Box Hill Institute, a training ground for Melbourne’s premier chefs, has set up a training workplace this year which explores food in a whole different light – food production. With interesting new ways of training come excellent opportunities to learn and expand knowledge bases. Box Hill Institute is giving job seekers the opportunity to do so through this innovative program. The Institute is currently looking for interested job seekers to join this innovative training program commencing in June.
The Institute, with the support of Manningham City Council, opened the ‘Our Patch’ sustainable fruit and vegetable garden in Wetherby Road, Doncaster this week.
This Australian Government funded initiative is run by a dedicated gardener and will be staffed by a wide range of job seekers interested in starting careers in gardening, horticulture and the hospitality industry – an industry which is increasingly interested in consumer taste preferences for organic and local food.
‘Our Patch’ Gardener Jeni Foster said “the Our Patch project shows ways in which we can model sustainability in a production garden. Our garden has been created whilst teaching our trainees permaculture and techniques to maximise urban growing space – such as vertical gardening.”
“The Institute’s new training facilities in Doncaster demonstrate a new take on sustainable design. We have reduced the environmental impact of the garden by using recycled materials throughout the garden space. We have converted Royal Wolf shipping containers into our training rooms and will insulate them naturally through vertical gardening. We are also using recycled train sleepers and eco-wood plastics throughout the site to help keep our carbon footprint low,” said Ms Foster.
The garden will focus on producing heritage varietals of fruit, vegetables and herbs grown using organic techniques and providing compost solutions for organic waste.
“We also plan to soften our environmental footprint by selling our produce and seedlings within a 25 kilometre radius of the garden,” says Ms Foster.
For more information about training at ‘Our Patch’, please contact:
Kristen Dearricott on 03 9286 9173 or email k.dearricott@boxhill.edu.au
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