The Arts Factory backpackers resort sees travellers from all over the globe come to relax and soak up the  sun and surf. During their stays they chomp their way through countless meals consisting of food that could have travelled just as far as they did. In an initiative to reduce the impact of the food consuming hordes of travellers the Permaculture Research Institute has provided a helping hand to set up a kitchen garden.

Previously an empty lawn the new garden consists mainly of raised beds constructed from hardwood sleepers to keep the vegies from getting wet feet as the site is adjacent to a melaleuca swamp where the ground easily becomes  waterlogged. A food forest consisting of a variety of sub tropical fruits, legume tree, herbaceous and ground cover species was also planted.

What Permaculture design would be complete without a herb spiral. How could you resist if you had a stack of recycled pavers, some herbs and a big pile of sandy loam soil?

And of course no garden should be without somewhere to sit and rest a while in the shade.

 All students taking part in the course all put in a sterling effort to install such a large garden in two and a half days. Nice work guys.