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Hi guys. Can I ask you if you've ever grown anything, any food, yourself?
I have, all the time at home
Oh yeah?
Yeah, like what?
I grow tomatoes and lemons and limes and all kinds of herbs at home.
Okay.
Lemons, cumquats, and recently apples and guavas.
Umm, I grow carrots.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah.
What about you?
Tomatoes.
I donít really like vegetables, so..
We grow lemongrass, sugar cane ...
Watermelons, when I was a little girl.
None, none whatsoever.
Why not?
Because if I did it wouldnít taste very nice.
Do you think food would taste better if you grew it yourself?
No, because then youíd have to cook it.
Clean it, get it out of the garden.
Itíd be hard work. No way.
Okay, so some people love growing their own and some ...
well, not everybodyís got a green thumb.
But Faye is about to meet some people who are absolutely passionate about it.
Faye is from the Republic of Fiji Islands.
She grew up in Suva City.
Sheís the eldest of four children and now lives in Melbourne with her family.
When Faye was growing up her mum worked as a flight attendant and her dad was a seafarer.
So we werenít ... we didnít have the most traditional family set up
where weíd have parents at home in the morning and in the evening and in the weekends.
And so I grew up with my grandmother on a university campus and I really miss that place
because I actually got to graduate from that university.
A typical day for me would be waking up in the morning,
helping my siblings gather their stuff together and get ready for school.
Drop them off in the morning, come back, do a bit of housework.
Iíve actually stopped work for a while and chosen to be in the house helping my parents
out while weíre here in Melbourne.
After Iíll stay here and hope to pick up career-wise
when we do go back to Fiji, or weíll see what opens up here in Australia.
At the moment Iím at a community garden.
Iím looking forward to seeing what they grow in there and also how they look after it.
Hello.
How are you?
Good thank you.
Iím Faye and what is your name?
Iím Charles.
Charles. Pleasure to meet you Charles. Hello.
Hi, Iím Brian.
Pleased to meet you Brian.
Youíve come to help us have you?
I have and Iím curious to know what everyoneís doing here so early in the morning.
Oh, well, itís our watering day you see. Weíre on water restrictions.
Right.
So we get two days a week for two hours where we can water.
Okay.
So thatís why there are so many people here.
Yeah.
The manure wonít hurt you.
Okay.
Thatís the horse manure.
Youíre doing a good job Faye.
Thank you Charles.
You can come any time.
Thatís horse manure there.
Itís funny, usually you walk away from it.
Today weíre walking in it.
Gently pull, straight up.
Ahh!
Thereís some potatoes.
Some potatoes. Oh my goodness.
Oh, this is exciting. Iíve never harvested potatoes before.
Thatís excellent. Itís nice to know where what youíre eating comes from.
Thereís a lot of things happening, even in one plot.
So far Iíve learned that the the community garden is where different families can hire
a plot through the year and itís ten metres I think,
by three metres and itís a good sized plot to grow anything they want in it.
It is a good way to get back in touch with nature and grow produce,
especially in the city where there isnít much space to do that.
So itís nice that this is sort of out of the way out of the residential areas and a
place where you can come and enjoy a bit of gardening.
Now, weíre laying these bricks to stop the grass encroaching on the garden beds here.
Right.
And weíre just putting down the mower strip.
Right.
And whatís this tool called?
Mattock. Thatís a mattock.
Thatís a mattock?
It looks like something out of a horror film.
It certainly does.
And you trust me with that Brian?
Yes.
Yeah?
You want to take over now?
Iíd love to, and just sort of slide it under the grass?
Thatís it, yeah.
Not too deep though.
Not too deep.
Excellent.
Okay, and voila. And we continue.
Since I arrived this morning Iíve learned that thereís a lot more work than I sort
of expected, put into the community garden.
Iíve helped be a part of the upkeep in a sense where we actually laid bricks and it
was very tiring
but it does the job of separating all the weeds from all the good stuff.
Definitely good to keep you fit as well I reckon.
