BREAZE

We believe that there is nothing more inspiring that seeing what other people, just like you are doing locally.  So, from big to small, families to community gardens, courtyards to commercial businesses, we are going to bring you a series of snapshots to celebrate the people and food of our region.  We hope that they will not only give you some great advice on eating seasonally and locally, but will also provide inspiration on what’s possible within your own backyard.

 We hope you enjoy these stories from Beyond the foodies’ fence...

 In Autumn we took a sneak peak at a veggie garden out at Lal Lal (Hyperlink to Ithaca feature), so this time we thought we would take a look at the Ballarat Community Garden where over 80 people from the Ballarat area garden, chat, work, cook and generally have a pretty good time.  Take a peek and get inspired!

Snapshot 2 - Ballarat Community Garden

For anyone who thinks that a winter veggie garden is a desolate, neglected place, please do yourself a favour and go down to the Ballarat Community Garden one weekend.  Situated on the corner of Queen Street and Dytes Parade this Community Garden (www.ballaratcommunitygarden.org.au ) is an inspiring, eclectic mix of veggie plots, herbs, flowers, mosaics, sculptures, a wood fired pizza oven & of course fabulous people.  And these fabulous people are a source of inspiration on what can grow in Ballarat at this time of year.  The 60 odd garden plots are bursting with fabulous produce – garlic, leeks, spring onions, broad beans, broccoli, cabbages, coriander, swiss chard, spinach, silverbeet, turnips, radishes..... some ready now and some a few months away. In fact, if you do get a chance to go down there you will be very lucky to escape without taking home a giant bunch of Swiss Chard for your pantry.

Of course, it should be no surprise that the people growing this fabulous produce also have a few good gardening tips to share.  For example, if you have ever raised spring onions from seed in punnets, and then spent a laborious hour or so trying to separate them out and plant them in the garden, you will love this tip from Jillian who is trialling transplanting the entire punnet into the garden bed, and was gradually thinning them out as they become more established.  Sounds much more appealing!

And if you are feeling in need of some sustenance after all that gardening talk, chances are the wood fired pizza oven might be on the go – featuring fresh seasonal produce of course! On the menu last Sunday was Corrie’s fabulous potato pizza with rosemary pesto..... mmmmm!

Entirely run by volunteers, the Ballarat Community Garden’s existence is the result of a lot of hard work and a strong and vibrant vision.  The only bad news is that if this snapshot has got you enthused to join there is a waiting list for beds.  However this isn’t the only community garden around including one in Royal Park in Buninyong (http://friendsofroyalpark.org.au/ ).  Why not check it out?