MACS Garden / Amundsen Street / Pioneer Parade

Pete has been unwell with injuries and is slowly on the road to recovery, but the huge, huge news is that Pete is planning to retire and write a book on gardening for the novice Home Gardener! What a wonderful legacy his work in community and on paper will be. He introduced us to Janice, who has experience with organic and non-organic gardening and is currently doing her Horticultural Certificate whilst helping out at Ravenswood-managed gardens. Pete is working to train Janice up to step into his work boots so he can step away to trout fish and write.

MACS has now had the launch of their walkway in October, and the food forest has opened. They have also been working on building a seed raising shed onsite and are beginning to get involved in seed swapping. In collaboration with Auntie Connie, there has been a beautiful, dedicated area built for the indigenous community, with a yarning circle created utilising a big crusher wheel for smoking ceremonies. It has been planted out with edibles, shrubs, Grasstrees and bushes, with everyone welcome.

The Amundsen Street site is now finished as the land was wanted back by the owners. They are raising the vegetables now in Pioneer Parade with eight new garden beds constructed and the winter crops are already in, with separate areas for public plantings and for food designated to go into the Neighbourhood House. They are working on an orchard area and also looking to see how they can encourage water to stay on land. Food from this site partially goes to the Neighbourhood House, and they recently had great success selling boxed tomatoes at $10 for 10kg. He notes that there is a plan for a large area in Ravenswood to grow lots and lots of food to sell into the community, as well as second-hand clothes and books etc. This forms part of the overall neighbourhood 10-year plan. Pete invites anyone who’s in the local area on Mondays or Tuesdays to pop into Pioneer Parade, or they can catch him on Thursdays at the MACS site.