It’s Anti-Poverty Week this week and I’ll be joining the stage at the Ending Poverty and Inequality in QLD Public Forum at The Edge Auditorium in Southbank, Brisbane on Tuesday 17th October.  

I am part of a panel and my role is to explore how permaculture and simple living can help improve the quality of life for those living in poverty. My co-panellists are young indigenous leaders who themselves are struggling to raise their children in poverty.  I am honoured to be invited to share the stage with them, and I’m also looking forward to hearing from The Australia Institute’s Richard Denniss. The event will be live-streamed to a number of regional forums too.

Perhaps there are other ways you can support those living in poverty this week – check out the Anti-poverty Week website to find out ways to help http://www.antipovertyweek.org.au/

Did you know that 1 in 6 children in Australia live in poverty? Or that 1 billion children worldwide live in poverty?  Nearly half the world’s population live on less than $2.50/day. In Australia, poverty in indigenous communities is much higher than average, and also for women and single parents. 

Poverty is increasing. So is the gap between the rich and poor.  Hunger and lack of access to good food is a real issue for so many people every day.  Without proper nourishment it is impossible to learn well, to feel well, to think well, to grow well, to work well.

All people have the right to real food (not just a certain amount of calories), yet many solutions have been missing the mark in terms of enabling people to access and grow fresh healthy food – growing food for young bodies and minds. 

Community food projects are a real solution – community farms, community food forests, community gardens, community kitchens, community seed banks, tool banks and more. 

Community food projects so much more than the food.  They are places where people learn together, grow together, share resources, build connection to community and place, and grow a culture of resilience and sustainability, to rebuild lives.

Plant one sweet potato – eat the leaves all through the warm seasons, then harvest the roots for winter. The leaves are more nutritious than the roots!

I look forward to learning much tomorrow and finding out more how permaculture can support those living in poverty in my local region, and beyond. 

I’ll let you know how it all goes.

If you have a story about how you’ve seen or experienced permaculture helping to address poverty, please do share.

Perennial foods are easy to grow and provide an abundance of food and home grown mulch too.

There are so many perennial greens that are super easy to grow here and are always ready for picking. This is Okinawan spinach.

Self-seeding abundance – eat it all – leaves, shoots, florettes, flowers, young seed pods, seeds.

Don’t just wait for the beans, eat broad bean leaves too!

A wonderful filler – a perennial hardy potato alterative. Qld Arrowroot/edible canna

Grow your own medicine, skin cream and hair conditioner.

A small space can grow so much food – keep trimming and it keeps growing. Try perennials for a different way of gardening that just keeps providing.

Create a food forest with a diversity of different fruits and crops for all year,

Everyday, a permaculture garden can be the source of healthy fresh food, with very little effort.