Feeding and educating the local community is what Green Thumb Farm is all about, with a Community Bank Samford grant for a compost brewer and large marquee enabling more people to dig into edible gardening.
Providing shade at the Saturday morning Farm Gate stall, the new marquee facilitates more of the community to buy farm-grown produce, seedlings, herbs to plant at home, and fresh flower bunches.
“Having sufficient shade was a key requirement for us to allow schools to start visiting the farm to learn about growing food, composting and worm farms. Since receiving the grant, we were able to start taking bookings from local schools and home-schooling groups,” Susanne Engelhard, Founder and Head of Operations at Green Thumb Farm said.
The new compost brewer allows the team to make their own compost tea extracts for the farm and includes a new skill to teach in their school education program.
As an educational community organisation practising regenerative organic small-scale farming, Green Thumb Farm is on a mission to help people of all ages and abilities feel empowered to make healthy food choices, value seasonal food, and grow confident in cultivating their own food.
“Feedback from the community has been amazing. Families with young children love visiting Green Thumb Farm because the parents can wander around the farm and feel inspired while the kids play in our Little Green Thumb area,” Susanne said.
“Receiving the support from Community Bank Samford is integral to our success at this early stage in our development as an organisation that exists for the benefit of the community.”
Alongside the popular weekend Farm Gate stall, the farm also operates a free community Little Green Thumb Program each Tuesday.
“We aren’t subsidised by the government, therefore our first challenge has been to raise enough money to pay for the running costs of the farm, as well as build the infrastructure to support our programs,” Susanne said.
“Currently our main source of fundraising is our Farm Gate stall every Saturday morning, which is helping toward the running costs, but we need larger grants and donations in order to set up our programs and make the farm operations sustainable into the future.”
“Our goal is to offer fresh, nutrient dense organic farm produce to the community, and the community has responded with such positivity.”
Green Thumb Farm aims to transition from a voluntary organisation to one providing local jobs, expanding the farm’s reach and sprouting an even greater community impact.
