New initiative is helping to build a community of growers

Central Coast Council has partnered with Grow It Local, a new community initiative that is on a mission to get more people growing, sharing and eating locally grown food.

With Grow it Local, you can see who and what is growing locally, connect and share with local growers and food lovers, find unused space for growing and get inspired.

If you have a patch or garden, you can register it on the map and share your progress.

Whether it is a backyard veggie patch, a windowsill patch or something in between, by getting involved and sharing updates on your produce, you are helping build a community of growers across the Central Coast.

Even if you do not have a patch, you can still sign up to find out about local produce swaps or food experiences and watch online seminars and workshops on everything from pickling to growing giant vegetables.

It is all about building local food systems, building community and reducing food waste going to landfill.

Grow it local is a grassroots initiative that started in 2012 in Bondi as a crowd farming project where local growers were invited to put their patch on the map and donate some home grown produce in exchange to a growers’ feast at Three Blue Ducks in Bronte.

Currently there are 10,117 members with 2,744 across 800,544 square metres of registered patches growing all types of produce, offsetting 5.6 tons of food waste per week across Australia.

The crew behind Grow It Local are also responsible for Garage Sale Trail.

Harry Mulholland