Permaculture Garden Volunteer - Join Our Friendly Community

We are recruiting permaculture garden volunteers to assist with a range of weekly gardening tasks, learn and share their gardening knowledge and contribute to the overall mission of the Ecological Justice Hub.

Join our vibrant community of diverse volunteers who share their love of gardening, a passion for ecological justice, sumptuous lunches and many cups of tea.

About the program

The Ecological Justice Hub is a permaculture garden and community space in the heart of Brunswick dedicated to both social and environmental justice. It is part of the Centre for Just Places, a Jesuit Social Services initiative. Reflecting Jesuit Social Services’ commitment to ecological justice, the Hub seeks to promote and restore just and thriving relationships between people, place and planet.

The Hub builds ecological knowledge, skills and eco-literacy through workshops and practical ‘hands on’ projects with the aim to strengthen environmental protection and demonstrate what this means in practice in our homes and communities, including:

• Urban food production: growing food in the space of a former carpark and donating produce to a local food relief program to help people experiencing homelessness, social isolation or family violence
• Composting: turning ‘waste’ into a valuable resource
• Plant propagation – greening hearts, minds and neighbourhoods
• Waste to Energy – turning food scraps collected from the neighbourhood into biogas that can be used for cooking

About the organisation

Jesuit Social Services is a social change organisation working to build a just society where all people can live to their full potential. Since 1977, Jesuit Social Services has been providing services to some of the most disadvantaged in our community. We place a high priority on advocacy and are a leader in policy development and research. Jesuit Social Services is a Child Safe organisation and is committed to protecting children and young people from harm. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to providing a family-friendly working environment that embraces and values diversity and inclusion.

About the role

The key objective of this role is to assist with a range of weekly gardening tasks, learn and share gardening knowledge with other participants and contribute to the overall mission of the Ecological Justice Hub.

Key responsibilities for this role include:

• Actively participate in garden maintenance, including activities such as plant propagation, weeding, watering, succession planning, harvesting, general upkeep and development of the site, maintenance of compost, worm farm and biodigester, building of (wicking) beds, and much more.
• Build positive relationships to encourage learning and participation
• Support program coordinators as requested
• Share knowledge and provide advice pertaining to vegetable and herb growing

Volunteer Requirements:

• Integrity, flexibility, creativity, being hands-on, practical and willing to learn new skills

• Not essential but preferred: reasonable knowledge and some experience with (community) gardens and knowledge of soil preparation and plant propagation

• Good fitness level to be able to actively participate in outdoor physical activity

• Demonstrate respect and acceptance of diversity at all times and provide culturally appropriate support to all including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and those who identify as LGBTQIA+

• Experience of/openness for working with: refugees and asylum seekers; young people not attending mainstream education; young people and adults who have been or are involved with the justice system or are experiencing life challenges