Local Food Connections

The Murnong Mummas are a social enterprise on Dja Dja Wuruung country in Central Victoria which is connecting local First Nations people to country and community through growing, eating and sharing native foods. In this podcast, Gunditjmara person, Ira Barker, discusses the native foods that the Murnong Mummas grow at the Harcourt Organic Farming Co-op and how growing and selling these keeps indigenous knowledge alive.  If you would like to find out more about the Murnong Mummas, go to Murnong Mummas.com.au Local Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song You Are What You Eat

Shani Shafrir is a therapeutic horticulture practitioner who teaches gardening and food-growing skills to school children, people struggling with their mental health and people living with disabilities. She believes that, Nature is a powerful regulator of the nervous system and our relationship with nature is essential to feeling comfortable in our skin. Any daily contact with nature makes a difference.  Shani has run workshops at Bridge Darebin, Ceres, Sustain and in the Goulburn Valley.If you would like to find out more about Shani's work you can go to her website, wellgrown.com.auLocal Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song You Are What You Eat

Fawkner Food Bowls is a small urban farm built on the sandy soil of a disused bowling green. Its president, Regan Defoe, says the community and friendships that have grown from the Farm are the reason they do not want to live anywhere else but Fawkner. In this episode, Regan speaks passionately of the joy of learning about Ramadan from Muslim gardeners, cooking with ingredients from widely diverse cultures and contributing to food security in the northern part of Merri-bek, where, during the pandemic lockdowns, many people did not live near a supermarket.Meet Regan and others in the growing community at the Fawkner Food Bowls Garden Festival on Sunday 14 April.Local Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song, You Are What You Eat

Rob Rees is the CEO of Cultivating Community a not-for-profit organisation that promotes access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food in Melbourne. This is mainly by supporting gardeners who live in public housing estates to grow food in community with others, often from widely diverse cultural backgrounds. There are 830 Cultivating Community plots in 21 locations around Melbourne.Rob is a leader in promoting healthy food systems and advocating for inclusive social policy in relation to health, education and disability. Local Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song, You Are What You Eat

An environmentalist with a Masters in Positive Psychology, Jules Jay believes that when it comes to social and behaviour change, particularly in relation to environmental challenges, the 'fear and threat' approach is not useful. She prefers to ask, 'where can we find hope?' She finds hope in local people taking grassroots action. Jules  convenes the Edible Hub at Hurstbridge where food is grown, harvested, swapped and eaten. It is also re-distributed at a drop off point where food retailers donate food that otherwise would be sent to landfill. Jules also co-founded the Nillumbik Repair Cafe, which helps people connect with each over reducing the mindless waste of objects that can be repaired or repurposed.  Local Food Connections thanks Fomidable Vegetable for their song You Are What You Eat

Fleur Baker joins Local Food Connections today to discuss how the principles of permaculture, such as the preference for small and slow solutions, and producing no waste can be used to help guide organisations to implement more sustainable practices. Fleur holds a Masters of Environment and Sustainability and is trained in Permaculture Design. She believes that regardless of whether a business is directly involved in the 'sustainability industry' (eg. by manufacturing solar panels) it can still improve it's practices to become more ethical.Mentioned in this episode:https://www.fairtrade.net/about/certificationhttps://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/certification/https://realearthsolutions.com/The Local Food Connections show thanks Formidible Vegetable for their song You Are What You Eat

Inspired by Japanese farmer and philosopher, Masanobu Fukuoka, Leila Alexandra is a proponent of natural gardening or 'wild edible gardening', an approach that emphasises spiritual values such as faith, wisdom and intuition.Leila grew up on a permaculture farm and remembers visiting Permaculture co-founder, the late Bill Mollison, in the lush food forest at his home in Northern NSW. She currently lives and gardens in her 840m2 rental property in Pascoe Vale, offering consultations to help people design and create their own edible gardens. If you would like to find out more about Leila, go to barefootfoodgardens.orgLeila has a food forest gardening worksop at CERES on 17 March 24. Details here:https://www.barefootfoodgardens.org/courses/food-forest-gardening-workshop-%40-ceresHer home garden will be open on 6 April 24. Subscribe to the Local Food Connect newsletter for details or go to the Local Food Connect website.Books mentioned in this episode are:Diana Beresford-Kroeger To Speak for the Trees: My Life's Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the ForestMasanobu Fukuoka The One Straw RevolutionTyson Yunkaporta, Right Story Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous ThinkingTyson Yunkaporta, Sand Talk: Changing the World through Indigenous Knowledge Local Food Connections thanks Formidible Vegetable for their song You Are What You Eat.3CR survives on donations and subscriptions so if you would like to financially support 3CR and the Local Food Connections show, then you can become a 3CR donor and/or subscriber by calling the station on 03 94198377 or go online at www.3cr.org.au.

Thuch Ajak spent his early years in refugee camps, having been displaced by war in his homeland, South Sudan. He returned to South Sudan full of optimism when peace was restored in 2006, gaining a BSc in Agricultural Science and working to rebuild the country using his expertise in crop protection. But the peace was short-lived and Thuch sought safety by leaving again, eventually finding himself a new home in Australia. Finding that his qualifications were not recognised here, he began volunteering at CERES, soon met a like-minded community builder in Mama Queyea and together, with the support of the wider community, founded the 3 acre United African Farm. Here African people from diverse nations can join together to share traditional knowledge and grow food, as they did in their home lands. Local Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song You Are What You Eat

Horticulturalist Jaimie Sweetman is the head gardener at The Edible Food Forest in Dixon's Creek. https://www.3cr.org.au/localfoodconnections/episode/edible-forest-garden-dixons-creek Jaimie tends the productive food forest according to permaculture principles, working with nature and intervening only when necessary. In this episode she shares her enthusiam for the unusual food plants growing in the food forest, all of which, edible or not, have a purpose. You can follow up on some of the plants mentioned here, in Jaimie's articles:https://localfoodconnect.org.au/eating/angelica/ Local Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song You Are What You Eat

In this episode, Amy and I are joined by Kirsty Bishop-Fox, a sustainability educator with huge energy for practical solutions. Kirsty is the co-founder and president of Zero Waste Victoria, which aims to raise consciousness around the items we consume and to inspire people to reduce waste wherever they can.  Kirsty is presenting at The National Sustainability Festival which is running for all of February, exploring ways to address the ecological and social challenges we face as a result of the global climate and biodiversity emergencies. zerowastevictoria.org.ausustainabilityfestival.au.sustainabilitypathways.com.au The Local Food Connections show thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song You are What You Eat