The Women’s Community Garden is a 0.25 hectare communal site located within the Addison Road Community Centre grounds in Marrickville. The garden was conceived by several women from EcoGirls, a social group of vegan and vegetarian ecofeminist lesbians. Discussion among the group concluded that the garden should run as a separate collective. The garden incorporates ecofeminist principles; all food production is organic and vegan, involving no animal rearing or manures. The initial core group were vegan and vegetarian ecofeminist lesbians; however, the group realised their appeal to a niche may have been problematic for membership, and so extended membership eligibility to all women.
Plate 3.11. The Women’s Community Garden, Marrickville.
The site location was the result of a timely encounter between a gardener and the community centre coordinator 5. An annual lease was drawn up a few months ago for $100 per year; water is the responsibility of the group, who installed a water meter. This plus insurance represented substantial initial costs. Currently there is a core group of 4 or 5 very active women, with total membership at around 10. The gardeners are yet to agree on common gardening times; currently, most garden on the weekends. Plans are for a weekend and week night time.
Currently most newcomers find the garden through word of mouth or a link from the EcoGirls website to the garden’s website. Communication within the group is fairly ad hoc, using email, ‘snail’ mail and phones as required. The group is exploring the promotion possibilities, focussing so far on an interim flier, festivals and local newspapers. Group meetings are currently advertised on the ‘community noticeboard’ in The Inner Western Suburbs Courier, which ran a small article on the project. Future plans include concentration on Community Healthcare Centres, various Women’s Healthcare Centres, Centrelink offices, community centres, local media and the Addison Road newsletter.
The garden runs communally; initially, it was intended that all gardeners would be collective members. This was seen as potentially alienating to women who wanted to garden but not participate in meetings and decision making, so collective participation is now voluntary. It is being proposed that new members donate a tool.
The group wishes to make all women welcome, so aims to approach disability groups and promote the garden in numerous languages. The group is currently investigating connections with such groups. This is seen as an opportunity to engage with different cultures and foods.
What the garden means to participants
Members see the garden as an important women’s space, a site for transforming ecofeminist thought into action and "breaking the nexus between food and production". This nexus was cited as involving practices such as extensive, resource-intensive transport, monoculture farming and the development of genetically engineered organisms.
Issues identified by the garden group
As the garden is young, there were few issues mentioned. Perhaps the core issue is the drive to promote the garden. An initial concern had been three or so women’s inflexibility regarding the garden’s underlying principles; these women chose to leave and more flexible women joined. The garden’s structure and philosophies will be re-evaluated in 6 months’ time.
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