4th Annual Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Conference,
Melbourne Victoria, March 20 - 25, 2007

Cities Feeding People- ‘grow it where you live!’ was the fourth annual conference of the Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network. This conference extended the scope of past gatherings to include Food Security, School Gardens and Seed Saving alongside the City Farms and Community Gardening key themes.

This pioneering conference ran over five days, with four days covering plenary sessions, discussion forums and workshops, and one day of tours for delegates. It was the first conference of its kind, designed specifically to incorporate the complimentary areas outlined above, and facilitate links between the Education, Environment, Health and Government sectors. The conference showcased many of the successful projects that already exist in Victoria as well as promoting discussion on projects from around Australia and worldwide.

Tuesday 20th March, School Gardens Day
Ben Neil: Cultivating Community’s Edible Classroom program
Ben is the CEO of Cultivating Community and has been involved with the organisation for almost 8 years. Ben outlines the Edible Classrooms program and highlights Cultivating Community view that diversity in school garden programs is to be celebrated.

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Sue Elliott: Creating connections with nature in the garden
Sue has worked in a variety of early childhood settings and lectured at the tertiary level in early childhood training courses. She shares a passion for environmental education and science education in her teaching. Currently, she is undertaking doctoral studies at the University of New England, lectures at RMIT University and is an active committee member of the Playground and Recreation Association of Victoria.

Download Presentation (pdf, 4.4MB)
[Audio available combined with Eric Bottomley, below]

Eric Bottomley: CERES Sustainable Schools - Grounds and Greenhouse
Eric Bottomley has taught geography, economics and environmental science in schools for 20 years, and was coordinator of CERES Education for 13 years before transferring in 2003 to his new role of Team Leader- CERES Sustainability Projects. He has concurrently been a sessional lecturer and tutor at the Graduate School of Environmental Science, Monash, and has twice worked on secondment at the University of PNG.

Download Audio for podcast (mp3, 25.1MB) [Eric Bottomley and Sue Elliot]
Download Audio for Windows Media Player (wma, 9.2MB) [Eric Bottomley and Sue Elliot]
Download Presentation (pdf, 31.6MB)

Jackie French: 'Grove Magic'
- how to create a small wilderness for kids that will enchant them, feed them, teach them, and inspire them... and survive tramping, climbing, droughts and complete neglect with no maintenance at all once it is established. (ps yes, it really does work)
Jackie French's gardening journey began with a wombat, who inspired her to look at the way plants fruit and survive naturally in Australia, without weeding, spraying and endless watering.
Since then she has written 130 books for kids and adults, been a presenter on Burke's Backyard for nearly a decade and a regular on ABC radio for more years than she feels like counting, and writes columns for Earthgarden and the Women's Weekly.

Download Audio for podcast (mp3, 31.5MB)
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Wednesday 21st March, Seed Savers’ Day

Michel & Jude Fanton
Jude and Michel Fanton founded the Seed Savers' Network in Byron Bay Australia, in 1986 to preserve the diversity of our cultural plants. Their activities include educational programs for the preservation of open-pollinated (non-hybrid) seeds and the genetic diversity of plant varieties, non-profit seed exchange programs, agricultural and horticultural programs with particular emphasis on the propagation of open-pollinated plant varieties, preservation gardens for open-pollinated plant varieties, seed banks for non-hybrid plant varieties, and scientific research relating to the above matters, either alone or in conjunction with a public university or other institution.

Download Audio for podcast (mp3, 19.8MB)
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Download Presentation (pdf, 10.9MB)

Jerry Coleby-Williams: Horticultural Reconciliation- how sustainable living can provide security for ordinary people.
Jerry Coleby-Williams is a botanical horticulturist, writer, director of the Seed Saver’s Foundation, executive member of the Queensland Conservation Council and ABC Gardening Australia presenter. Inspired by his family of gardeners and farmers Jerry has been gardening since the age of four.
Initially trained with the Royal Horticultural Society, some years later he emerged from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the world’s foremost botanic garden, qualified in management, horticultural estate management, soft landscape design, horticultural and botanical sciences.

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Download Presentation (pdf, 35.6MB)

Seed Saving Panel Discussion: 10.20am-10.45am

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Dr. Vandana Shiva
Dr. Vandana Shiva is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (often referred to as the alternative Nobel Peace Prize), physicist, ecologist, activist, editor, and author of many books. In India she has established Navdanya, a movement for biodiversity conservation and farmers' rights. She directs the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy. Her most recent books are Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge and Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply.

