Growing Community at Buna: Charu Singh’s Story

Published on 01 June 2026

Charu Singh’s passion for gardening led her to Buna Community Garden, where she grows food, shares knowledge and builds community. Through volunteering and workshops, she promotes growing, cooking and reducing food waste, while helping people reconnect with where their food comes from.

For Charu Singh, gardening has always been a passion.

After arriving in Australia in 2019, one of the first things Charu did was design her home’s garden, even before any interior work took place. She has always loved flowers, gardening and cooking, even as a child.

After hearing about Buna Community Garden through friends, Charu began visiting the garden after the birth of her second child in 2022. What started with growing tomatoes soon expanded into a wide variety of vegetables and flowers.

"I quickly ran out of space in my own garden," Charu said.

She loved that Buna Community Garden is for everyone, not just one person’s enjoyment. Charu then began planting tomatoes and flowers at the garden for everyone to enjoy and take home. There are now four garden beds full of dahlias.

The sense of community is what keeps Charu coming back.

Her whole family volunteers at the garden, including her two children and husband. Everyone is welcome.

A passionate food grower, Charu grows more than 40 different varieties of tomatoes each year. She also enjoys sharing her knowledge through community workshops.

"Gardening is my passion and I love to grow food that my family will eat," she said.

The first seeds Charu ever grew were basil, and she continues to enjoy growing and harvesting food to share with neighbours, friends and fellow volunteers at Buna Community Garden.

She particularly enjoys sharing how to grow and cook more unusual foods, such as gourds or fennel leaves, which grow in abundance but often go to waste because many people don’t know how to use them.

For Charu, community workshops are about much more than gardening.

They provide opportunities to learn how to grow, cook and eat different plants and vegetables, while also helping reduce food waste. As Charu explains, you don’t just get one plant from a packet of seeds, so it’s important to know what to do with the abundance when food is growing well.

"The workshops are important because they share the yumminess of the food and how easily it can be grown and cooked," she said.

"Growing food as a community helps bring people together."

Charu also believes community gardens play an important role in helping people reconnect with where food comes from.

"Buna Community Garden is really good for both little kids and adults who are used to buying things from the supermarket. A lot of children don’t even know where a carrot comes from, so we can show them."

When asked what she enjoys most about being involved in the community garden, Charu said it is the collaborative nature of the space.

"Buna Garden is my one and only community garden, and I love that everyone can do everything and everything belongs to everyone."

"We all decide what we get to plant, share and cook together — that’s how you learn new things."

Get involved

Interested in becoming a volunteer at Buna Community Garden?

Community members are welcome to visit the garden and join volunteer sessions.