A SOCIAL enterprise is striving to address food insecurity in the northern suburbs of Geelong, Victoria by improving access to affordable, sustainable, fresh and healthy food.
With a 2 hectare (5 acre) market garden, 2&5 Inc has all bases covered including a fresh food shop and café, along with making and wholesaling a range of jams and chutneys from local seasonal produce.
Corio and Norlane are seen as areas of socio-economic disadvantage and the need for establishing the 2&5 Inc shop was to fill a need, as apart from the Corio Shopping Centre and one other outlet, there were no other fruit and vegetable shops in the area.
Norlane has a higher than average incidence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and mental health issues, so by having an easily accessible place stocking readily available seasonal produce as fresh as you’ll get, and within walking distance for most of Norlane is of particular benefit for those locals who are elderly, may not drive or are not able to carry heavy shopping long distances.
2&5 Inc has created a place where locals can meet to buy, eat and discuss food along with learning new skills for cooking and growing produce.
The shop and cafe sells fruit and vegetables, milk, free-range eggs, has an all-day breakfast menu as well as lunchtime pies, quiche, roasts, salads, cakes and coffee all made from scratch on-site.
2&5 Inc general manager, Chantal Chauvet-Allen, said the shop takes some of the fresh produce which is certified organic through NASAA.
“We also supply the wholesale market in Melbourne and some local outlets, plus we are also looking at selling more of our produce locally rather than it going down the road to Melbourne,” she said.
“It makes sense to cut down on the food miles otherwise people are buying produce that has travelled to the market and come back again.
“We’re sourcing more local specialty shops, restaurants and caterers within the region that would like to buy our produce directly as it’s much better for the local economy.”
The shop and café were set up four years ago and it was a no brainer to establish the market garden.
The Geelong Grammar School had some vacant farmland so after taking the idea to the school, two years later they got a licence to grow here on the 2.75ha block.
The current growing area of 2ha is producing high yield, high profit crops such as cauliflowers, broccoli, lots of leafy greens, broad beans, pumpkins, salad mix, sweet corn, beans and more.
“There is no frost here so we can grow through winter but we don’t grow carrots, potatoes, onions or garlic. We grow our own seedlings, sow direct or get some from Boomaroo Nursery at Lara,” Chantal said.
“Cauliflowers, kale and broccoli are really good sellers and we’ve got a lot of beetroot and silverbeet as well.
“We are planting more leafy greens as we can’t meet the demand for them, also radishes are really popular, and anything on Masterchef.
“For the summer we’re planning about a half an acre of corn, lots of radishes, capsicum and the like, all the things to make a nice salad.”
The size of the farm has tripled this year and it is hoped to expand further next year however the program does not receive any grants.
“We have the Gordon Tafe Horticulture Certificate manager and some of their lecturers bringing some of their classes here to conduct classes in field experience and in return they help us with some weeding and advice so it’s good to have the local TAFE involved,” Chantal said.
“We also run a Work for the Dole program and many participants have gone on to find work or further education.
“At the shop and café we employ a part-time cook Jessica, and Sue who is the administration manager.
“Everyone else is either a volunteer or on a work for the dole program we have in conjunction with a couple of local employment agencies.
“We are also starting a new lunch program with the school in second part of the year.
“We transform the market garden produce into fresh and tasty lunchtime fare with most dishes being between $6-8 and we also supplement our vegetables with other fruit and vegetables sourced from a supplier to give our customers a broader range of dishes.
“We also have a community pantry where we give bread and fresh produce that we receive from donations.
“If we have surplus from our own crops we will give that to customers from time to time but we don’t sell our fresh produce through the store anymore.
“We are looking at doing some take-home meals for families and individuals, healthy options rather than the fast food options.”
- Visit: www.twoandfive.org.au
