Community Food Forest

Figure 1. Community Food Forest.

Source: Wix (n.d.).

Community Food Forest

On January 23, 2025 I received a response from the Community Food Forest in the Town of Cambridge.

What inspired you?

Our original Chairperson, Michael Collier was a great believer in sustainable gardening. When he built his house in City Beach he had made plans while building to improve the soil around the house and established his own Food Forest. Michael was a member of a gardening group that met monthly and from there he gathered support to approach the Town of Cambridge with the idea of allocating some land to start a Community Food Forest.

How long have you been running?

The Town of Cambridge agreed to find us appropriate land in August 2021 and then allocated 900 sq m and we started clearing the land in February 2022.

What was your original source of funding?

A Sustainability Grant from the Town of Cambridge.

How much was it?

$3000

What are your ongoing costs?

Purchase plants, tress and bush tucker plants. Purchase gardening equipment, pump for water, hoses, soil improver and Wetta Soil.

How do you fund the garden now?

With Grants

Any grants that you recommend?

Town of Cambridge Sustainable yearly grant and the WA Government, Department of Communities grants for Community Gardens.

What are your two best crops?

We are a Community Food forest and as such we have planted about one hundred trees that are suitable for our area. We also plant seasonal vegetables and herbs amongst the trees. Our Plantains and Mulberry Trees are thriving.

What are your two worst crops?

In the early days our Potato crop failed and our Rhubarb is not successful

Do you use fertiliser or worms?

We make our own compost so use that throughout the garden and also have worm buckets sunk into the ground next to a lot of our trees. We purchase bulk conditioning soil which we add to our soil when we do new plantings.

Do you use any Indigenous crop?

We have an extensive Endemic and Australian Bush Tucker garden. One of our volunteers is a Botanist that specialises in Native plants.

What is one tip or trick you’ve used that has impacted your success in a positive way?

Our 900 sq m allocated to us was white sand covered in couch grass so we had to clear off all the grass and start converting the sand to soil. We did this by digging in fruit and vegetable matter, Horse manure, lawn cuttings, coffee grounds and Okara. We then planted a huge crop of Fava Beans which help the soil retain nitrogen. It took us about 12 months to get rich soil.

What is one mistake in the garden you wished you never made.

We have had small mistakes but have learnt from these. Our volunteers are very dedicated, and we have many nationalities amongst our volunteers and they all have experience with different vegetables that we have grown. Some are more popular than others. The garden is a huge learning opportunity.

Synthesis from Community Food Forest

The gardens all receive grants from either the local shire or the Department of Communities. This is a food forest rather than a garden, so it was built on the premise of an interconnected ecosystem, using nature to its utmost.

testrow@westnet.com.au

Annotated Written Appendix for Community Food Forest

Wix. n.d. Figure 1. Community Food Forest.

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