The seed of an idea

A COMMUNITY garden in Korumburra is in the early stages of development as community members discuss and consider locations, fortunate to have expert advice from local landscape designer Simon Marshall.

The group were spurred into action by a recent post on Facebook which generated discussions about how beneficial a community garden would be for the town.

When Simon heard there was talk about a potential site, he decided he would jump on board.

“I heard that they were talking about some potential sites and one of the sites, I was like, well, that wouldn’t work so well. So, I got involved with my design brain; I’m a landscape designer.

“I’ve been involved with community gardens before, particularly at the early stages, starting them up from a perspective of somebody building them, and from a perspective of somebody helping to design them as well.”

Simon helped design the layout and building of a community garden in Strathmore and a disability daycare centre in Brunswick, implementing the latter as a community project where members were invited to help build it. 

“It was a pretty radical idea for that kind of a centre to have, the idea of it was not so much to grow food, but to grow connections with people who use that space, and that is 
exactly what it has become.”

The centre now hosts events each year with the produce grown, it has created roles for people who use the centre, and they have a mini business making fertilisers, and were featured on ABC’s Gardening Australia in April this year. 

Korumburra community members have so far identified a suitable piece of land at the Korumburra Railway Precinct for a garden, but further conversations with VicTrack and the Council, are needed.

“It just seems like a logical site in terms of being the sort of reinstated centre of the community, as it would have once been, at the railway station,” said Simon.

“Also being up high, it gets a bit of extra light. It’s a good site in terms of aspect and there are some established windbreaks. From a design perspective, it’s a pretty ideal spot for that as well.”

“The solar aspect is just perfect with a lot of north-easterly sun, which is what you’d ideally have.”

Two formal meetings and a couple of informal meetings have already occurred between half a dozen interested individuals who’ve previously been involved in and are knowledgeable about community gardens.

“Setting up a statement of purpose or working towards having a vision and having a reason to exist, rather than just doing it because you can (is important).”

Simon comments that having a structure and goals will ensure the resilience and longevity of the garden and that it is ideally mapped out from the start, which will be implemented in upcoming meetings. 

Members are also passionate about involving younger people and older people together in the same space to create connections between generations; and involve a wide range of people in the project to help create a sense of ownership and value. 

“We hope that there’ll be a respect for the space that might not otherwise be there if it’s just something that pops up that nobody has an emotional investment in,” said Simon.  

“I think it’s going to be about connections of community, more than growing food. But growing food is a really great way to build community, and it’s really good for your health. I mean, everybody knows that now.”