Food shares - an open letter to the community

Dear Community,

I want to extend an invitation to you to come get excited about food by attending the SAGE weekly food shares. I have been attending the food share for at least 6-7 years.

As a new backyard gardener living in Malua Bay, I happily drove to Moruya once a month to attend the food share. It was a great way to learn all things gardening by asking questions and observing produce brought to the sharing table. I met new people, have formed friendships with them, and have collected new things to grow which have been brought to our gatherings. People bring seedlings, seeds, gardening and cookbooks, preserves, eggs and tools. I always left the food share feeling rich, not just because my basket was full of goodies from others, but emotionally enriched as well.

Our house burned down in the Black Summer Fire and we chose to sell our land in Malua Bay. We thought as we had a clean slate to start with we could move anywhere in Australia. Research into farmer’s markets around the country led me back to Moruya. We have an amazing local growing community and foodie system here. My husband calls me TOS (The Organic Snob), but I’d rather be called The Organic Warrior. Our region is a paradise for excellent chemical free, nutrient dense food and I couldn’t leave that behind. So I put down my roots and took on helping out with the SAGE food share, upping the gatherings from once a month to 4 times a month thinking surely backyard veggie growers would be hot to share their excess more than once a month. Sadly this has not been the case since Covid. I hope this letter lights the fire under our growing community to start showing up and boost our community’s resilience and health by sharing their excess. You are missing out on all sorts of good fun!

Now let me be clear, you DO NOT have to grow food to attend a food share. We backyarders already have a lot of food, food we are proud to share and chat about. We welcome anyone who wants to come and share the bounty. What a great way to teach your kids where food comes from, and hear about all the different ways to cook and eat it. Food is love. Families and friendships bloom at the tables where food is prepared and served. When you say to yourself you are too busy to come to the food share, think back on your own home cooked favorite foodie experience, surely you can budget one hour or less to collect free food and create new memories with those you cherish.

You might even surprise yourself and catch the gardening bug. In a world where our devices are constantly stealing our focus, I have declared my garden a phone free zone. It’s great being distracted by little frogs and insects! The best part of veggie gardening to me is naming where all the different foods on my plate came from. The fewer that are from the supermarket, the more I feel like the organic warrior!

My favorite food share day is the first Sunday of the month alongside The Nourished Sovereign coffee, tonics, and food van at Riverside Park at 10 am. It’s a great location to start a Sunday.

Coffee and free food. A win, win! The playground is usually full of kids and their parents having a good time. So I invite you again to begin your own local food journey. I would love to hear from you, and amopen to changing one of my weekly meet ups to a time more convenient to you.sewlindsay@yahoo.com 

Food share locations, dates and times 

Contact me by email 

I hope to see and meet you soon,

Lindsay Gates