#GetStuffed with Ian Onley

When life gives you lemons, make wholesome food, promote good health, and create sustainable jobs.

For a while, Latrobe Valley battled against obesity and a high unemployment rate. ReActivate Latrobe Valley, the research-led multisectoral initiative, fought back by organising Get Stuffed, a food network that engages the local community to produce its own healthy food.

Among the experts involved in the programme is Ian Onley, and there is no better person to take up the cudgels for the food-centric campaign. Ian is a former conventional farmer, who later switched to biodynamic farming practices. Two decades later, you’ll find him in Bullfrog Gully in Gormandale, raising free-range chooks and selling eggs for up to $15 a dozen. (We know what you’re thinking. For that price, those eggs better taste like chicken! And apparently, they do, according to a Good Food taste test.)

Get Stuffed has allowed Ian to promote his personal advocacy, educating the Latrobe Valley community on how to produce healthy soils - from assessing a garden site and raising seedlings to weed control and plant management. Healthy soil equals healthy eating. And a healthy community uplifts the local economy. Win-win all around.

If you don’t think you’re good with plants but want to learn hands-on how to grow your own food, Ian’s workshop is a good place to start. Both newcomers and more seasoned permaculture enthusiasts are welcome to attend.