Real Men and Gardens (a slight return)



It's that time of year again and I found myself running another workshop at Riverton's Harvest Festival. I wore the T Shirt that can only be purchased through the South Coast Environment Centre, but is taking the country by storm (well, amongst the gardening community anyway).

After several years the Harvest Festival has become more than a novelty and attracts a sizable crowd of people for whom growing and producing their own food is an important part of their lives. When workshops on permaculture and bee keeping attract good numbers in a community the size of Riverton, you know there is a quiet revolution occurring.

When I first agreed to share my limited gardening experience in a workshop I was a little apprehensive but found the handful of middle aged ladies that attended were really interested and appreciative of anything I had to share. This year I had three times as many people turn up on a Sunday afternoon and  a third of them were under thirty. Few were novice gardeners and when we started sharing experiences I found myself learning heaps from them.

When young people start enthusiastically relating stories about prolific pumpkin plants that grew out of their compost it gives me faith in the potential resilience of the following generations.

My own mini pumpkin harvest from the previous year

THE RIVERTON HERITAGE HARVEST FESTIVAL


 A small selection of the many seed potatoes on display


 A sample from the Seed Savers collection

A small portion of the fifty different apples on display.

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