Hey there! Ok so we're dead set on creating a super urban permaculture garden on the rooftop of 107 Redfern Street that will be an amazing community resource.

By resource we mean a place of learning (lots of free + expert workshops), and of fresh food, green space, and a source of free cuttings and veggie seedlings for the Redfern community.

The garden is going to be packed with good things to eat for both people and city pollinators, which will be shared at community food swaps.

We're also going to create lots of examples of urban permaculture at its best - small-space aquaponics systems, urban honey production, raised beds full of organic veggies, wicking beds full of herbs, micro forest gardens, dwarf fruit trees, vertical gardens, nutrient recycling and water harvesting.

And we need your help to make it great!

A bit more about 107 Rooftop Garden

Thank You, Thank You...

The proceeds from this crowdfunding will be used to off-set some of the cost of building the garden, and allow us to provide a wider range of hands-on learning programs to the community.

The garden is already designed and we're ready to move heaven and earth to make it all happen. And we're ready to sink funds into ensuring the build goes ahead.

But it's on a rooftop! Which is logistically tricky, and so involves lots of trucks and palettes and moving large amounts of heavy things.

And there's quite a bit to do that needs the pro's brought in to make or install elements - carpentry, topsoil, gabions, seats, water tanks, fruit trees, irrigation systems, beehives and more.

To do this garden to the standard and capabilities we want it to be will cost about $30,000 in direct costs. Which is quite a bit, but we're (Milkwood, that is) committed to paying for whatever is needed to make this garden awesome.

Crowdfunding 20% of the total costs will help us get the garden's public programs up sooner, as well as ensure we can get it all done this year.

Here are some of the things your donation will help us to include:

$40 will fund a shiitake log, to show people how they can grow yummy organic mushrooms in places impossible for veggies. The garden will have 25 of these logs.

$250 will fund the plants to fill one of the twelve planter boxes with scrumptious organic herbs and veggies.

$500 will fund one of the three vertical garden modules that will demonstrate small space gardening at its best

$750 will fund a portable micro forest garden with an established fruit tree, companion herbs & DIY self watering system (we will publish instructions on our blog). The garden will have six of these.

$1200 will fund the giant woven willow shade arch, which will turn this sunburnt space into an instant oasis

$1500 will fund a recycled timber tool shed for us to keep all the tools that will make the garden bloom.

$2500 will fund a complete aquaponics system to demonstrate closed loop intensive food production.

We've got a great team of crew and volunteers and we're going to make this garden happen, by hook or by crook. We're donating  our time, and whatever money the bare bones of the project needs that can't be raised. 

But if you can help us, we can make this place the most inspiring rooftop permaculture garden that Sydney ever did see.

A place to learn, to get hands-on, and for the community to soak up beauty and bees and calming shady places - all within a rocking edible greenspace, right in the city.

The challenges of this project center around the logistics and material costs of creating a beautiful, productive and resilient garden on a rooftop space.

In short: soil, rocks, recycled timbers, water tanks, plants, irrigation systems and waterproofing don't travel to the site, levitate upstairs or install themselves. It's a shame, but it's true.

Happily we've got a great team of hard-core garden designers and creators working on this garden - but the costs do add up pretty quickly.

Achieving this crowd funding goal will define how much we can do to install this garden space this Spring. We're determined to be harvesting fresh produce for the surrounding community by Christmas. We'd love your help to make it happen.