If you would have a mind at peace, a heart that cannot harden, go find a door that opens wide upon a lovely garden.

From an unknown but oft-quoted author.

Just up the road from where I live, next to the Thornbury train station, is a gate that ‘opens wide upon a lovely garden’. On the first Thursday of the month, for seven months of the year, Sprout Gardens opens up this gate to the public, holding a Community Market that draws locals and visitors in to its embrace like bees to borage.

Sprout began just under 10 years ago, when Mind Australia took over a disused patch of grass with a couple of sheds and got to work transforming the site into the productive oasis that is the garden today. The initiative was the brainchild of John Haig, a Mind employee with a background in horticulture, and a commitment…