Growing concern is food for thought
GEELONG permaculture expert Ben Shaw’s desire to create healthier communities starts with a message that’s close to home.
“If we brought all of our food locally, it would have a great (positive) impact on the environment,” Geelong’s first UNESCO City of Design business champion said.
Best known as a sustainable methodology for growing food, permaculture incorporates a broader approach to designing systems that reflect and promote the resilience of natural ecosystems.
While Mr Shaw hopes to one day impact the design of community infrastructure at a higher level, through a combination of necessity and practicality his business started last year with a focus on designing sustainable edible gardens and their integration into home environments.
His business showcase is his own backyard.
“It’s not just a vegie garden,” Mr Shaw said. “There’s lots of flowering plants. We want to attract beneficial insects, beneficial bees et cetera.”
Creating a natural system, starting with a healthier soil and not using herbicide or pesticide on the plants, created healthier produce, he said.
“It’s not easy to do in a backyard setting but you can, you can design for it,” Mr Shaw said.
Food waste is returned to the soil, offering a local solution to the problem of 40 per cent of Victoria food waste being sent to landfill.
Mr Shaw offers workshops at his Manifold Heights house as one of the main revenue streams for his business, the sessions serving as an introduction to both permaculture and his additional consulting and subscription services.
Collaboration with businesses that share a sustainable philosophy and with organisations such as the Surf Coast Shire, which has engaged him to provide community workshops, has also been important to his early business sustainability.
Now he is starting to see the possibility of being engaged in larger projects.
“In terms of my business and developing, we are looking at doing bigger projects that are almost like hubs for the community around food,” Mr Shaw said.
A series of workshops on backyard permaculture starts on October 5.
Ben Shaw Permaculture recently joined software developer Codeacious and the Pivot City Innovation District, as the inaugural UNESCO City of Design business champions.
As a City of Design, Geelong has endorsed UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goal 11, which aims to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.