Wednesday 26 December 2007

My Best Ever Present


After a busy day preparing lunch and cleaning up I sat down last night to look at a book my son and his partner had given me. The title is Community Gardens written by Penny Woodward and Pam Vardy.
It is a Celebration of the people who participate in community gardens in Australia.
As the back cover says "let the people be your guides, their touching stories of the events that brought them from more than 20 countries to Australia".
The book contains many unusual edible plants and the homeland recipes of these extraordinary people.
Have you ever grown Orach or Perilla or Purple rice plant or Molokhia or Malabar spinach or Long-leafed coriander!
Community gardens in inner city areas give people a place to connect with others, a place to grow some vege's and their favorite herbs, a place to relax and connect with the joy of the soil and what it can grow for them.
As Peter Cundall says in the foreword " it proves beyond doubt that the most precious resources of any country are always the people and the soil".
Check out your local library if it does not have a copy ask them to order it in.

3 comments:

Chook said...

Hmmm - that sounds like a good pressie too! Here's a website I found for a Melbourne community garden. It sounds very arty and I'd like to visit it one day.

http://www.vegout.asn.au/

Maggie said...

Wow that looks great,I wish that had been there when we lived in Melbourne. We used to go to Ceres nearly every weekend .They have a web site, check them out
www.ceres.org.au I used to have a favourite rooster there, when I learn how to scan in photos I shall show you my rooster!

Maggie said...

If you love hearing stories you will love this book and the hints for gardening unusual plants and cooking them is also great. Three cheers for community gardens.