WORDS ANGELA ROGERS
Local charity Good Neighbour Trust’s community gardens at Bethlehem are the result of awesome foresight and a lot of planning by some incredibly insightful individuals. In partnership with Bethlehem Community Church, who are the generous landowners, the gardens were built with the aim of transforming communities, one garden at a time. In the seven plus years they have been around, they have made a difference. At the garden site there are 57 garden beds looked after by an incredible bunch of dedicated volunteers. The perimeter garden beds are for members of the local community to harvest something for themselves to contribute to a meal; and the remainder are
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“Growing For Good Beds”, sponsored beds to enhance the garden’s capacity to grow healthy, nutritious food for distribution to local organisations and charities in our communities, and in doing so provide beds for learning how to garden. Volunteers are able to work in these garden beds, learn more, and know that their efforts are going back to community organisations that need what is grown. The volunteers at the gardens are totally inspired with the aim of connecting communities through gardens. The gardens are a place where paying attention to plants makes people pay attention to themselves, their gardening buddies and their communities, and in doing so, create an enjoyable space to play during the volunteer mornings in the gardens. They meet every Wednesday 9am – 12noon, at Bethlehem Community Gardens 183 Moffat Road, everyone is welcome for a cuppa and morning tea. There has been a great response from the community with fantastic
