Today I've come to visit a very special farm project.
It's located right in the heart of vibrant suburban Fremantle.
It's been built on what was
an old bowling club
and it's located right between the Swan River and Port Beach.
The site was formerly a Chinese market garden in the 1920s
and has been running as a farm since 2016,
though it's evolved according to the needs of the local community.
(LAUGHS)
I'm here with farm manager Amy,
who's a super-skilled farmer
and is maximising production out of this small space.
(COSTA AND AMY CHATTER)
So, Amy, how has this space grown into what it is today?
So, the long history, of course we're here
on Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar, so Aboriginal land.
And then after colonisation,
it was used as a market garden.
And then in time it turned into a bowling club
and it's been a futsal and tennis club.
It's had lots of sport.
Then it was converted into what you see today.
When we started this project three years ago,
the sand was...was virtually beach sand.
We're less than a kilometre from the beach,
so we didn't have, really, much to work with.
So, adding in that compost, which we make ourselves now,
and then we were adding in
pretty substantial amounts of nutrients
in the form of blood and bone and organic inputs
to really just get the veggies out as quickly as we could.
We're really up and running now.
It's grown from the love and input of the community.
So, we've got an amazing team of volunteers
who are really dedicated and now really skilled gardeners.
So, they come along and help grow the veggies.
It's about a third of an acre, so we've got 81 ten-metre garden beds.
And we grow about 30 different varieties of veggies,
so it's not like a normal market garden
where you might focus on, you know, four or five kinds of veggies.
We grow as much variety as we can for our members.
It means when people come to pick their veggies,
they can look around and choose
something that they want to cook that day
and they've got a bit more choice when they come, yeah.
So, what are some of the crops
that you're growing successfully at the moment?
Our garlic has been really great.
So, that's a few months off harvesting.
We've got brussels sprouts, we've got carrots.
Broccoli's been really good. Parsnips.
And we're growing a cover crop, which is here,
to kind of feed the soil as we go.
As far as memberships to the farm go, it's pretty popular.
There are 200 picking members
and a waitlist of over 130 people who are wanting to get on the list.
So, you're at member capacity.
You've got a waiting list. Yep.
You've got a model that lets volunteers contribute.
How does it all come together like this?
Oh, look, I think people just love the idea
of local, organic veggies right on their doorstep.
So, they come down, they pick their veggies,
they see it all happening
and they get that experience of seeing the food grow
and how we grow it and our challenges and our successes,
and you just don't get that at a supermarket.
Yeah, it's pretty special. Wow.
Now, I can see a little bit of rain moving in.
Shall we stop for a cuppa? No.
We've got jobs to do, Costa, so jobs first, cuppa later.
Let's go. I was hoping you'd say that.
(BOTH LAUGH)
Hey, Mary, we've got a new volunteer.
Ready for service. Oh, hello!
(LAUGHS)
The community of volunteers
are certainly the reason for the success of the farm,
but it seems that not just the garden is benefiting.
These volunteers are getting so much more.
Helen, what do you love about coming to the farm?
I just love walking through that gate, Costa,
and seeing the sea of green
and the soil that's looking so rich and productive
and just these wonderful people that are here.
So, I've sold the unit and bought a block of land
and developing the soil and working on a veggie garden,
and I hope to be able to then provide veggies to my neighbours.
I retired just before COVID.
Actually, I'm not retired.
This is just the happiest workplace I've ever been.
All this work has got me pretty hungry,
and what's better than using what you grow
to cook up something delicious?
Oh! Yum!
That's... That is fresh!
It's as fresh as you get it.
That asparagus is, what, picked 20 minutes ago.
Yep! Mmm!
What is it that you love about the farm?
It's the families -
seeing young children harvesting food for the first time,
the little ones who don't know how to harvest a carrot
or harvest a broccoli,
getting in there, getting their hands dirty with Mum and Dad,
learning together.
It's bringing people together.
How do you feel when you're here? Happy. Yep.
You walk through the gate and this is...this is our family,
our other family.
What do you love about the farm, John?
It's a happy place.
Um, a very good manager.
And, uh...and you see, over a short period of time,
rapid growth in vegetables, and it's...it's really good.
Good to see you found the place, mate.
Hi! Your directions were perfect.
I swear Costa will sniff out a strawberry a mile away.
(LAUGHS) Yeah, I reckon I'm just a little bit early on these.
Is he working hard? He is, yeah.
Well, I'll leave you to it. I'm gonna go check out the crops.
No worries.
The idea for this social farming enterprise
was the brainchild of Renee Gardiner.
What was the original vision for the project?
The whole idea of the farm
was to help people that weren't feeling so good
in terms of their mental health and wellbeing
and to get them out into nature, into community,
and growing food.
As you grow food, you grow within yourself.
And COVID has shown us how much places like this are vital
for our wellbeing and community resilience
and having somewhere to come when times feel really challenging.
And is that focus on giving people a chance to connect to gardens
and spend time growing food
for the mental health benefits
still as much of a focus as it was initially?
I think it's an ancillary focus.
You know, you come here by osmosis.
You get that feeling of being connected into the space,
connecting with other people,
and you can't help but feel good when you're at the farm.
What's it like to come back as the founder
to see the farm flourishing like it is?
It's so amazing.
There's so much love in the place.
It's thriving.
You know, it's a real reflection
of everyone's input over the years and the iterations
to get to where it is now.
And I'm very proud and very humbled at the same time.
And as the veggies flourish,
so does the garden in its evolution.
Sophie, I've had my eye on this patch all day.
What's its history?
It used to be just a big long sandpit
with massive rocks big as your head, that kind of thing.
But what we started to do was
just get the flowers in, really,
'cause we wanted to get the bees in, and the biodiversity.
Has it made a difference?
Massive difference, yeah,
and not just to the garden, but to the people walking past.
You know, the community,
the flowers started to bring them in
and conversations started through the garden.
It's bringing people in.
It's beautiful. It's beautiful.
How do the children respond? The kids are great.
You know, Saturdays, school's out.
They come down, from this big to this big.
I go down to their level.
I worked out that the kids, you know, they're quite shy,
especially the little ones,
so I started counting flowers,
and I'm teaching them how to pick flowers.
So, "One, two..."
And also teaching them how to smell the herbs,
so, teaching them how to crush the herbs up...
(INHALES DEEPLY) ..smell deeply.
And yeah, it's beautiful.
And it's teaching them mental health stuff.
You know, it's teaching them that they can come down to the garden,
have a yarn, have a play,
get amongst it, and it makes you feel good.
So it's great. It's like...
It's like a heart of gold in the community.
It's beautiful. A heart of gold and a hug, yeah.
You know, the welcome I've received
from the community here today at the farm
has been overwhelming.
Thanks for the tip-off. It's been incredibly special.
Well, there's no doubt you've had a chance to see
one of the best community-led projects in Fremantle.
And kudos to everyone involved.
Wouldn't it be great to see more of these, like this?
Yes. Definitely.
Oh, my gosh.