Wollert Community Farm is an initiative launched in late 2019 by Whittlesea Community Connections and our partners. In 2023 we established our temporary farm infrastructure and began conservation and seed production activities. WCC has begun operating our native nursery and seed orchard – nugal biik plants and seeds. Nugal biik are woi-wurrung words that translate to, ‘belongs to the earth’. In winter 2023, we began revegetating and managing Curly Sedge Creek, home to one of the last mainland remnant populations of Curly Sedge.

In 2024, we will move to our permanent site on the farm. Seed production at nugal biik plants and seeds will increase local skills and knowledge, and support our revegetation activities regionally. The grassland seed orchard provides opportunities for people to volunteer and participate in community activities.

The native plant seed orchard aims to grow seed for revegetation on the farm site and to share knowledge and skills to be able to increase involvement of community members and make revegetation more accessible to community from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The role will change over the seasons: in summer volunteers will collect and manage grassland seeds, in winter volunteers will be part of revegetation projects, in spring volunteers will support the building and set-up of the native seed orchard, and all year around, volunteers will be part of planning and day-to-day support of conservation projects. This volunteer position is supervised by the Conservation Lead, Charlotte Gordon.

VOLUNTEER RESPONSIBILITIES

Gardening/horticulture tasks: • Establishing the seed growing area at Wollert Community Farm • Planting seeds, managing weeds, watering plants. • Harvesting seeds, testing seeds. • Planting seedlings in revegetation sites. • Share learnt knowledge with new volunteers or community members at open days (we value being able to communicate with community members/other volunteers in languages other than English). Training tasks • Attend optional training sessions with experts in Wurundjeri land management, nature plant production and revegetation. Seed collection tasks • Attend optional scouting days to visit remnant reserves in the local area and look for potential seeds • Attend optional seed harvesting days from remnant reserves. • Cataloging and managing harvested seeds. Planning for revegetation of farm site: • Contributing to planning and decision making around revegetation and conservation on farm site. • Optional site visits.