Crowd Harvest: Seeds for Christmas

Save your seeds for refugees! NFPs supporting, enabling and empowering those in need to adopt self sustaining food gardening practices are looking to establish Seed Banks. By a central body establishing a seed bank, people facing difficult circumstances can access the seeds and establish food gardens. Gardeners everywhere harvest more seeds than can be stored, and need to be used before they expire. In this Crowd Harvest, Australian gardeners with excess seeds are invited to send them in a Christmas card or holiday card to one or more NFPs from the list below :-) Please package seeds in individual and labelled packages so food relief recipients can easily take them home. Experienced gardeners, please send viable, open pollinating seeds. Anyone wanting to purchase seeds for the NFPs, please look for websites and/or nurseries that promote 'heirloom', 'non genetically modified', 'open pollinating', or 'organic'. Each of the NFPs listed below has a certified horticulturalist employed, and ready to look after the seeds, either to start the seeds, store the seeds or distribute to others facing crisis yet know how to start seeds :-) You can be assured the seeds will be looked after. Start saving your seeds now, and pop in a Christmas card to send to Food relief agencies looking to adopt sustainable approaches to empower resilience. Variety is welcome! Please help share the news by forwarding this email to a friend, or pressing 'like' and 'sharing' on Facebook. A Facebook Group "Tiny Trowellers" has been created. Please join the conversation at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1283951395005787/ ASRC Foodbank Level 1, 214 - 218 Nicholson St Footscray VIC 3011 Monday to Friday 10.00 am - 5.00 pm. https://www.asrc.org.au/  DIVRS & Darebin Fruit Squad Urban Food Program 285 High Street Preston 3072 http://www.divrs.org.au/#divrs http://www.darebinfruitsquad.org/  FOOD GARDEN - The Craig Family Centre 7 Samarinda Avenue Ashburton 3147 http://craigfc.org.au/ Food Gardens for Low income Australians PS. SAM FARBOD NEWHOPE IRANIAN COMMUNITY PO Box 255 Kerrimuir VIC 3129 https://www.newhope.net.au/Persian An Iranian community who fled to Australia due to religious persecution. ASRC Foodbank 179 Lonsdale St, Dandenong Monday to Thursday 10am – 3pm. https://www.asrc.org.au/  Nortec Volunteering 6 Main Street Murwillumbah NSW 2484 https://www.nortec.org.au/community-solutions/volunteering/ Helping Aussies flooded out re establish food gardens Alex Salmon CARRINGTON HEALTH Level 2, 43 Carrington Road Box Hill VIC 3128 Food Gardens for Low income Australians www.carringtonhealth.org.au STREAT 66 Cromwell Street, Collingwood, VIC 3066 Monday to Sunday 8.00am - 3.00pm www.streat.com.au  FOOD FOREST ASHBURTON GROUP C/O The Craig Family Centre 7 Samarinda Avenue Ashburton 3147 https://foodforestashy.wordpress.com/ TINY TROWEL P.O Box 4076 Box Hill South 3128 Victoria Twitter: @Tiny_Trowel  http://mylittletrowel.blogspot.com.au/ NEWHOPE COMMUNITY CARE Relief Care @NHCC PO Box 255 Kerrimuir VIC 3129 http://www.newhopecare.net.au/food-pantry Food Relief Centre looking to apply sustainable approaches to food resilience care. 40 Fulham Road,  Rowville VIC 3178 Food kitchen distributing and growing fresh food for low income Australians. ANNOUNCEMENT:  Tiny Trowel is one of 5 Finalists in the 2017 Banksia Foundation Sustainability Awards:  Communication for Change! http://banksiafdn.com/39-award-worthy-sustainability-ideas-announced/  I am humbled, and grateful to be honoured by Banksia! Bless and Opa! 😍 Paul from the ASRC Foodbank working at the 3000Acres installation at the Inner West Veggie Patch in Footscray. http://3000acres.org/ Much of the Harvest will go towards the ASRC Foodbank supporting refugees. Crowd Harvest seeds will assist in establishing any ASRC partnership food garden. https://www.asrc.org.au/ Copyright © 2017 Tiny Trowel, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in while taking a survey, signed up in person or via email, or through the website/blog. Our mailing address is: Tiny Trowel P.O Box 4076 BOX HILL SOUTH, VICTORIA 3128 Australia

