By Danielle Kutchel
Food carries with it associations with culture, family and home, and keeps communities connected – but if you want to grow your own, it can be hard to know where to start.
Health promotion charity Enliven is launching a new campaign that hopes to change that by removing the barriers that can prevent families from growing their own food.
Launching on Friday 27 November, Food From Home will support residents to get into edible gardening by providing growing guides, access to seeds and facilitating community social media groups dedicated to food gardening.
The campaign will run across the City of Casey, Greater Dandenong and Cardinia Shire.
Natalie Ward, health promotion and health literacy officer at Enliven, said the campaign launch followed a community survey that identified the barriers to growing that families face.
Many respondents pointed to the cost of seeds as being prohibitive.
Enliven has formed a partnership with Food for Change Foundation which has committed to provide 900 free packets of seeds for members of the community to take and use to grow food at home.
The seed packets will be available for collection at local libraries, including Casey Cardinia Libraries and Greater Dandenong Library, and residents can register via the Food From Home website.
Ms Ward said it was hoped the program would have a number of benefits for growers.
Whilst addressing food security and climate change adaptation, the campaign will also encourage healthy eating.
There will also be mental health benefits for gardeners, Ms Ward added, with people experiencing the satisfaction of producing their own crops, enjoying the outdoors and exercising through their gardening.
In fact, mental health was mentioned in the community insights survey by respondents as being one of the main reasons why they enjoyed gardening.
To get involved with Food from Home, and to register for free seeds, visit: http://foodfromhome.org/ or connect through on Facebook and Instagram @foodfromh0me
