Community garden springing back to life

Ms Cook said the club was fortunate that the damage to its infrastructure was limited but has still lost large amounts of equipment due to the inundation.

"The infrastructure was mostly undamaged. Our shed and shipping container was fine," she said.

"We did lose our motorised equipment, though. The floodwater got inside the shipping container, which we also use as an office, so we also lost our books.

"Surprisingly, our nursery didn't move. We were astounded. We can't use any of the plants, though, as they were underwater for two days and we don't know what was in the water."

It will be a long time before the garden can be used again, as Ms Cook says work needs to be carried out in preparation for re-planting.

"Right now, our biggest problem is that we won't be productive for around two months as we need to restore the soil," she said.

Despite these setbacks, Ms Cook was grateful that the club's calls for clean-up help did not go unanswered, with Phil Notaro from Logan Village Lions Club and members of Permaculture Connect lending their assistance.

"We had over 50 volunteers come to help over the weekend. It was a really good thing to see," she said.

"Some came for a little bit at the start. Others came to help before the crop swap we were holding. We've even got some members taking care of seeds and seedlings so we can use them when we're ready."

The club has also received help from Whole Food Harvest, Jimboomba Bakery, Jimboomba Butchery and Woolworths Jimboomba, whose donations helped the club put on a barbecue breakfast for the volunteers.

"I want to thank all the businesses who donated. We're really appreciative of them," Ms Cook said.

"We're only a small organisation, so we were pleased the community came together to help."

Logan City Council also provided the club with a Community Response Grant, which has been put towards replacing damaged equipment.

Looking to the future, Ms Cook said the club had both short-term and long-term plans.

"Now that the garden is all cleaned up, our regular workshops will start again soon," she said.

"We're also preparing for the next weather event, both flood-proofing and drought-proofing the garden."

The Jimboomba Community Garden runs a Facebook page where residents can keep up-to-date with upcoming activities and workshops. New volunteers and members are always welcome.