Mid Macquarie Landcare

Community Gardens in Wellington

Landcare brings Lifestyle Gardening to Maranatha House residents.

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The issue

Mid Macquarie Landcare had been planning a Community Garden space at the unused Scout block in Wellington for many years. 

The vision was to have a space where Maranatha House residents could come and garden with members of the community, and students from local schools, in an intergenerational hands-on community-building experience.

Unfortunately many road blocks along the way have prevented this from happening:

  • This type of activity requires appropriate facilities for the intended users (easily accessible beds, wheelchair friendly loo's close by etc).
  • Scouts Australia refused their approval to have this type of infrastructure installed on their land... and then the clincher....
  • They sold the land making the vision impossible.

The solution

Take the mountain to Mohammad!

Mid Macquarie Landcare partnered with Maranatha House to transform an unloved little courtyard in their aged care community into a communal green space for residents to learn, remember, socialise and get their hands dirty!

With donations from:

Maranatha House board, staff and residents to get the beds up and running;
Dubbo Regional Council green waste program (FOGO bins) for compost;
JR Richards & Sons for compost delivery;
Grassland Poultry for donations; and
Bunnings Australia for seedling donations.
With each monthly visit, our Landcare team was greeted by a crowd of friendly residents coming out to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, to watch the beds come together, begin to flourish and then be refreshed.

The impact

This has been such a heartwarming project to be involved with, month by month spending time with the residents and staff at Maranatha, sharing tips, techniques, recipes and memories.

A big basket of fresh veg has become a normal sight in the cafe, where residents can select a ripe tomato or a bunch of basil to take back to their rooms to enjoy. The kitchen has also been using the produce and residents are also cooking up a batch of tomato relish to enter at the upcoming Wellington Show!

6 months on since we first installed the Landcare garden beds at Maranatha House, we've just refreshed the beds ready for a harvest of winter veg. Now that the team have had a chance to learn and play in the beds, they feel equipped and empowered to keep this project going for the residents into the future.

"Best project ever watching the garden come to fruition. Such great feedback about our Landcare Garden, Its been a pleasure to have Landcare spend time and care with us. We've learned new gardening skills which we will cover in our discussion groups and the residents have been picking produce to taste test and share".

Lifestyle Manager. Linda Sarsfield.

Head over to our Project Page or Facebook page for photos and more information about this great community project.

Author: Danielle Littlewood

Key facts

  • Gardens are known to have positive mental health benefits
  • Interacting in the new Landcare gardens has been a great experience for the Maranatha House residents
  • The Lifestyle team are taking up the reins to ensure the communal garden space is maintained and functions for the benefit of residents.