Growing Abundance is hosting an event on Saturday to celebrate its 2024 program ‘A Year of Abundance’.
The last event in the year for Growing Abundance, it is also the final event of the organisation in its current form, as the current committee prepares for the program to become part of the suite of activities offered by Castlemaine Community House.
For the past 15 years, The Growing Abundance Project has brought people in Mount Alexander Shire together to build a sustainable local food system by harvesting fruit from backyard trees and sharing the bounty with both volunteers and the wider community.
“We would love any volunteers, supporters, and the wider community to join us for a meal, some music and some memory sharing as we toast the legacy of the Growing Abundance Project,” said Grace Nicol, chairperson, Growing Abundance Committee of Management.
Some of the achievements of the ‘Year of Abundance’ include: Holding seven harvest events throughout the harvest season, harvesting and distributing around 4375 kg of fruit, and donating food to local organizations including; Castlemaine Community House for the Foodlinks Program, Castlemaine, Maldon and Newstead Community Lunches, Castlemaine Salvation Army food outreach, Bendigo Foodshare and Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services.
Growing Abundance built stronger connections and offered a range of events in partnership with other local organisations such as Castlemaine Community house, Yimby, the Castlemaine Seed Library, the Harcourt Growers Co-op and the Newstead Community Gardens.
This year they engaged 37 volunteers who contributed 153 hours harvesting in our community.
Growing Abundance ran a community apple juicing workshop, which made an abundance of freshly pressed juice for themselves and for distribution to the community, and they continued to build on their local fruit tree register from backyard trees to commercial orchards.
The group delivered a ‘Seed Sowing Day’ for the community, the ‘Being Prepared for Fruit Fly’ education session for local gardeners and growers.
Celebrating a Year of Abundance will be held from 6 – 8pm on Saturday November 30 at the Castlemaine Community House, Community Garden, rear of 30 Templeton Street.
The event is catered but please RSVP for an indication of numbers: events.humanitix.com/year-of-abundance-celebration
