Community thrives once again

By Artemis Pattichi It’s been such a joy to feel a sense of community again, as our group meetups started once again last month! We loved seeing faces familiar and new, catching up or getting to know new neighbours over coffee before we went on to do some gardening. We also really loved welcoming Wildlife for Gardens who told us more about the significance of nature, indigenous plants in urban environments like ours (through balcony gardening or community gardens), then did a plants audit at our Boyd Community Garden for native plants that would help the local insect and bird biodiversity survive and thrive. Coming up Our next meetup is on Saturday, December 18 at 10am, where we will garden for an hour and then enjoy a year wrap-up lunch together. Please register your spot through Eventbrite (email us or check our Facebook page for the link). We will be back on Saturday, January 15 for our first 2022 meetup and every fortnight after that, but we may also have an unofficial gardening day on Saturday, January 8. Contact us if you’re interested in joining. Educational events We are so very excited to have educational events open to the community again! While we do love our gardening, our main mission is to help spread environmental solutions across Southbank (and beyond) while building a community. Therefore, we are so happy we can start hosting educational events that cover a wider range of fun solutions that improve our environmental footprint, like a wine tasting with the very sustainable, carbon-neutral ReWine, a DIY beauty products workshop, a balcony native gardening workshop, composting, etc. Let’s start with the wine tasting, happening mid-December (check our Facebook page for details)! We figured, since it’s holiday time and summer, what better time to help connect Southbankers to a very sustainable wine solution for all those dinner parties, movie nights or barbecues, with a wine bottle you can refill right here in Southbank very soon. You may recognise ReWine from its Queen Victoria Market stall (the one with all the wine barrels next to the vegetables section). This family-run, carbon-neutral business, has a strong conscience of leaving the planet in a better state than now. It supports local winemakers, who are also doing right by the environment, and it’s the only wine retailer in Melbourne that supports returning wine bottles for refilling (whether it’s for the same or a different wine). A bulk wine store so to speak. It’s soon launching a CBD store that will be open daily, and a specially fitted van with wine barrels will be stopping by Southbank regularly for wine refills. Marshall, who started and runs the business after a 30-year career in the wine industry, will be telling us more about what makes a sustainable wine, environmental challenges in the industry, solutions like ReWine, while we taste different wines! Available volunteering We always welcome watering volunteers, so please email us if you have an hour to spare here and there and would like to give a hand to keep our community garden healthy and well. We also have an opening for an “Educational Events Champion” to help lead the fun educational events we have coming up. They will be receiving plenty of support and help with the organising and implementation of events. There’s always many helping hands in our group and all interest is welcomed. Please email us if you’re interested to volunteer. This is also a last call for anyone interested in volunteering for the composting hub team, welcoming anyone who hasn’t had the opportunity to do so yet. Please send us an email with your interest. There are many ways to get involved and use your skills or experience, from organising the project, Excel workbooks work, actual composting, communications, and everything in between. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for upcoming once-off opportunities to volunteer, as we always welcome volunteers for educational events either behind the scenes or on the day and we always make sure we have fun and build a sense of community in the process. We wish everyone a very happy summer and holiday period! We hope to see you soon. About the group A solutions-focused group of Southbankers working to bring positive change in sustainability practices and education to our neighbourhood, while building a wonderful community. Free to join. 2019 Environment Melbourne Award and KVB 2020 Sustainable Cities Environment Award winner. Reach us at [email protected] or facebook.com/SouthbankSustainabilityGroup •