Update from the farm

We’ve had a busy spring at the farm:

• More than 120kg of food including leafy greens, herbs, radishes and snowpeas were harvested, donated to Ozharvest and used in its programs providing meals to people experiencing food insecurity.
• Teams of corporate volunteers helped progress with our orchard sheet mulching project.
• Around 70 inner Sydney community gardeners joined us at the community growers morning and took part in seed swaps, where over 250 packets of seed saved from the farm was distributed.
• Soil has been enriched with compost and manure, to increase its water holding capacity ready for the hot weather.
• We installed 2 large shade umbrellas which will be great for education programs and volunteer activities.
• Farm volunteers at our end of year volunteer celebration enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea and a fascinating presentation from Bush to Bowl about bush tucker and cultural plants.

As well as growing crops over summer, some farm areas will be left fallow, and others seeded with green manure.

Thank you to everyone who visited the farm and got involved in our programs this year. And a big shout out to all our amazing volunteers who keep things ticking along at the farm. We wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas.

The need for urgent climate action has never been more apparent than today in the wake of devastating extreme weather events.

Learning how to produce your own food sustainably, how to minimise your waste and live green can help each of us individually make a difference.

Sydney City Farm provides a wonderful opportunity to discover more about sustainability.

Thank you to all those already contributing to this wonderful project. And to everyone else, come on down and get your hands dirty!

Lord Mayor
Clover Moore

Volunteer today – join the summer team

We’re welcoming new farm volunteers. On Thursdays and Fridays, and every second Saturday 2-hour sessions are held. You can get hands-on with soil improvement, new plantings, care  for existing plants and help harvest our crops for donation to local charities. After you’ve attended an induction session, you can get involved as often as you like by registering for each volunteer session that you’d like to attend.

Now the weather is warming up, we’re also looking for people to help with afternoon watering at the farm. If you’re interested, let us know. 

If you’re interested in native plants, a new volunteer bushcare group has started in Sydney Park. It meets on the fourth Sunday of the month and work in the eastern suburb banksia scrub area.

Sydney Urban Agriculture Forum – wrap up

We hosted the first Sydney Urban Agriculture Forum in partnership with Sustain Australia on 11 November. Keynote speaker Alex Greenwich MP provided a response to the recent NSW Government inquiry into food production and supply. We also heard about amazing work already underway across Sydney to strengthen food systems including Jiwah, our own Sydney City Farm, Pocket City Farms, the Community Greening program and the City of Sydney signing the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. The forum saw 75 people attend and started some exciting discussions about future urban agriculture policy and practice.

Eat your blooms

Edible flowers can add a splash of colour and interest to your meals. Try using lavender when baking biscuits, or flavouring oil with thyme. Add nasturtium flowers to salads and use onion chive flowers as garnish. Freeze pineapple sage and native violet flowers in ice cubes and use them to decorate your drinks. Before consuming, always check the flowers are edible and were grown organically.

Find out more by reading about 6 edible flowers to grow in inner Sydney or join an edible flowers hands-on education session at the farm.