Bush tucker garden bears fruit at Riverside Salvos

Riverside Salvos is collaborating with community foster carers and Aboriginal educators to host the Minya Windas bush school in Gawler, South Australia.

Minya Windas is a program that connects Aboriginal children to Aboriginal cultural experiences through bush play, traditional house building, and arts and crafts.

Children in the program are now connecting to Country by exploring the new bush tucker garden, established in the Salvos community garden.

“We asked for people who were interested in helping and experiencing community together while looking to grow vegetables and herbs for our commercial kitchen,” explains Rick Mierisch, coordinator for the Riverside Salvos community garden. “The kitchen feeds those doing it tough, and the garden helps supply the kitchen.”

The community garden project at Riverside Salvos is coordinated by Rick and Mandy Mierisch, particularly made possible by grants awarded last year. The garden builds an intergenerational community, involving those aged five to 80 from different parts of the Gawler area.

“Minya Windas were meeting on a Thursday, and when they saw what we were creating, wondered if they could have some space,” says Rick. “We created some raised garden beds for them. They started to plant bush tucker foods and harvest them as part of their cultural learning.”

The name chosen for the community garden is Purruna, meaning wellbeing and life-giving in the Kaurna language. The name has been engraved onto a beautiful Blue Gum slab, with a new mural made by the children at the bush school placed to form an arched entrance leading into the garden.

This project was coordinated by Minya Windas program creator Violet Buckskin. The mural was recently unveiled at a ceremony with over 100 people in attendance, including friends and family, council members and the local mayor.

“We asked if we could call the garden Purruna, and Violet and Jess were happy with that,” Rick says. “The mural is complimentary to the Purruna sign. Minya Windas wanted to put some of their Aboriginal culture there as well, and together, they blend beautifully.”

“Knowledge of Aboriginal culture and their history is a really important part of breaking down barriers, and out of that comes love and compassion.”

The Minya Windas bush school, which means Little Owls, provides storytelling from Elders and ongoing carer support for Aboriginal children in foster care. The bush school first came about because foster families wanted to ensure that the Aboriginal children in their care could maintain a connection to their culture. Led by coordinator and Cultural Educator Jess Karpany and a team of Aboriginal educators, and Kaurna Elder Claudine Buckskin, the children participate in yarning circles, cooking and games.

“We have two patches in the community garden,” explains Jess. “We are growing pigface and chocolate lily, native guava, native raspberries and finger limes. Most of those have been donated by our partnership with Bunnings. We explain to the children that before there were shops to buy food, Aboriginal people moved from place to place to access bush food, and that’s what we’re doing here, to show them a snippet of sustainability.”

The bush tucker foods will be harvested and support the work of the community garden, with produce being used for the Salvos cafe. Minya Windas have also submitted a grant application to fund a yarning circle that will continue to build an inclusive space for community-building. This will benefit the community through its accessibility to other community groups and members.

“Having the native plants in there allows them to experience what native foods there are,” Jess explains. “It’s looking at the diversity, foods you wouldn’t normally eat. We have bush school, go for a walk, we talk about the trees, water the plants, weed if we need. It’s land care and sustainability. It’s about sharing and learning.”

With more foods being planted and plans to establish a yarning circle, Minya Windas looks set to continue sharing and learning. The collaboration at Riverside Salvos has seen people harvesting more than food and finding understanding and compassion as well.

“They’re planting the seeds; we’re just providing the space,” Rick says. “It has the potential to increase awareness and break down barriers formed through ignorance. All of us, to a degree, are ignorant of their culture. We’ve learned so much in the last 12 months since we’ve been involved together. Knowledge of Aboriginal culture and their history is a really important part of breaking down barriers, and out of that comes love and compassion.”

_{By Anthony Castle}