Put a Zucchini on Your Neighbour’s Doorstep Day
(March 25th) 

Over the last three years Pazoynd Day has greened-up, matured and filled out to become a tradition, a moment in time where the people of Melbourne clutch a marrow to its collective bosom and then just take it next door.  All over the city not just zucchinis but tomatoes, basil, beans, figs, lemons – you name it – are hitting doorsteps in an unstoppable wave, a tsunami if you will, of produce-on-porch delight*.  

The concept of transforming an abundance of courgettes that would otherwise fill up our crispers, causing no end of food waste angst into a social capital-building festival of neighbourliness, is what keen gourd grower and musician, Bruce Springsteen, would describe as a case of nobody wins unless everyone wins. 

And although Pazoynd Day could seem a bit hokey, a bit of a playful noogie of a day, underneath it’s giving us an opportunity to care about the people who live next door and in turn an opportunity to feel cared for.  And if you look closer still Pazoynd Day has a deeper, even more secret agenda – a kind of couch-to-5kms for our hearts; a journey of small steps, gradually building our capacity for giving and receiving so eventually our overflowing generosity of spirit is able to care for this whole world of ours.  It’s a daggy day sure but if you want to begin saving the planet it’s as good a place to start as any.     

*Caution well-intentioned gifts left at front of doors can be a tripping hazard.  Please place your produce presents presciently.