Kindness builds vegie garden
FRIENDS have united to give a Waratah Bay woman access to fresh vegetables in her backyard.
Rory Challis is battling multiple sclerosis (MS) and the disease prohibits her from bending low to tend to typical garden beds.
But on the first weekend in February, friends, including neighbours Jeff and Claire Buckland, built a raised garden bed in her backyard, courtesy of supporters, including South Gippsland Shire Council and AW Smith Timber and Hardware, Leongatha.
The working bee was organised by her friends Joanne Thompson of Food4Good, Marie Wilson and Jacki Ames.
“It’s been brilliant. Everything has been donated,” Rory said.
“The garden bed was fenced off, it has heaps of mulch and I love it.”
The garden spans 10m long by three metres wide, and has such herbs as basil, coriander and mint, as well as lettuce and tomatoes.
“I was amazed when the girls told me about the garden. For people to think of helping Nat and I is amazing,” Rory said.
She appreciates food grown without chemicals and said the garden was a way of bringing people together.
“It will be nice for me in the winter when it is quite isolated and I can get a few people together and talk about what we can plant,” Rory said.
Her twin sister Nat also has MS. Rory was diagnosed two years ago and Nat has been living with the disease for 15 years.
“The chance of twins getting MS is three per cent,” Rory said.
The project was overseen by Food4Good, which provides initiatives to help create sustainable practices in communities by helping people adopt simple approaches to living.
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