Growing Abundance is a project of Castlemaine Community House which began in 2014 when a small group of passionate community members came together with a vision of a connected, efficient and accessible local food system. That vision has been tended over the past decade, and Growing Abundance to continues to develop and strengthen its efforts to reduce fruit and vegetable waste and increase access to local produce while simultaneously providing opportunities for the strengthening of community relationships through resource and skill-sharing.
Growing Abundance has several projects, the core of which are:
Harvest Program
The core of Growing Abundance, our Harvest Program is designed to help backyard gardeners harvest and distribute excess produce. We also glean from commercial orchards after their harvests have been completed, and forage from roadside trees and blackberry bushes. Our team of volunteers gather in backyards, roadsides and commercial orchards alike to harvest fruit and deliver the produce to community and food relief organisations. Our harvests are welcoming and warm opportunities for social connection, and a prime example of ‘many hands make light work’! For example, in March of 2024, we harvested over 1500 kilograms of Pink Lady Apples in just over 2 hours and shared a gorgeous morning tea while we were at it. Talk about abundance!
Our model for distribution of harvest is Fair Share, which means:
- 1/3 goes to the owners of the fruit trees (if they want it)
- 1/3 goes to the harvest volunteers
- 1/3 goes to community and food relief organisations
Food Pantries & Food Relief Network
Growing Abundance stocks and tends to 6 Food Pantries across Mount Alexander Shire. The food pantries are located at:
- Castlemaine Community House
- Castlemaine Safe Space
- Chewton Service Station
- Newstead Community Centre
- Maldon Neighbourhood Centre
- Harcourt Valley Community House
Growing Abundance also donates produce to community and food relief organisations, including:
- Castlemaine, Maldon and Newstead Community Lunches
- Salvation Army Food Relief
- Bendigo Foodshare
- Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services
Community Events and Seasonal Gatherings
Throughout the year, we offer several workshops and gatherings as opportunities for social connection, skill sharing and good fun!
These include:
- Our annual Community Apple Juicing Day, which brings people together for a fun day of pressing local apples into delicious juice to take home!
- Spring Seed Sowing with Castlemaine Seed Library and YIMBY compost, which provides a chance for anyone to come and sow their spring and summer crops for free using locally-harvested seed and locally-made compost.
- Seasonal gatherings with various topics of discussion, including caring for fruit trees over summer, managing a glut of produce, climate sensitive gardening, Queensland Fruit Fly awareness and prevention, and more!
Growing Abundance is always welcoming new volunteers and seeking to connect with different community organisations. To sign up as a volunteer, or to learn more about what we do, contact Harvest Coordinator Thea Lang via growingabundance@cch.org.au