Iíve never mowed a lawn before so this is my first, yeah, quite exciting.
I usually have the males in the family do that but now I know I can too.
And ah, yeah and itís nice to know that itís helped out in a way at the gardens today.
Hi there.
Hello.
How are you today?
Good, good thanks.
Thatís good. Iím Faye.
Iím Sri.
Oh, youíre doing something there.
Pleasure to meet you Sri.
What are you growing? What are you doing?
Well, these are chillies
And yeah, Iíve been growing them for a while now but
yes, some of them are a pretty decent size. Some of them arenít.
Yes, yes.
This particular one this is about ready when you pick ëem.
If you let ëem any beyond this they just go red.
Oh excellent. So why do you like gardening I guess?
Well, itís just something that I did and I can't give up now because I put too much
effort into it.
Thatís true. Itís quite an investment.
If I give it up then Iíll lose all the stuff I put in the soil.
So Sri, why did you choose Australia?
Well, my parents migrated here back in 2003.
Oh, okay.
I was about fourteen, fifteen.
Wow, so you've been here awhile.
Yeah, yeah. Since then Iíve been here.
Oh okay. Iíve only been here two years so Iím still learning a lot.
Nice place to be, Melbourne.
It is, it is.
Yeah.
And itís nice to know that you can have a garden here and..
Oh yes, and despite the drought even.
Exactly.
Despite the drought even.
So is there anything in this place we could eat?
Well, I suppose thereís some berries on the other side of the garden.
That sounds delightful.
Excellent. Iíll let you lead the way.
Alright. Thank you.
Hey Faye, hereís Trevor, our berry man.
Hi Trevor.
Hi Faye, nice to meet you.
Pleased to meet you.
Welcome to the gardens.
So youíre the berry man?
They call me that.
They call me a guru but Iím not sure about being a guru.
I grow them. Have you seen these before?
No, I havenít.
These are a thornless blackberry. As you an see thereís no thorns at all on them.
Thatís good.
And thatís how they grow. When you see them
fully ... theyíre fully ripe, you can see how theyíre a bit more rounded out than perhaps
these ones here.
You can put that in your mouth.
Right away?
Yeah, right away.
Thereís no pesticides on it. Thatíll be delicious.
That is very good.
But if you ate something like that, I donít think so.
Why not?
You try it and you tell me.
Youíre right, that is very sour.
Now, try that one. Thatís fully ripe.
So this will kill the sour taste, hopefully.
I hope.
Mmm!
Howís that?
Thatís very nice,very nice.
Hey Sri.
Hello.
What do we have here?
Well, the stuff youíve picked up for us today.
All that already. Wow!
I can't wait to go home and try some of this.
Yes.
Well, exciting.
Ooh, berries.
I actually got some berries.
Excellent.
Have you ever tried these before?
No, never tried them before either.
Theyíre really good.
Iíll take a risk.
Take the big one, yeah.
Yeah.
The small ones are a bit sour. You like?
Hey, not bad.
Nice huh.
Oh look, itís a very relaxing atmosphere and you learn great stuff from, you know,
people whoíve done this before.
You know, there are people here whoíve done this from, you know,
twenty,thirty, forty, fifty years even and talking to them and learning about what theyíve
done is great.
And you know the satisfaction you get out of pulling your own fruit and vegetables and,
you know,
even like these berries and stuff, itís amazing to feel that you've grown them and you've
gotten them
and you could actually get stuff that good that could sit in tight with, you know
stuff you buy off your supermarkets and, you know, your greengrocers.
You get a great sense of community and communal living and feeling just being with the people
here today
and seeing all that they do together, and the rewards that come out of it is quite impressive.
It must feel fantastic to eat food that you've grown yourself.
Maybe I should start growing some herbs on my window sill.
Thatís it for the show today.
Hereís whatís coming up next week.
Michelle and her husband throw a house-warming party in their brand new home,
Selby races radio cars
and Preeti has the experience of a lifetime, jumping out of a plane.
See you then.