MEMBERS of the Community Use Permaculture Space (CUPS), located on Brian Navin Park at Park Beach Plaza shopping centre in Coffs, are having a planning meeting on Saturday 1 April to share initial garden designs and hear community suggestions.

The group is asking for interested people to come along, share their thoughts and hear what’s in the CUPS melting pot since inauguration in December 2022.

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According to CUPS spokesperson, Peter ‘Lewie’ Lewis, the best garden tool you can ever own is a pencil and paper.

“With a pen and pad you can make all the mistakes you like without raising a sweat or finding out three years later that the pecan tree you planted has started to shade your veggies and will get bigger every year,” Peter told NOTA.

“Planning is important.”

The project aims to design gardens so that they provide long-term food security for the Park Beach area and for Coffs residents who want to learn about growing food using permaculture principles.

“Permaculture at its basics is about good design to solve garden problems sustainably without the need for chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

“It’s about using solar aspects to get the best from your food production and using microorganisms to create nitrogen in a form plants can use.”

It’s not about haphazardly planting and hoping for the best.

Often so-called garden ‘pests’ are caused by not enough predators of those insects, warns Peter.

“By creating safe habitation for birds, frogs, lizards or ladybugs you can even up the fight.”

The planning stage is vital to work out long term strategies.

The end goal is a man-made designed solution that works with nature for maximum food production and co-opting natural assistants who are better at catching bugs than humans.

In three months CUPS has taken off positively with commitments to do the necessary administrative side of setting up the group.

“We’ve got a great secretary and some very talented experienced committee members who are doing the required formal work.”

CUPS is an incorporated association with a constitution, a bank account and required committee.

“We have an ‘in principle’ agreement with City Of Coffs Harbour council and are finalising a survey of the site and our plan of management.

“We’re also in the final stages of choosing our public liability insurers.

“Informal discussions with several councillors have been encouraging and our discussions with several businesses including BigW at the Plaza have been positive,” said Peter.

Supporting CUPS’ foundation, Harbourside Markets and other individuals have given seed funding donations and it is hoped other businesses will follow their lead.

“We’ve got a representative from the Aboriginal Lands Council and would like groups associated with refugees and migrants to get involved.

“We’ve approached Shoreline residents who’ve shown some interest.”

The space will not only be an opportunity to provide food security; Peter and the group are keen to see people learn, swap, cooperate and participate in gaining ways to grow their own food and ways to prepare food.

“For example, several African cultures use pumpkin leaves or pumpkin shoots.

“Learning how to de-string the leaves and cook them expands the product value of a pumpkin vine.

“Amaranth is another dish that is prepared as a leafy green in Africa instead of a seed ingredient in western cooking,” he said.

Park Beach has a rich diversity of cultures whose experiences enhance the possibilities of the edibles in the garden.

There’s been huge interest at this early stage of the project even though as yet no-one is getting any dirt under their fingernails.

The planning open day is on site at Brian Navin Park, opposite the BigW loading bay, on Saturday 1 April 2023 from 10am to 12noon.

By Andrea FERRARI