The Campbelltown Community Garden was started 10 years ago and is located behind the HJ Daley Library.
There is an established food forest, garden beds, and native garden. We receive support from the gardeners contributions, grant funding, selling of plants and support from the Library (Council) with land, water and a container to hold the tools.
We donate boxes of produce to a local food charity and we estimate over 30,000 hours of work (not including workshops)
We are faced with having to find a new location as the area will be redeveloped for a medical establishment.
First established by the then Library Manager through community consultation. The garden received funding from the Macarthur Food Security Project in 2012 and has gradually grown into the available space with the support from successive gardeners and includes a Food Forest, over 40 raised beds, and native garden.
We meet at the garden Mondays and Thursday mornings, with access through a locked carpark gate. After hours access is available for essential watering especially through the summer months.
Contact Garden Coordinator on 0413 755 517
Prior to Covid, the garden was running workshops to encourage people to do more gardening eg wicking bed, bug motel, etc The gardeners are also innovative with building garden beds using pallets and reclaimed materials. Recently we were approved to offer work for the dole to help support a member. The biggest success is the weekly boxes of produce that are given to a local charity for distribution. Members also take produce for their own needs. Everyone works together to achieve this success and builds on their strengths and experience.
The first challenge is that many of us are in the “older” age group. Lots of ideas and working together to achieve a good outcome. The greatest challenge is finding another location for the garden. We are currently seeking support from the local community to help us identify possible sites. We need water and access to amenities for the gardeners and would love to be in a location close to high rise as many people have no space to grow their own vegies. Once we find a new site, we hope to have a big blitz to start building the garden up again.