A lush oasis in the heart of Newstead

                   Karly, Lewis, Mary and Joan enjoying the Newstead Community Garden

Newstead 2021 Inc. has scored nearly $5000 to create a unique project called The heART Garden project in the Newstead Community Garden, one of the only permaculture-designed, biodynamic community gardens in Australia.
The community garden had its genesis in 2008 and this project will bring contemporary art into the very centre of this beautiful and productive community space.
The funding will allow the community to work alongside artists in the design, creation and installation of a variety of practical and aesthetic pieces including tables and seating, arbours, notice boards, a sundial, a pizza oven and a sculptural central garden feature.
The funding was recently announced by the Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development, Local Government and the Arts, Simon Crean as part of $104,855 in funding through the Regional Arts Fund.
Newstead Community Garden spokeswoman Mary Park welcomed the $4960 funding for The heART Garden project.
"The aim is to involve local artists and to get them to join the community garden people and come up with ideas to introduce beautiful, functional artworks in the garden," Ms Park said. "We are hoping artists will come up with all sorts of crazy ideas!"
Ms Park said the focus would be on using recycled and local materials as much as possible for the artworks, which need to be finished by January 2012.
"Hopefully, at the end of it we will have at least one central focus project implemented and other projects costed and ready to go for the next round of funding."
Interested artists can send expressions of interest via email to ecologica@bigpond.com or phone Mary Park on 5476 2593.
In a separate grant, Newstead Community Garden also scored a $3000 community grant from Mount Alexander Shire Council to design and construct outdoor furniture (hopefully a pizza oven) for the garden.
Ms Park said the garden, which is located behind Newstead's All Saints Anglican Church, was officially launched in May, 2010.
"We lease the land off the church and they have been absolutely brilliant and so supportive of the garden - they waived the lease fee for the first two years to allow us to get established."
She said the garden celebrated its first birthday recently with a cake and a shared lunch, created from produce in the garden.
A stroll around the garden reveals it is divided into four quadrants, each with two keyhole shapes, and when you step back you can see the whole garden has been designed in a classic mandala shape. It has 15 large plots, some shared, and about 45 keen green thumbs, including children, involved in digging, planting and harvesting a variety of crops each season.
"We have people of all ages and occupations involved in the garden - there are couples with young families, older, single people, blokes, farmers and a lot of newcomers to town find it's a great way to meet people."
They grow everything from strawberries, artichokes and garlic to potatoes, asparagus, beans, pumpkins, salad vegetables and sunflowers.
"We also have a lot of fruit trees - apples, pears, quinces, nectarines to name a few. And a lot of the fruit and vegetables are heritage varieties so we collect our own seed for future planting."
The garden has been blessed with a huge amount of rainfall in the past year and the crops have been booming.
"In summer, it was a lush oasis - full of colourful fruit and vegetables - it was just beautiful."
So what happens to all the produce? Well most of the gardeners use it themselves or give any excess to family and friends.
There is also the monthly Produce Exchange table held under the verandah of the Red Store in the main street of Newstead on the first Saturday of the month at 10.30am. People just bring along whatever they have grown, collected or made at home - everything from vegies to eggs, flowers, preserves and so on.
"The idea is they just put it on the table and some people throw in a donation towards the garden. It's great for people who have an abundance of fruit or vegies they can't use ... at least they know it will be put to good use. It's also quite a social exchange and there is a quite a buzz when the exchange is in full swing."
For further details about the Newstead Community Garden visit http://newsteadgarden.wordpress.com/