Tucked away on school grounds south of Brisbane, food is being grown in vegetable patches for not only the students, but needy families in surrounding suburbs.
Rows and rows of fruit and vegetables at Loganlea State High School are waiting to be picked by volunteers and delivered to charities in the community.
The gardens share the grounds with 16 chooks, eight ducks, a couple of cheeky geese, and 30 head of cattle which roam over 28 hectares.
The school is one of a handful of locations that are linking up with the Mini-Farm Project, which aims to “grow your own, feed your own” to help families in need.
Project founder Nick Steiner came up with the idea after watching farming and cooking shows such as River Cottage and Gardening Australia.
“I wanted to do something gardening-wise, and something different from my hospitality job, and I knew I wanted to create a charity that actually grew vegetables and got it straight to the community,” Mr Steiner said.
He said nearly one in five Australian homes were going hungry due to food shortages.
“Our proposition is to grow all the food from fruit, vegetables, eggs, bush food and honey then give it every week to a charity partner for free,” he said.
Feeding families
Each acre of the farm can produce up to about 40,000 meals for the community each year.
The group works with charities that turn fresh farm produce into meals.
It aims to keep produce fresh and high quality, with everything harvested on the day that the charity needs it.
“We have our weekly harvest day and the students and volunteers pick and pack the produce and the charity arrives by 11:30 and picks everything up and distributes it,” Mr Steiner said.
The community spirit on the mini farm extends further than the volunteers too, with locals also sponsoring their very own garden bed.
“We put a plaque on the garden bed and share updates on the patch on social media so they can share the progress and show others that they’re actually growing food for people in their own community that need it,” Mr Steiner said.
“We have 40 beds at the moment and 38 of them are sponsored by the Logan community.”
From little things, big things grow
Being able to use grounds at Loganlea State High School has taught the students how to feed their own community and give back.
“Having this link with the school enables us to create strong ties with the community and provide learning programs as part of their curriculum as well — it’s a win, win,” Mr Steiner said.
Loganlea State High School agricultural manager James Lye said students were flocking to help.
“The kids realise how lucky they are to have what they have here,” Mr Lye said.
“This land … allows us to have such a variety of produce and animals that many other schools don’t, and the kids definitely enjoy it.”
The former industrial designer and electrician said he hadn’t looked back since making a career change to run the farm.
“I guess the world works in strange ways and I’m so happy to be here,” he said.
“It’s a lovely place to spend my time and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t learn something new.”
Listen to the latest episode of Make Me Feel Good to hear more about the mini farm and discover other feel good stories.
