Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

An excellent community initiative is the Avalon Community Garden. It was established in 2010 on the grounds of Barrenjoey High School. The aim was to create a place to share skills and knowledge and to grow delicious organic food. On top of that, it has provided community connections. Well-established community gardens have shown that they can do a lot more than just provide fresh organic produce. Avalon Community Garden has provided benefits for both the individuals involved and the entire community. It has engaged youth, children, the elderly, the disabled and other marginalised individuals.

The community garden has many features. People manage worm farms, make compost, create garden beds, weed, and grow vegetables, herbs and fruit. There is also a dedicated chook team, who look after the well-loved chickens of the Avalon Community Garden. It is all sustainable. The chooks eat the vegetable scraps, create manure and lay eggs. The gardeners share the harvest as well as their valuable gardening knowledge. They give back to the community. Once a week they provide gardening lessons for the Montessori school students. They provide the school canteen with a garden to harvest food from for the canteen menu. I commend all those involved in the Avalon Community Garden. It's an excellent initiative, which is well loved by all. Keep up the great work.