“Vegetables from a garden project in the remote Aboriginal lands of South Australia are now being picked.

Fruit and vegetable gardens are being tried at Watarru, Indulkana and Railway Bore as part of the SA Government’s food security strategy aimed at reducing remote food prices.

Picking has begun at Watarru, a community of about 30 people.

There are cabbages, cauliflowers, carrots, silverbeet and bok choy for locals to use.

The produce is being made available free of charge and people can pick their own.

The Opposition and some Aboriginal groups have been arguing the project will not reduce overall prices for food and other essential items in the APY Lands”.

What do you think? Gardens are an integral part of – but not the ‘sole’ solution – to high food prices in remote communities and of course a range of linked-up measures are required for resilience and sustainability…. Anthea

http://icv.com.au/communities/examples/kitchen-garden-inspires-better-health/

A number of people were in touch over the weekend to let me know they’d heard Wadeye gardeners call in to the ABC Gardening Show, or they’d seen the following links – read on….

http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2011/11/03/3355543.htm

http://www.newsroom.nt.gov.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewRelease&id=8838&d=5

RIG News #15 features stories about two very different types of farms that provide people (and animals!!!) with local fresh food with reduced food miles.  Check them out – along with news snapshots about a range of strategic developments in the ‘food’ and ‘human rights’ scene that include new reports from AMNESTY International and Oxfam’s GROW project.

Scott is a botanist and educator with extensive experience in parks and wildlife management. The Alice Springs Desert Park has a large bush plants farm and garden and the PowerPlants Program is an exciting initiative to support communities develop bush food and medicine garden initiatives on country. Power and Water service communities across most of the Northern Territory and have a dynamic Remote Operations team who RIG looks forward to working with.

Other updates - visit the updated  Gardens page and Useful Resources page that have been ‘growing’ and needed some tending!

This edition features garden news and updates from WA, NT and SA, along with a report on the DAA NT & RIG Network CPD Event, great new CAT Wicking Beds, RIRDC’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rural research and development plan and more….. let us know what you think and please send stories, pics and updates for future editions of RIG News. Anthea

…We’ve been updating the page to make it more user friendly….have a look.

“Hello, I am aware that several aboriginal communities in the NT, and perhaps elsewhere, are well advanced in their efforts to (a) construct hives,  (b) set up hives, and (c) produce honey.  It would be nice to hear how successful they have been, what  issues and problems they have faced, and how they have overcome the latter”.