A Farm in my Pocket

Sometimes there is no escaping your past and for me, I don't want to. I am a firm believer in how your past can positively shape your future, even those negative bits can be constructively used to better yourself and others.

As a kid, I grew up on a dairy farm, just outside Deloraine in Tasmania's north. To me, that farm was a wonderland, so much opportunity to run and be wild, to go on an adventure or get into misadventure. There was never a shortage of things to do and your imagination could take you anywhere.

Growing up on a farm also meant you grew up a bit quicker. The cycles of life, from birth to death, played out in front of you, giving a sense of how the world worked a bit earlier than those who lived in the suburbs and cities.

I wouldn't trade my country ties for anything, I never felt like I was missing out. But unfortunately much of the next generation are, the world has become a pretty fragmented place and we are constantly being disconnected from the natural world. The farms that used to be on the fringes of suburbia have fallen to development pressures and many farms are restricted to rural areas.

OK, I am getting a little deep and philosophical here but I do have a point, I promise. I think there is a lot of wonder in the world that our kids will seek out no matter how are lives are consumed with the rat race. I think it is very important that we show the next generation just how beneficial it is to have an interest in the world we live in.

There is a group of like minded people who have seen this disconnect and who are trying to fill this niche by developing urban agricultural systems into our cities. This collective is know as Pocket City Farm (PCF) and their motivation is to encourage and develop local, sustainable food production.

This brings me to the subject of my latest blog. In late April my two daughters and I took a tour of this urban farm at Camperdown, in Sydney's inner west. I thought it would be a great opportunity for my kids to see an agricultural system on the outskirts of the city.

Farming on the fringe - garden beds adjacent to apartment blocks

PCF is a not-for-profit organisation established in 2012 and run by a board of four skilled and highly motivated individuals from multi-disciplinary backgrounds including Emma Bowen (General  Manager) who has a background in urban sustainability and permaculture and Camperdown Farm Manager Michael 'Zag' Zagoridis who was formerly a graphic designer and has a background in regenerative farming and permaculture.

These ounding members saw the need for a re-establishment of farming systems close to where the majority of people lived. Now as many of you Sydneysiders will know, finding a patch of dirt anywhere near the CBD is a tricky and expensive proposition, but in June 2016 Pocket City Farms at Camperdown Commons opened, turning a former bowling green into a thriving, productive food garden.

The whole Camperdown Commons site, including the farm, sits on the former Camperdown Bowling Club site, which laid abandoned until April 2015, when PCF first broke ground. Located about 4kms west of Sydney's CBD, the 'Commons' is part of a community rejuvenation project that is an initiative of the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club, who were looking to invest gambling profit  back into local community projects.

The quarter of an acre farm shares the land with the RSL managed 'Common Spaces' which offer local residents, businesses and community groups space to showcase events and meetings. Also on the Commons is Acre, a restaurant and cafe which is a great spot for a coffee or a bite to eat (chances are you'll be sampling some of the seasonal, farm fresh produce grown by PCF) and allows visitors to get a good overview of the entire site.

Aside from Acre you can also purchase fresh produce from the farm at a stall at the entrance to the Commons (near The Container), via the PCF online store or you could attend one of the monthly 'Crop Swaps' and bring some of your own home grown goods to swap with others. Local businesses are getting behind the PCF movement - restaurant Pizza Madre and cafe Two Chaps both in Marackville, are using the farms produce in their seasonal menu's.

Nothing goes to waste - composting bays (in front of the greenhouse)
recycle green waste on site, which goes back into garden.

Wandering around the grounds, you will also come across many other interesting systems, for instance the ladies of the Commons, a group of chickens that have been rescued by NSW Hen Rescue from cage egg farms across the state and nursed back to health at PCF. The girls help with pest control and waste management by being fed scraps from the garden and restaurant. Their waste is then re-used in the gardens.

At the southern end of the garden, bordering the glass houses raising the next crop, are a row of boxes. These boxes play an important role within the garden, within these lay garden gold - compost! Much of the green waste from the garden and scraps from the restaurants and cafes they supply, comes back here and turned into garden food.

Make sure you stop by and say hello to the ladies

The Commons frontage (on Mallett St) has been purposely planted out with an 180m square food garden bed for those who walk by, an interface if you will, that encourages passers by to stop, hopefully enticing them to come in and have a bit more of a closer look around. Also on this street you will find a monument to another resident of the site, the Blue Banded Bee.

The farm also houses three native sting less bee hives, we were lucky enough to be able to witness a mating swarm during our tour (something new for all of us). The bees play an important role in the pollination of many of the plants on site (including a small orchard) and special garden beds have been created just for the bees to collect nectar from.

Busy as!

My PCF experience was very positive and my daughters had fun learning about all the things that happened on the farm, they even were interested in volunteering on the farm. A big thanks to Eliza Cannon, PCF's Community Coordinator for showing us around. If you are interested in joining a tour, learning about compost, volunteering to help on the farm or even learn how to carve a wooden spoon you can check out loads of great info here.

The Camperdown Commons project has created a wonderful community hub of education and opportunity for community engagement, where people can come and see how to close the 'farm to plate' gap. It gives communities and avenue to think sustainably in regards to how they utilise modern urban design, reducing waste and bringing back the notion of 'home grown'.