens, enjoying nutritious food. We have a monthly topical discussion on the last Thursday evening each month at Darfield Baptist Church foyer. We also arrange occasional practical workshops where knowledge and skills are shared. Two popular workshops in 2015 gave practical experience for pruning and grafting fruit trees. We place a high value to sharing ideas and learning together, so you don’t have to worry if you’re a beginner gardener or if you have more failures that successes.
Topics in 2016 include: preserving, fermenting and dehydrating fruit and veges; propagating plants and trees; permaculture principles; composting and worm farms; creating a home orchard; bees, bugs and pests in your garden and more …
Each evening will also include supper, a swap table and the chance to ask general questions or share ideas, successes and failures. Click here for the upcoming programme.
Community Gardens
A number of us have been dreaming about a community garden for Darfield. We are currently in the planning phase and negotiating with Selwyn District Council about gaining a licence to occupy a local park where gardens could developed. There will likely be plots available to lease along with plots and fruiting trees and bushes that can be grown to be given away to the local food bank.
Community gardens provide a great place to build friendships around gardens, to provide social interaction and care, to learn and share experience in relation to growing food and taking good care of our environment.
Watch this space for further information, or contact us to register your interest.