"At the Kensington Stockyard Food Garden, I’m known as the mushroom mamma or fungi fanatic.

During the pandemic I was bored with Netflix and wanted a hobby to occupy myself. I started watching YouTube clips and reading about mushroom growing. I experimented with growing mushrooms on the balcony of my apartment and shared the results online with friends. People seemed interested. I thought, I’m a teacher and I can organise research so why not make this easier for people to get involved themselves.

I began running mushroom growing workshops at Kensington Stockyard Food Garden and more recently, one at Yarraville Community Centre and saw that there was a ripple effect as I began to make new connections."

"Sixteen months ago I gave birth to my daughter. I got through the first three months, then started to feel like I needed to reconnect with community so I wasn't getting stuck in feeling unmotivated because of sleep deprivation and baby caring duties. I needed to find a way to be fulfilled in other ways. I craved community engagement and being part of something bigger so I continued my work with the community garden during maternity leave. It’s what gave me the idea to host Mushfest, and led me to apply for a City of Melbourne Connected Neighbourhoods Small Grants to help realise this idea.

Mushfest is a celebration of fungi and all things mushroom, and will be held locally in October. It’s an opportunity to tap into the fungi-loving culture and to present different angles on mushrooms, through mycology and exploring fungi’s place in the ecosystem.

Before I began growing mushrooms, I’d never considered my role as being part of a bigger aggregate impact. Now I see that what I’m doing is a drop in the water but also connected to a lot of other ways of producing and helping people have access to fresh home grown food. My aim during the two-day festival is to touch and inspire people to get involved in small acts of self-sufficiency and sustainability.

I grow my own mushrooms on my apartment balcony. I’ve got three buckets going at the moment, all at different levels of their life cycle. I also have some king stropharia mushrooms growing in my plot at the stockyard garden and have inoculated some logs with shitake spawn. I do love cooking with mushrooms. My favourite dish to make is a creamy mushroom pasta or dumplings with mushroom ginger, and cabbage filling.

I grew up on a farm and I’ve seen the lifecycle of animals. I’ve seen my pet pig disappear and never come back, so I believe it’s good to facilitate an early connection with nature. When my parents moved from the farm it was getting encroached on by a coalmine so when I go back now it looks very different. The hills behind our old house have been dug up. I have fond memories of riding horses and motorbikes, and hunting for field mushrooms over those hills.

I think there’s something that happens when you live in an isolated way, away from lots of neighbours. As a teenager I craved connection and I wanted to flip that so I’ve always wanted to live very centrally. As an adult I’ve chosen to live in nexus areas as I like to be close to conveniences. The stockyard garden gives me a patch of country living in an urban environment. I share a lot of little plots at the garden where I can grow my own food which compensates for living in a small built-up environment, and makes it a happier place to be.

Kensington Stockyard Food Garden was a big reason I bought my apartment, and it’s such an important part of living here as I’ve met a lot of people. I’ve only lived in Kensington for three years and in that short space of time I’ve been able to foster a real community. I now wonder how my role in the community garden may evolve next."