community gardens
Local government version 2.0: from managerialism to platform
August 1, 2012 | Russ Grayson
WHY IS THE iPHONE a model for local government and what does C3I and Citizen 2.0 have to do with it? That’s what we’re going to explore in this story as we investigate what are preliminary ideas for a new role for local government in Australia.
My work in local government—a few thoughts
August 1, 2012 | Russ Grayson
LOCAL GOVERNMENT—it’s the level of government closest to the people in Australia and it’s this situation that gives it its reputation. And that’s quite a variable reputation that spans the distance from appreciation to criticisms of excessive bureaucracy.
A next-to-last project: a new community garden for Woolloomooloo
August 1, 2012 | Russ Grayson
ONE OF MY FINAL PROJECTS before finishing my tour as the City of Sydney’s community garden coordinator was to get the Bourke Street Park Community Garden started in Wooloomooloo. This will be Woolloomooloo’s second community garden, the first one, in Sydney Place, now being in full use.
Social planning comes first in community garden design
August 1, 2012 | Russ Grayson
IT’S A COMMON BELIEF among people setting out to start a community garden that the first step is to find land, do a site analysis, do a design, build and start growing. Were it only so simple.
Day 2: Ripping time as gardeners create edible footpath garden
June 6, 2012 | Russ Grayson
This story was also on the website of the 3-Council Ecofootprint Program
Day 1: A ripping time as gardeners create edible footpath garden
June 6, 2012 | Russ Grayson
IT WAS A RIPPING TIMEon the footpath garden adjacent to Barrett house in Randwick as we ripped out an ornamental monoculture to make way for an edible polyculture.
Wet weather and hot soup at Sydney network MeetUP
June 5, 2012 | Russ Grayson
RAIN DID NOT DETER THEM as they came from Camden, Paddington, Randwick, Bundeena, the Willoughby community gardens and the Permaculture Interpretive Garden in Randwick.
A good experience that could be made better
June 1, 2012 | Russ Grayson
WHEN I STARTED with the council as an employee I had only three days with the role’s previous occupant to learn what it was I was supposed to do. This was far from adequate.
Something new and edible is coming to Woolloomooloo
March 24, 2012 | Russ Grayson
IT’S ALWAYS SOMETHING OF AN ADVENTURE working with a new community garden group on their first project. You never know what to expect—so it’s best to expect nothing at all and that way you will be pleasantly surprised when things go well.
Green Square Growers get going at The Tote
March 24, 2012 | Russ Grayson
THESE URBAN FOOD ENTHUSIASTS call themselves Green Square Growers, and they’re a new group living adjacent to the brownfields that will soon house an additional 20,000 people in what s going to be a major urban renewal. Some live in Victoria Park, a large cluster of medium density apartments that offers a foretaste of what will appear in Green Square.
