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The Forum > Article Comments > Fresh idea on remote gardens > Comments

Fresh idea on remote gardens : Comments

By Shirley McPherson, published 28/1/2009

At $14 for half a pumpkin, remote Indigenous communities need market gardens. Not just for cheap, fresh food but for job skills.

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If, “In a prosperous nation such as Australia, this is surely unacceptable” why is it that people hanging on to life in unsustainable remote locations have been paying $14 dollars for half a pumpkin instead of getting off their backsides and moving into areas where the cost of living is cheaper. It costs money to transport the necessities of life to isolated areas and, if you want to live there (with no good reason in the case of aborigines, who produce nothing and do nothing), then you have to pay.

They hang on with the totally ungrounded expectation that one day there will be a government stupid enough to provide them with all the conveniences of cities and towns in the middle of nowhere.

Now the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs has announced a you beaut enquiry into the community stores when any fool knows the cost of supplying remote areas, even quite large country towns away from capitals cities.

Shirley McPherson is chairwoman of the Indigenous Land Corporation. Why is she not doing something about it, instead of writing articles about it? Why haven’t the people paying exorbitant prices for fresh food removed their digits and done something?

Because, like all cargo cults they expect that governments and therefore taxpayers will take care of it all.

The indigenous people we are supposed to be helping have had 200 years to adapt to a sensible life; many have done so. Those remaining in remote camps have no intention of doing anything for themselves; they won’t be growing pumpkins no matter how much more money is wasted on them.
Posted by Leigh, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 11:43:44 AM
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Farming is a skill that was totally encouraged and backed in the time before supermarkets and forty ton trucks, and little market gardens were grown everywhere.I am told and believe that many communities have plenty of water available, and plenty of land. There are no unfertile soils. Only deficient ones, and fertilizer is cheaper than diesel.

This is a great idea, and should be encouraged. For a reasonable incentive I would bet there are thousands of skilled gardeners, men and women who would love to give some assistance to a community to establish a town garden. A retired farming couple whose children have taken over the farm, would prove ideal, but they would need to be assisted with travel costs and free accommodation while they were there. Many farmers have great butchering skills, growing skills and as great a love for the land as any one in the world.

There is nothing brings a greater sense of satisfaction than a successful crop. Given the fact that a garden attracts all sorts of native animals, many of whom are part of the traditional diet of these people, and a Police Officer with a shotgun to catch them, the benefits could prove enormous. What a great idea. There are about seven or eight great vegetable families, and to have a great diet seven or eight pieces of these different vegetable and fruit families should be eaten. In some remote communities shadecloth would be needed in summer,and would double as bird control.

Pumpkins are cucurbits, but so are choko's, Zucchini, Button Squash, bitter melons, watermelons, rock melons, and lots of yummy varieties of these. Citrus thrives in many areas, Tamarinds grow throughout Northern Australia, and are a valuable source of Vitamin C to fight scurvy. Mangoes, Tamelo's, guava's and many citrus also grow well throughout the region. Sweet potatoes are easy to grow and there are so many varieties the mind almost boggles. This woman is on the right track. Give a man a mfish and you feed him for a day, teach him to farm and he will flourish forever.
Posted by Peter the Believer, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 12:28:58 PM
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Please Leigh, spare us all your pig ignorant comments and maybe try and read a book. Who knows perhaps you might expand your currently tiny little mind.
Posted by BigAl, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 3:52:26 PM
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No I think Leigh has it about right.
No need for committes, Government departments and politicians who are earning a fortune with pensions beyond all reason.
We are talking gardening not nuclear physics. Lets get some lovely people like Peter Cundall to give them a hand and have a feel good TV programe. If only a few get with this programe it will be an improvement for them but lets also let the slackers know that we are not interested in their whining about expensive food. Especially from people too lazy to get out of their own way.
Posted by JBowyer, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 5:33:31 PM
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I like the idea about growing stuff at the communities, but I asked about it in a NT community I visited years ago, and was told that insects posed a problem - but that surely could be managed. Cultivating local bush food plants intensively might work too.

Leigh's outburst touches on an important issue: what exactly do remote communities aspire to and how do they see their future. The current situation is clearly not working, but I often wonder how the communities would like to be.
Posted by Candide, Wednesday, 28 January 2009 10:48:59 PM
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Not so long ago Landline featured a bush food company who are doing just that - going into remote communities and building partnerships in growing food both for local consumption and for job creation.

http://www.abc.net.au/landline/stories/s531220.htm

It is a marevellous idea for indigenous communities to be able to grow and eat fresh food that has not been stored and transported losing most of its nutritional value. There are many indigenous food crops that can be grown which are highly suited to local soils and climate.

To be successful though, it is the communities that need to take this idea on board. As Peter the believer said...give a man a rod etc. It is up to the individual communities to decide in which way they wish to improve their own wellbeing and create real opportunities for improvements in health and lifestyle. Taxpayer money would be well spent on programs such as these if it works and has a positive trickle down effect for the community.
Posted by pelican, Thursday, 29 January 2009 8:22:30 AM
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