Veg box insert 19 December 2019

When we all work so hard, one thing we rarely do it reflect on all we are achieving for our community and our environment. So before writing this letter I had a look through the archives to see what I wrote the week before Christmas last-year. This is a great way to gain some perspective. So much has happened in the last twelve months.

In my letter last year, I spoke about Kristin joining the team. Now it’s almost hard to remember the veg-box chaos that pre-dated Kristen’s complete transformation of the veg box experience.

Our senior farm hands, Eh Moo, Shay and Su have grown so much in their capacity this year and are now at a stage where they are helping to provide on-the job support for our new permanent staff such as Jaycob, Nathan and Olibire, as well as other causal staff.

We’ve opened our farm up to the public through farm tours and kids farm experiences, and it’s been so awesome to share our work with our community and see the enjoyment kids and adults get out of visiting the farm. This movement into the education space has been so significant that we have now employed Vanessa as an activity coordinator, to coordinate and grow these workshops and experiences into the future.

But the massive development this year has been re-vamping of our youth employment program to better suit the needs of young people in our community. It’s been so much fun (and yes, a little bit of chaos) working with young people to develop their capacity, overcome their barriers and move towards paid employment. It’s also been awesome seeing a positive exchange of skills, knowledge and experiences between and young staff and our staff from former refugee backgrounds.

Yes, it’s been a year we’re we’ve received allot of awards, and we’re really humbled by this recognition. But for us, the real awards are the personal growth we see in the people we work with, and the rehabilitation and flourishing of the land that we work with.

All these great things can only happen with the support of people like you, who have made a commitment to a fairer food system; one that is good for the people who grow the food, the people who eat the food, and the planet.

Thank you for your ongoing support, and we look forward to bringing you the best fair food in 2020!

Cal Champagne
Green Connect farm Manager