Since 2015 Eco Party Box has been supporting Grow Free - a South Australian group of people who's members believe our food should be free, organic and locally grown.

$1.50 of every one of our Party Boxes sold goes to support Grow Free.

Their mission is inspiring and as they state on their Facebook page:

"We have unwittingly disconnected from the most important aspect of living - our food, and our disconnection from our food has created an underlying and pervasive sickness in the community.

Currently our "food" is sprayed with poisonous chemicals, grown in depleted soil, transported huge distances, altered or gassed for longevity, processed beyond recognition, has ingredients we can't pronounce, wrapped in plastic and expensive.

When it could and should be grown in vigorous soil, grown locally, picked recently, be clear of chemicals and toxins and FREE!

There's so much free space for large veggie patches and fruit orchards, and by working together we can grow surplus, run workshops and share amongst those in need first, and the community."

It’s been wonderful to see Grow Free grow this year. The latest word from Andrew, Grow Free’s organizer, is this:

"Our sharing carts have really taken off! We have these carts where people can drop off their surplus produce or seedlings or preserves, etc, and pick up whatever they like from the carts. We now have about 7 in the Goolwa to Victor (Harbor) area, and another three that have spread to Myponga, Yankalilla and Strathalbyn.

We now cook regularly at a weekly soup kitchen called Cafe Crozier with all our organic produce (they are used to frozen pizzas and pies at the cafe, so our lentil dahls and veggie lasagnes are warmly welcomed!)

We have regular workshops, where people can learn about anything about gardening to cooking to composting to kefir making to seed saving. All for free.

We have been helping people setup their veggie gardens for free.

I still grow a heap of heirloom/organic seedlings to give away to the community for free, and have pretty regular working bees for people to help me pot up the seeds.

And we've got a few more ideas in the pipeline, and are having a big meeting soon to create positions in the group and let these ideas flourish.

One of the ideas is basically just people cooking for each other. Myself and a friend have started doing this already, for people who we know are really busy (we aren't so much). And so every sunday we cook big soups or lasagne or a curry for 4 different families, and many people have said they want to do the same.

My own personal forecast is that within 2 years, this whole area (southern Fleurieu) will be eating free, healthy food.

I'm actually about to make a seed purchase for summer veggie crop, so if you wanted to donate to us, it would go straight to that!

Many, many thanks,

Andrew"

We’ll continue to support Grow Free. Who knows how big this grass roots group could grow? We hope free healthy food is available to more and more people.