TT July ENews

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TT July Enews View this email in your browser Crowd Harvest: Winter Citrus  THANK YOU!!       Thank you to the generous Melbournians who have taken boxes of citrus to the ASRC Foodbank in Footscray! They have received 2 boxes of Lemons, and 4 boxes of Grapefruit so far!!! 4 boxes of Grapefruit!! Further, boxes of mandarins, lemons and oranges went to Dandenong! Thank you so much, Melbourne!!  All our 'tiny' donations of excess aggregate to a BIG difference in the lives of those doing it tough #foodisfree#FilthyRichHomeless Everyone's little, goes a long way .   Great stuff! Keep it coming in - don't let your fruit rot on the tree - let it have a greater purpose . Bless and Opa!     MELBOURNE DROP OFF POINTS The Alphington Community Centre 2 Kelvin Road, Alphington, VIC 3078 Accepting all goods Thursday 10am to noon Or non-perishables Monday to Friday 9.30am – 3pm CERES Fair Food 6/198 Beavers Road, Northcote Wednesdays 2pm – 4pm CERES Visitor’s Centre Cnr Roberts and Stewart Sreet, Brunswick East, VIC, 3057 Sunday and Monday 8.30am – 1.30pm Tuesday to Saturday 8.30am – 3pm Surrey Hills Neighbourhood Centre 157 Union Road, Surrey Hills, VIC, 3127 Monday to Thursday 9am – 3.30pm Friday 9am – 2.30pm Items can be taken to reception Elwood/St. Kilda Neighbourhood Learning Centre 87 Tennyson Street, Elwood VIC 3184 Tuesday and Thursday 9.30am – 4.30pm Items can be taken to reception       ASRC Foodbank Level 1, 214 - 218 Nicholson St Footscray VIC 3011 Monday to Friday 10.00 am - 5.00 pm. https://www.asrc.org.au/ ASRC are happy to accept most home grown produce. Food seeds are welcomed! ASRC Dandenong 179 Lonsdale Street, Dandenong VIC 3175. Monday to Thursday 10am – 3pm. You might like to set up a collection point at your work, club, school or church and take one larger donation on behalf of the group.   On air last month!! The Tiny Trowel story went live last month on Light FM "In Conversation With Clayton" With a large audience, the news connected with the audience and boxes and boxes went from people's backyards to the refugee centres! Podcast can be heard here: http://lightfm.com.au/shows/in-conversation-with-clayton/cath-lyons-crowd-harvest/ Tiny Trowellers FB Group NEW WAYS TO HARVEST AND SHARE THE BACKYARD BOUNTY! Over the last few months a few initiatives around sharing individual backyard harvests are emerging, and discussed in today's July ENews..........keep scrolling! GROW FREE is an evolution on the Ballarat #FoodisFree movement. Andrew Barker and friends, evolved the concept to include a reciprocal relationship within the community.  So expectations are published on a portable trolley - allowing the installation to be moved for protection at night or in poor weather.  A Victorian branch has commenced, and hopefully other States will follow. Any individual, work place, church, scouting group, sports club or any club can do the same.  All it needs is a cart, and the poster asking home growers in the community to leave their excess produce, and only take what they need home. Stories of people receiving enough food to cook up a nice dinner for the first time in a long time are coming through to the group with great appreciation. Trinity Baptist Church in South Australia have taken up the initiative. If every church in Australia put a 'Grow Free' cart on their property, everyone would have enough. The roll out would help anyone under the weight of food insecurity, and contribute to feeding women and children living in cars xx Speak love, Grow Free! Crowd Harvest: Spices for the Solstice Thank you to all the generous back yard gardeners who took spices to the refugee centres.  The foodbank was overjoyed to receive a box of home grown garlic!!! THANK YOU MELBOURNE!! SEEDS!! Do you have spare food seeds?  Folks flooded out in NSW are wanting to re establish their food gardens.  Any help would be gratefully received. Please send to: Nortec Volunteering  6 Main Street Murwillumbah  NSW 2484   Bless and Opa! Twitter: @Tiny_Trowel Blog: http://mylittletrowel.blogspot.com.au/ One of the reasons Tiny Trowel was founded: Regenerative Community!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t5mc44fEdw Based on the principals of European Village life, communities can see all in the locality sustain food security by growing a diversity of food in back yards, and sharing excess! Regenerative sustainability - teach a human to love the land, and humanity will eat forever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl0kJRTkReU CULTIVATING CONNECTIONS A PILOT PROJECT FUNDED BY THE CITY OF BOROONDARA IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ALAMEIN NEIGHBOURHOOD AND LEARNING CENTRE AND 3000 ACRES The project aims to connect older people with food gardens who can no longer care for the area, with food gardening volunteers.  Volunteers give time and energy to caring for the older person's garden in exchange for a share of the harvest, and a new friendship. The Green at St Columbs has closed. Sadly we all heard the news via social media. The cafe was a ministry empowering at risk and homeless youth with job ready skills and food gardening. The Hawthorn community will miss the people and the service. As will we at TT. Praying for all concerned, particularly the young people. Cultures who have based their food security on sharing abundance have thrived for thousands of years. Launch: Burnley Fruit Squad!! http://localfoodconnect.org.au/event/launch-of-the-burnley-fruit-squad/ The Burnley Fruit Squad will be launched on 13th August along with a workshop on fruit trees and harvesting. The squad will be a group of volunteers who harvest excess fruit from households in Burnley and share with the community. The project is supported by the Richmond Community Learning Centre, Richmond Community Garden Group and the City of Yarra. Its aims are: to reduce food wastage in Burnley; to enable skill sharing between householders and volunteers; and to foster social connections in the community. The Darebin Fruit Squad supported and consulted to assist with start up! Contact Martin if you wish to start a Fruit Squad in your locality. http://www.divrs.org.au/   To my delight, the concept of CROWD HARVEST is catching on! Two stories, where each contacted their own local NFP independently! Chokos: A co manager of the Ashwood College Permaculture Garden contacted a local NFP helping older folks with an offer of vegetables and Chokos.  They were overjoyed, as many of the older folk originate from Italy and lloooooovvvvee chokos! Tomatoes: Ceres took 16 boxes of Tomatoes to Lentil as Anything earlier this year. GOOOOO MELBOURNE!!!!!! FIVE FABULOUS WAYS!!! Constructs to harvest the abundance in Melbourne's back yards are now available. Groups and individuals can use any or all of the approaches individually or in partnership with groups and/or NFPs:  CULTIVATING CONNECTIONS   FRUIT SQUADS  CROWD HARVESTS GROW FREE CARTS FOOD SWAPS Establishing any or all of these approaches in communities will support a culture of sharing, develop sustainable food practices, and provide a buffer to Melbourne's community against adversity. On June 7, Tiny Trowel was the honoured recipient of a Whitehorse Council sustainability award!! . Pretty plant, certificate and a gift voucher from Organic Angels . Yeah!! It's so nice for the efforts around promoting sustainable practices towards food relief to be recognised. Sharing now with all you wonderful people who have gotten on board, shared the link and given excess food plant produce to people in need! Teach a person to garden (not fish), and they will eat forever! Thank you Whitehorse Council!  Good!!! Lord Mayor's Charitable Fund invests in public food gardens targeting those most in need. COSTA as patron!

