The annual Connecting Over Fair Food event was held on Wednesday, 18 October at Shellharbour. Food Fairness Illawarra curated the event, which was themed 'know, share, grow', and our host was Maree from Hidden Harvest.

The evening consisted of displays by local food groups, a crop swap, inspirational speakers, a delicious meal from Civic Square Cafe and the screening of the film Rachel’s Farm. Flame Tree Co-op were dispensing chai and hot chocolate.

We heard from Manu from Farm It Forward, a local food social enterprise based in the Blue Mountains. Farm It Forward connects market gardeners with owners of unused land and has grown in its four years, producing over 10 tonnes of food for locals so far this year. Manu spoke about the successful conversion of an old privately owned tennis court into a productive no dig garden.

Suzy and Sarah from FoodTalks Illawarra spoke about the evolution of FoodTalks from a group of friends with local food businesses to its expansion to include like-minded people concerned about food systems in the Illawarra and beyond.

Narelle from A Garden For Life advocates for growing Australian plants, edible and medicinal, in our gardens. Narelle talked about our very own nutritional “superfoods” and medicinal plants such as native thyme (Prostanthera incisa) which, apart from making a great minty tea, can be used to repel mosquitoes. Simply scrunch up the leaves and rub over your skin. It smells great too.

Each year at Connecting Over Fair Food we are reminded about the inspiring and innovative people in our midst who are working towards improving our community’s food resilience and our way of life.