Welcome Mat Out At People's Garden

MAKING PROGRESS: Teenagers Andrew Dowling and Zane Currie with Gerard Gastigar

Noosa’s first community garden is “coming up roses” or, to be more accurate, beans, Asian greens, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuces, zucchinis, cabbages and herbs.
 
Four months ago it was one-and-half hectares of unused Council scrub land lying unwanted in Ernest Street, Tewantin. Today, a corner of it is teeming with activity as teenage boys from the United Synergies not-for-profit group next door learn skills like building rock bays and the processes involved in growing a flourishing array of organic vegetables.
 
Work on the community garden is being done in two stages and the first stage, sponsored by Noosa Slow Foods, is proceeding well under the guidance of Leonie Shanahan, of Edible School Gardens. Disability Support charity, Sunshine Butterflies, is sponsoring Stage 2. When finished, the project will be available for locals to relax in and enjoy.
 
“People are starting to ask what we are doing and it is time now to invite them in. If anyone wants to work learn gardening by doing, they can come along any Friday. They can stay for an hour or a day. All are welcome,” Leonie told Noosa Today.
 
“We’re showing people how to set up gardens which aren’t expensive. The ground here is as hard as a rock so we have put the veggies in a bathtub. You can get them from tips or from people throwing them out. We’re also growing green manure which we will chop in later on to build soil.”
 
Leonie said watching the transformation of the teenage boys from United Services was exciting. 
“I haven’t worked with teenage kids before and I didn’t know how I would go. I’m just loving it,” she said.
 
“They came for different reasons, all as individuals. Now they work so well together as a team. And they are so enthusiastic. We told them they were going to have a break over the school holidays and they said they didn’t want to stop and they came the next week.”
 
United Synergies corporate services manager Nola Goldstein said her group operates a number of educational programs and accommodation for disadvantaged young people.
 
“One of our volunteers is local Noosa Heads stonemason and landscaper, Gerard Gastigar. He has been teaching the boys skills like making garden beds from besser blocks and masonry rock work.
 
“One young fellow has been coming every week and his skills have evolved that he could be employed by someone and that’s one of our goals.”
 
Nola said a working group is being formed and a public meeting will be held shortly.
 
“We have made fantastic progress but we need to develop the rest of the project and to do that we have to fully engage the community.”
 
Cost of the garden is expected to be about $100,000. Sponsors who have supported the work to date are Slow Food Noosa, Edible School Gardens, Sunshine Butterflies, Noosa-Tewantin Lions Club, Landscape Info Guide, Bunning’s Noosaville, Sunshine Coast Council, Mitre 10 Noosaville, Gerard Gastigar and Protector Aluminium.
 
Meanwhile, it isn’t all hard work and no play for the boys and their mentors. This Friday Leonie is celebrating progress to date on Stage 1 by cooking up a stir-fry for the workers with vegetables from the garden.
 
“It will be the first time these kids have ever tasted a stir-fry and they are thrilled,” said Nola.

Welcome Mat Out At People's Garden
Noosa Today, Jim Fagan, 24 October 2012