The outstanding balance of total financing in this respect was 24.21 billion yuan, of which 2.96 billion yuan was used for the construction of Winter Olympic venues, 20.56 billion yuan for support facilities and 684 million yuan for ice and snow industry-related projects, Li said at a news conference on Thursday. Total financing earmarked by Beijing's banking sector for the construction of 2022 Winter Olympics venues and support facilities exceeded 78 billion yuan ($12.3 billion), of which 34.07 billion yuan has been already invested, said Li Mingxiao, director of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission's Beijing Office. “It’s an interaction opportunity for our participants, because our guys love going out to sell stuff,” Peter says.A visitor views information introducing e-CNY during an expo in Beijing. It also gives participants the chance to engage with the community, build communication skills, handle money confidently, and show pride in what they’ve grown. The profits from vegetable sales, as well as their successful annual seedling sales, go back into developing the garden. Having produce to sell is an important part of the mulch enterprise. “But we’ve got all this other stuff as well – we grow great berries – so each day there will be a little of something that’s a bit different and a bit new.” “I’ve focused our crops down to zucchinis, beans, tomatoes, and silverbeet as our major crop to go out there twice a week and sell,” Peter explains. READ ALSO: Hope, colour and life at Beaver Galleries as a new year beckons for Canberra’s art world While the garden has seen a number of different crops come and go, staff horticulturist Peter Mitchell says that this year the team has decided to prioritise a few “staple” crops. Their current home in Stirling was a blank slate when they moved there in 2017, but now it’s a thriving garden with polytunnels, composting bays, chicken coop, sheds, and water tanks. Helen has been with mulch since the beginning, helping to establish the program in 2013 at the initial site in Narrabundah. The site was bare when the team arrived in 2017, but by April 2018 they had established water tanks, sheds, and polytunnels and have since planted a thriving garden. “Everyone who comes here has a sense of ownership over this place and the mulch team is (comprised of) participants and staff: the mulchers are everybody.” “This is all about building skills, building teamwork, building connection and belonging,” Helen tells Region Media, on her last day in the role. Marymead’s manager of skills development and community engagement Helen Gardner explains this program works to flip the script on the concept of people with a disability being recipients and instead empowers them with life skills to be producers who make a meaningful contribution to the community. READ ALSO: When collecting knows no bounds – except more shelf space Mulch operates with four staff members each day who work with between five and nine participants, thoughtfully scheduled in order to ensure everyone can access the level of support they require, while also having enough work to do. Marymead is a not-for-profit organisation that has been working to improve the lives of young and vulnerable people in the Canberra region since 1967. And they’re working towards a bumper crop this season! Marymead’s Urban Land Community Harvest – aka mulch – is a horticultural social enterprise that gives disabled adults the chance to become market gardeners. Mulch works with 32 adults with a range of abilities and disabilities.