Download Audio for podcast (mp3, 20.0MB)
Download Audio for Windows Media Player (wma, 7.4MB)
Download Presentation (pdf, 25.9MB)

Thursday 22nd March, Food Security Day

Helena Norberg-Hodge: The importance of ‘Going Local’ & re-localising our food systems in light of serious ecological and social devastation worldwide.
Helena Norberg Hodge is the founder and director of the International Society for Ecology and Culture, a non-profit organisation concerned with the protection of both biological and cultural diversity, and education for action: moving beyond single issues to look at the more fundamental influences that shape our lives. ISEC runs programs on four continents aimed at strengthening ecological diversity and community, with a particular emphasis on local food and farming. Helena is a co-founder of the International Forum on Globalization an alliance of sixty leading activists, scholars, economists, researchers and writers formed to stimulate new thinking, joint activity and public education in response to economic globalisation.

Download Audio for podcast (mp3, 13.5MB)
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David Holmgren: Retrofitting the suburbs; how our suburbs can be sources of productivity, rather than just sinks for consumption.
David Holmgren is best known as the co-originator with Bill Mollison of the permaculture concept, following the publication of 'Permaculture One' in 1978. Since then he has written several more books, developed three properties using permaculture principles, conducted workshops and courses in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Japan and North America. Within the growing and international permaculture movement, David is respected for his commitment to presenting permaculture ideas through practical projects, and teaching by personal example that a sustainable lifestyle is a realistic, attractive and powerful alternative to dependent consumerism.

Download Audio for podcast (mp3, 18.5MB)
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Download Presentation (pdf, 2.6MB)

Dr Beverley Wood: Water and food are basic human rights. Whose responsibility?
Beverley has been participating in various aspects of food security since her participation in the Fitzroy Street Market, which Margaret Cox began from the Fitzroy Community Health Centre in 1990. She is currently the Food Security Project Officer with the Victorian Local Governance Association, and moderates the e-based Food Security network for them. This work is part of VicHealth’s commitment to encourage capacity building and the development of strategies by local governments to address systemic barriers to food security for all across Victoria.

Download Audio for podcast (mp3, 13.8MB)
Download Audio for Windows Media Player (wma, 5.1MB)
Download Presentation (pdf, 3.4MB)

Makaika Edwards
Malaika Edwards is a co-founder of The People's Grocery that features a converted postal truck -- powered by solar energy and bio-diesel fuel -- that serves as a mobile- grocery store. The organization brings affordable organic foods and produce to 10 West Oakland locations, including schools and senior centres. The store has 130 member households that receive a discount when purchasing People's Grocery products. There are 10 staff members, the majority of them young people, who focus on educating their peers about alternatives to fast food, proper nutrition and cooking skills.

Download Audio for podcast (mp3, 17.9MB)
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Friday 23rd March, City Farms & Community Gardens Day

Mick Marston: Community Gardens- A view from the UK
Mick Marston is a trained teacher and community worker, & has worked in the City Farming movement since the `70s, being employed at a City Farm in Newcastle. He is now the Regional Development Manager for Northern England. He is also developing the Federation’s work in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and is a Founding Member of the European Federation of City Farms. At a local level, he is Chair of the Regional Voluntary Sector and Board Member of the Regional Round Table for Sustainable Development. For the past 5 years, as well as working for the Federation, he has been working for the Soil Association (a UK Charity and Organic Certification body) working on their producer/consumer partnership programme, in particular Community Supported Agriculture, and as a founding member of URGENCI (International CSA body).

Download Audio for podcast (mp3, 18.9.5MB)
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Download Presentation (pdf, 1.3MB)

Dr Elaine Ingham: The soil food web
President of Soil Food Web, Inc., Corvallis, Oregon, USA; Affiliate Professor at the Southern Cross University in Australia, Elaine Ingham has taught and consulted worldwide on the soil food web, including in citrus groves in Florida, avocado groves in Australia and working with strawberry growers in the Salinas Valley, California. She has been able to reduce chemical use and increase yields by testing and evaluating the soil food web on individual farms and making adjustments by applying compost and compost tea. In 1996, she co-founded Soil Foodweb Inc., a commercial consulting business that analyses soil samples for farmers.

Download Audio for podcast (mp3, 20.4MB)
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Download Presentation (pdf, 5.9MB)

Community Gardens Discussion Panel: Veg Out, Garden of Eden and Ringwood Community Garden
Download Audio for podcast (mp3, 19.6MB)
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