Lorna Calder is one of 32 garden lovers to receive a new veggie bed, replacing ones lost during last summer's bushfires.
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The free veggie beds for bushfire-affected families are provided through Moruya's SAGE Veggies For All program and a $15,000 grant from IMB Bank Community Foundation.
More than a year since the bushfires, Mrs Calder and her husband have now been able to step foot back in their own garden.
Their five-acre Malua Bay property fell victim to the 2019 bushfires, as did their four Alpacas, two veggie gardens and well-established rose garden.
"The whole lot is gone, and it was the thing my husband and I missed the most," she said.
Gardening was the first and last activity the pair would do together each day.
"We would go out and potter around, see what needed doing - it was a way of relaxing," she said.
After the fires, the Calders relocated into a unit, with no garden.
It's lovely, to be connected back to our own patch.
- Lorna Calder
"I started coming to the church and weeding everything, just to get my hands dirty and to get a bit of therapy to keep me calm and stable," she said.
"You turn everything off when you garden - you get in that zone and then realise two hours has passed."
Recently, the Calders moved into their new home and the garden is what they looked forward to most.
"Just last week we have been able to walk out and see a garden for the first time," she said.
"It's lovely, to be connected back to our own patch."
Mrs Calder was pleased to have SAGE's help, just in time to plant winter veggies - perfect for comfort food. She attended a workshop at Moruya on Thursday, February 11. Coordinator Kathryn Maxwell said mostly experienced gardeners who lost their homes attended.
"For a lot of them, they can't wait to get back to gardening," she said.
"They are passionate gardeners and are looking for a bit of help to get back into it.
"SAGE knows gardening can be very restorative to the spirit; this is one way we can help assist with that journey."
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A team of volunteers will head out to help build the beds next month. Another workshop will be held in March.
Over the past four years, SAGE's Veggies For All program has also helped the shire's low-income households build veggie gardens and provide novice gardeners with all the tips and tricks they need to get started.
Ms Maxwell said the IMB funding also covered the installation of four large wicking beds at the SAGE Community Garden, which doubles the capacity for the garden to grow more food for those in need at women's and youth refuges as well as Anglicare.
