Jesuit Social Services’ Ecological Justice Hub in Brunswick is a fine example of the principles of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, where the call for environmental stewardship intertwines with a nurturing of humanity. Source: Melbourne Catholic.
Here, “care for the planet, care for the poor” is put into practice at the local community level.
It is an unusual setting for a garden, set on the basketball court of an old primary school. The raised garden beds sit right on the asphalt, but the constant digging-in of rich compost and mulching of the plants counteracts the harshness of the ground beneath. The greenery is cooling and emits a fresh, clean scent throughout the hub.
This is a teaching operation, it’s a place of demonstration, a place of social interaction.
Senior project adviser Mick McGarvie explains the hub’s approach, capturing both its purpose and its scale.
“Jesuit Social Services generally deals with addressing disadvantage in the community through social means, but it also wanted to find ways of addressing disadvantage through environmental or ecological means,” Mr McGarvie said.
“Several years ago, we established this operation to deal with ecological justice – that is lack of access, lack of knowledge, lack of understanding, lack of resources. So this is a teaching operation, it’s a place of demonstration, a place of social interaction. And it’s a place that recognises others performing social services as well.”
He describes the everyday rhythm of the work as revolving around the neighbourhood’s needs.
“‘For example, we grow food and harvest it seasonally and take it every Tuesday over to the Uniting Church, which has a kitchen that feeds rough sleepers and lonely people. They do like our fresh garden greens! They get a lot of variation through the year, but we’re able to supply them with one or two boxes of fresh garden greens each Tuesday.”
The bounty is the result of hard work and carefully planned cultivation.
Their compost is made on-site from carefully shredded green waste, coffee grounds, and sawdust from a local furniture maker. Seedlings are grown in the greenhouse before being transferred to the garden beds.
Neighbours drop off their food scraps, which are finely chopped with sawdust and then go either into the worm farm or into the biodigester that provides food for the mini biogas plant.
This biogas plant works by using bacteria in the food waste and water slurry to produce methane gas, which collects in a tough canvas bag.
At full expansion, it contains 60 litres of gas, which can last on a low flame for about eight hours – ideal for cooking a soup or casserole. The hub uses it to power a kettle for the volunteer gardeners.
FULL STORY
Eco Justice Hub lives the values of Laudato Si’ (Melbourne Catholic)
