Canberra Honesty Box / Transition street story in Hackett

Antonia and Sasha Basic and their two children came to Canberra in 2014 from Croatia. In their new home they missed the sense of knowing the neighbours. One year they had a surplus of tomatoes. In order to share their excess produce and get to know their neighbours, they set up the Canberra Honesty Box. This led to amazing friendships, neighbourliness and a commercial vegan business. This is their story ….

Our abundant gardens took us on a journey of great community projects, wonderful new friendships, seed sharing and working with land

We decided to have fun and see what happens when you set up honesty box stall in an urban suburb. Well, amazing things were born since February 2016 and those first tomatoes that were sold from our front yard.

In just few weeks few other gardens from the street and other suburbs joined us and we grew quickly..more trestle tables and umbrellas were needed urgently to keep our produce in shade 

And so we started to connect more and to make our ideas into reality And so we started to connect more and to make our ideas into reality. First gathering was created to give our community opportunity to taste local honey that was made in one of the neighbouring gardens. We met more people and neighbours and we all loved it ! In the meantime, winter came and gardens were abundant with winter veggies 

After first winter we noticed our veggies and jars with jam and pickles needed some shelter from winter winds and summer sun and we connected with SEE- Change and applied to be part of the Transition Street project which led to creation of our lovely shed shopfront. Lachlan and Sasha worked hard to put it all together from recycled materials but the result was just stunning. Veggies finally got their shelter 

Entire story became more popular to the level that we became mini celebrities of Inner North  as we had several articles published in Canberra local newspapers in collaboration with SEE-Change. Thank you guys for supporting us in what we do!

But story goes on  One project led to another But story goes on  One project led to another. This was creation of our family vegan food business called Canberra Magic Kitchen. We started organising crepes morning events that bring people together in our front yard. Few times numbers went crazily up to 150 people enjoying food and community vibes of our street.

And we thought how can we make this even more enjoyable And we thought how can we make this even more enjoyable? Live Music, Family Choir… Opportunities are endless and we are so much looking forward to upcoming spring and creating more fun events!

We couldn’t resist to set up space for storytelling around fire one winter evening which turned out to be wonderful success. Another great event was outdoor screening of Saving Luna documentary.

If you take another look you might be surprised to see the fridge out on the street. No, it’s not a street library. This is our recent project called Magic Fridge where people can come after working day and grab fresh plant based healthy meals at affordable prices every day. Our neighbour friend said they are so lucky to be able to walk barefoot across the road and grab a fresh cake for their afternoon tea from the Fridge.

We are so happy and grateful that our Transition Street project grew into something wonderful as this ! We are warmly welcoming many more events and gatherings in the future that bring people together! A massive THANK YOU to all your support and positive feedback ! Hugs from Gilruth Street Dream Team 

Find us on Facebook SEE-Change Canberra Magic Kitchen Canberra Honesty Box www.see-change.org.au