Crowd Harvest: Winter Citrus Individual excess = Community abundance Lemon trees are heavy laden in the middle of winter. Nearly every home has a healthy citrus tree producing a bounty in the winter: Grapefruit, Limes, Cumquats, Oranges, Mandarins and Lemons. Citrus helps fight the winter colds and flu. Anyone growing produce in their own backyard inevitably produces excess - more than one family can consume. Winter brings a citrus bounty and gardeners are overwhelmed with fruit! Why not take some down to your local Food Relief provider and help those facing food insecurity and homelessness. Filthy Rich and Homeless on SBS has highlighted the plight of Melbourne's homeless. We can all lend a hand in providing a lift up. Donating excess home grown produce is a small but significant way to help make a real difference. #filthyrichhomeless Please help share the news by forwarding this email to a friend, or pressing 'like' and 'sharing' on Facebook. A Facebook Group "Tiny Trowellers" has been created. Please join the conversation at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1283951395005787/ ASRC Foodbank Level 1, 214 - 218 Nicholson St Footscray VIC 3011 Monday to Friday 10.00 am - 5.00 pm. https://www.asrc.org.au/  ASRC are happy to accept most home grown produce. Food seeds are welcomed! ASRC Foodbank 179 Lonsdale St, Dandenong Monday to Thursday 10am – 3pm. https://www.asrc.org.au/  ASRC are happy to accept most home grown produce. Food seeds are welcomed! STREAT 66 Cromwell Street, Collingwood, VIC 3066 Monday to Sunday 8.00am - 3.00pm www.streat.com.au  Copyright © 2017 Tiny Trowel, All rights reserved.

Light FM - Sunday June 25

Light FM aired a story around Tiny Trowel for In Conversation with Clayton this Sunday night between 7pm-9pm. 89.9 FM.http://lightmelbourne.com.au/  I encouraged anyone and everyone to grow their own food, and share their excess with those around them most in need. :-) Podcast of Tiny Trowel on Light FM - In Conversation with Clayton: http://lightfm.com.au/shows/in-conversation-with-clayton/cath-lyons-crowd-harvest/