The Golden Grove – exploring nature and food together

Hi my name is Mandy and I am excited to share that we are about to live a dream of opening our own dedicated space for sharing our love of nature and food, The Golden Grove.

This outdoor space will be dedicated to children, families and educators to explore nature and food together.

The Golden Grove has been a dream of mine since 2001. To have my own space to inspire, explore and serve children and our environment. I strongly believe in the programs I have been running with Little People Nutrition, our Foodie Nature Playgroup, home school groups, cooking incursions and well, it is time for more. More heart and hand centric programs to inspire and explore our love of nature and food, in a purpose created outdoor area.

For us to be able to get the gates of the Golden Grove open to the community, we need to start with some foundations such as fencing, garden beds, water tanks, sheds and soil. Of course there are many other components, but these are just the beginning.

We are reaching out to you, our community, and beyond, to help bring this dream alive for the children in our region. 

We are aiming to raise:

$5000 for the materials and labour of our fence

$1500 for a water tank

$5000 for a shed

$1000 for soil

$2500 for garden beds

The best bit is, with every amount you donate, we will have something for you in return. Please see the rewards on the side of this page.

I appreciate that not all people are able to donate money and therefore if you would like to donate your time at one of our upcoming working bees that would be amazing too. Please reach out so we can let you know when that will be.

We are also very open to goods being donated, like soil or fence posts or chicken wire or other building materials, or even shovels for instance. Please just reach out. Thank you.

A little bit more about the rewards

Rainbow love and downloadable educational resource bundle

We have a selection of downloadable printables, stories, audio material and videos we have created. By donating with this reward in mind, you will  be sent 3 different resources. 

 – Rainbow bundle

 – Water tale (downloadable and printable book, audio, multiple videos and activities)

 – Sweet pea tale (downloadable and printable book, audio, multiple videos and activities)

At my family table book

I wrote this book a few years ago and I still adore it today. The perfect gift or resource for the classroom. 

It is also on the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge list for K – 2.

Early Learning Centre or Family menu range

We designed these menus with early learning centres in mind. There are over 100 recipes (in the two menus) which include main meals and snacks. There are suggested menu plans as well.

There is also a family version which includes similar recipes but the menu plan suggestions are different.

5 session voucher

This is with the Foodie Nature Play playgroup in mind. If you love our playgroup and are interested in supporting our own space, please think about buying some sessions in advance. You will be given a code to use on a our booking platform for term 3 when the sessions are released in July.

10 session voucher

Similarly to the 5 sessions, if you love our playgroup and are interested in supporting our own space, please think about buying some sessions in advance. You will be given a code to use on a our booking platform for term 3 or this can also secure the whole term program in advance.

Excursions

We would love to welcome you on site, whether you are a local early learning centre, a playgroup or even a primary school. We are based in Tuggerah on the Central Coast, NSW.

Sponsorship

We have a very engaged local community (and also further abroad) who are interested in seeing this space get up off the ground. If you were interested in being a sponsor of The Golden Grove, we would work with you to make it worth your investment.

We currently have over 10 K social media connection and would use these platforms, along with our website and newsletters, to value your support.

We would also place a plaque on our new shed thanking you for your financial investment.

We would invite you to our opening to give thanks and work with you in ways in which your investment would be beneficial to you.

Please reach out to how this financial contribution could best support you.

And of course, if you are interested in becoming a sponsor of a greater amount, please reach out as well. There are many ways we can work together.

This is such an exciting time for us and we can not believe that we are almost there. 

This fundraiser is all part of stage 1:

To get the basic infrastructure in place.

We are hoping after this fundraising campaign, that the building phase, specifically the fence, would be in, in the beginning weeks of term 3.

Once the fence is in place, we will be open.

Stage 2

Stage 2 will be happening at the same time as the building of the beds, water tanks and sheds.

Our aim is to be able to build these within our communities’ hands AND in particular the garden beds, use this an educational opportunity for people to see how easy it is to make your own raised garden beds.

During stage 2, we will be welcoming programs on site.

Parts of these programs will include the children being part of the design of the garden, the planting of the trees and the filling of the garden beds. 

Stage 3

Once we are established, we will flesh out more of our programs even further.

Stage 4

Be totally booked out and needing to expand!

We can’t wait for you to be part of this ride.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to keeping your posted on the journey of raising the funds as well as the building of The Golden Grove.

Cheers, Mandy dos Santos