Product Description

Come and experience a fabulous day at Randwick Sustainability Hub with your fellow NSW community gardeners!

We will have speakers, workshops, lots of fun for the kids and a big lunch cook-up with the incredible executive chef, Michael Lewis from SALA restaurant for our community lunch. Michael will share his love of foraging, local ingredients and using the whole of our food – skins, seeds and all – and demonstrate some of his secret techniques with us all. Yum!

Learn all about the secret life of soils, insects in community gardens, community garden governance and more! Plus, enjoy a tour of the Sustainability Hub – an environmental and educational community hub that is the site of our activities for the day.

Bring along…

Morning and afternoon tea as well as lunch is included in the ticket.

Bring along some of your produce to share for lunch and then join in the food swap at the end of the day with all of the remaining goodies.

Please bring your:

• water bottle
• keep cup and
• bag for some goodies.

Also, remember you will be spending some time outdoors so dress appropriately for the weather and don’t forget your sun protection.

Everyone is welcome. Fully accessible.

Thanks to our sponsors for their generous support:

• WaterUps^® —  will be holding a workshop all about wicking beds
• Circular Economics — will have some innovative new ideas for you to consider about how to extend the life of common household consumables
• Randwick City Council — thanks for supporting this event
• PiP Magazine. — will have some exciting giveaways, membership deals and information for attendees.

Speakers

Meet our Speakers who will be part of the upcoming NSW Community Gardens Gathering at Randwick Sustainability Hub on Saturday 15th June.

Dr Tanya Latty is an entomologist (insect scientist) and Science communicator at the University of Sydney. She will be discussing the critical role insects and other invertebrates play in our environment and how gardeners can contribute to sustaining our planet’s ecological health by becoming citizen scientists and helping to preserve invertebrate biodiversity.

Her lab motto is ‘Making the world better with insects’. Her research focuses on developing sustainable pollination systems on farms, finding ways to create pollinator-friendly cities, sustainable insect management on farms and insect conservation. Insects are ‘The little things that run the world’ and Dr Latty believes strongly that the two goals of protecting insect conservation and improving human health and wellbeing can go hand in hand.

Insects and other invertebrates play critical roles in our environment. They are also mega-diverse, with a whopping 95% of animal species being invertebrates. Yet despite their vast diversity, these small yet vital creatures are often ignored in conservation efforts. In recent years, concerns have been raised about global declines in insect populations, including about the disappearance of once-common insects such as bogong moths and Christmas beetles. Community gardens can play a critical role in preserving invertebrate biodiversity, and gardeners can make a significant contribution by becoming community scientists. She will end by discussing how embracing invertebrate-friendly gardening practices in your own garden can contribute to sustaining our planet’s ecological health.

Kirsty Hambrook is a self-confessed soil nerd and a lover of the land. She is fascinated by the relationships between soil, microbes, plants, and animals (including humans)
and believes that optimum health only occurs when these relationships are working in unity.

Along with ten years of experience in mixed enterprise farming and community food activation, Kirsty has studied agroecology with Nicole Masters, microbiology and microscopy with Elaine Ingham, Holistic Management through the Savoury Institute, Permaculture Design with Milkwood Permaculture, and Regenerative Agriculture at SCU.

Kirsty has recently launched her new soil health coaching business – Flourish Agroecology offering clients across the country comprehensive soil health assessment and remediation services aligned with their business and personal goals.