LOCAL FOOD



Inspiring the growing, eating and valuing of locally produce / own-grown food.

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​Why does it matter?

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Food can take a lot of energy and other resources to produce and transport, and create a lot of pollution and greenhouse gas.

In some communities there are lots of places to buy unhealthy fast foods, but hardly anywhere to buy healthy, fresh produce. These communities are often poor, so it can hard for people in these areas to stay healthy and take care of their families the way they'd like to.

If all our food food comes to us from a long way away, what happens when the cost of fuel used to transport food goes up or fuel becomes harder to get? Where will we get our food?

Farmers and other producers often don't get fair prices for what they produce. How can we help? What difference can local food make?





Grow your own

Growing some of our own food can help us all to look after ourselves, our families and our communities, even when money is scarce.

Food grown at home, in community gardens, or on small farms near where we live, using less oil and other resources, helps us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and resource use. Growing food near where we live helps us build resilient communities that aren't so affected by economic downturns, fuel and resource shortages, emergencies and other challenges, and are able to take care of themselves.

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                             for a national network of WA Local Food enterprises
                            see... COMMUNITY GARDENS WA​

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Local Producers

By buying our food from local producers, we can help keep our local economies strong, support local farmers and encourage and work with them to take care of the environment and build stronger, more connected communities.









                            for a national network of Local Food enterprises

                            see... COMMUNITY HARVEST​

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​IDEAS FROM KWOORABUP DENMARK LOCAL FOOD



Harvesting the collective genius of the community



· Ask Shire to provide a portion of all parkland in developments for use as allotment gardens for grocery food;
· Herbs grown in town/Shire gardens – edible produce;
· Eat less;
· Let's go slow food;
· Local produce only in shops – soon locals will fill gaps;
· Local currency emphasis on local food economy (+ L.E.T.s);
· Garden Sharing – seed savers networks;
· Food trees planted by council;
· No petunias in town – only plants that don't need water;
· Encourage people with large gardens that they are not cultivating to let “people” grow vegetables/fruit on it

                                        – these “people” possibly being employed under some scheme;
· Invite people to be on groups that organize vegie garden blitzes in peoples gardens – i.e set up beds, net fruit trees etc;
· Invite people to donate food they grow to a co-op, don't let it rot on trees or in the ground;
· Re-introduce local food market;
· Learn more about local bush tucker;
· Organic food;
· (Sketch: Community food gardens in front of Shire offices);
· Rest of the community garden (around hospital) – Fruit and Vege gardens – some communal, some rented plots.

                                           – Fruit and Nut trees need to be netted to protect from birds;
· Re-introduce weekly donation supper;
· Food trays – get shops to use (Denmark) re-cycle trays;
· Plastic bags – get shops to STOP or CHARGE;
· Council encouraged to give a few good community motivators, eg. Gardens, food presentations, to organize the use of land;
· Teaching children – compulsory teaching permaculture at Denmark Schools;
· Use fraction of golf course membership fees to fund establishment of permaculture food production

                                         @ the 5 hectare zone in a proposed plot(s) near the roadside approaches to the town centre;
· Turn community park into a food garden – allocate plots;
· Run workshops on food preservation, conserving, cooking, dehydration.
· Create weekly farmers markets.

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"Food for Thought"

Here is the link for TKD's ~30 minute local food movie "Food for Thought":

The movie is on YouTube in eight chapters - or you can purchase or borrow a copy from the Denmark Environment Centre

(08) 98481644 denviron@denviron.org.au.  Please  send the "Food for Thought" YouTube link to anyone you think might like it!