Grow your own food

We identified 50 families that volunteered to kick start their own organic garden. We invited them to come in to our local Bunnings on a weekend in November and asked them to pick what they want to grow, they need to setup their Veggie patch and we paid for it. We gave them ideas on what they can grow in this season, how to prepare the soil and how to manage their veggie patch. The whole family got involved and it helped us to teach kids life skills that will help them lead a sustainable life. We encouraged them to start composting at their homes. This project was a huge success and we are planning to continue this project this year as well extend it to a further 100 Wyndham families. We will like to help them to start their organic backyard gardens and support them through ongoing guidance around managing their veggie patch and sharing ideas. We will like to encourage them build a strong network as a community by organizing regular meetings. We will invite experts to come into these meetings and share their expertise with these families.

Benefits of the project to the community

Minimizing Food waste – Organic and fresh produce helped our families that participated in the last year’s project to minimize their dependency on super markets for food. They consumed food from their gardens that were fresh and reduced the need to buy in bulk and store. Storing food for a week or for a fortnight results in food waste and we are hoping with 100 families we should be able to make an impact on food waste by reducing the need to store Vegetables and fruits. An indirect impact will be super markets and Vegetable shops selling less at their end which results in less transportation of Vegetables and fruits.

Composting – We are actively encouraging the families participating in this project to compost so we can use it as natural fertilizer for our organic veggie garden. Many families started doing it last year and this year we are hoping to have more families to start composting.

Re vegetation – When we built our homes we found that the local environment is heavily impacted due to removal of plants and trees during construction. Last year several families planted trees in their backyard which use to be just empty space. We are confident we can make a huge impact with the families re vegetating their backyards.

* Families will become more self reliant for their food needs.
* When the whole family got involved it helped us to teach kids life skills that will help them lead a sustainable life.
* It has helped improve the environment at their homes and encouraged people to be outdoor.
* They started to spend quality time with family which is also a bonus outcome.
* We are confident producing some of the food they consume and working in the garden helped to make a positive impact on people’s life and their health.

We are confident all the above will continue beyond the project end date. Once people have done it once and see the benefits of growing their own food they will be keen to continue with this as they see the benefits of Gardening. We have formed the “AIFI Backyard Garden Group” that regularly shares ideas, produce and seeds. It has become a small community in itself. The engagement within the community and participation helped us to create networking opportunities for our locals, help build relationships, make a positive impact in their life. We are very confident this will continue beyond the project end date.

Team AIFI will like to thank our sponsors Ridgewater Homes for their kind support to “Grow Your Own Food Program”. Your support will go a long way to help 100 Wyndham families to kick start their own backyard organic garden. With more than 30 years’ experience in the building industry, Company Directors Andrew Wilson and Gary Bhanot have combined their expertise to form Ridgewater Homes.

Please visit www.ridgewaterhomes.com.au for more information.