The Thousands

World food crises, oil crises, doesn’t it all make you want to live a more wholesome existence? I’d like to sow seeds, and then reap what I sow. Maybe bake a pie then cool it on something. But, city sills aren’t built for pie-cooling, and until there’s a great inner-west land grab, I’m short on soil. Thankfully, limitations have always been a breeding ground for creativity – just look at this guy.

Enter the no-dig garden. Its practice is not especially new, but, it has never been so relevant. The raised garden bed can be built lasagne style upon almost any surface by layering newspaper, mulch, straw and compost. The results is a fertile, low-maintenance plot and (fingers crossed) an organic harvest.**The Kitchen Garden Project at Carriageworks will host a series of free workshops on how to build such a garden along with worm farms, composting, seeds and germination. The launch features wise words from sustainability expert Michael Mobbs, Oz Harvest founder Ronni Kahn and permaculture designer Robyn Williamson. Following will be a screening of inspirational doco, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. If after all of that you’re feeling a little over-virtuous, there’s also a bar.