maple street co-op

Cultivating News
From "Maple Street Co-op News", Feb/Mar 2007

From Bush Foods to Zen Gardening
by Mary Meadows

The Woodford Folk Festival is much more than music and the performing arts: the environment also features as a major player, and to this end there are two aspects of the 2006–07 festival that I would like to share with you.

Graeme White and Veronica Cougan of Witjuti Grub Nursery gave three morning Bush Foods walks through the festival grounds. My walk commenced at 7.00 am and was supposed to last an hour but didn't finish until 8.30 am. Once on a roll, there is no stopping the passion of a nurseryman!

As we started our mini-trek from the welcome gate, Graeme pointed out that a lot of the fruiting trees planted in the early days are currently located behind temporary stalls, so the fruits were out of reach for our band of sightseers. However, we did notice the heavily laden papaya tree (the product of somebody casually throwing their seeds onto the ground), and were able to sample some native fruits towards the end of our walk. As an aside, one of our walkers was momentarily distracted as she greeted Kerry O'Brien, host of the ABC's 7.30 Report, who was passing by, probably looking for somewhere to get a quiet coffee.

The main inspection tour was of the area directly behind the new Greenhouse venue. Bush food plants have been cultivated in a number of other areas, such as the Butterfly Walk from the main carpark to the welcome gate, now abundant with bush food trees and vines – yes, vines! I was introduced to the Scrambling Lily (Geitonoplesium cymosum), a delicate small-leafed vine with showy white flowers, black berries and new growth tips that taste like snow peas.

Graeme and Veronica discussed plants such as Aniseed Myrtle that attract various butterflies. Once classed as a Backhousia, this plant then became known as Anetholea anisata and has now been classified as a Syzygium (Syzygium anisatum). I'm sure that if I were a butterfly, the nectar would still taste and look the same and I wouldn't need to be confused by name changes!

We saw and tasted Davidson’s Plum (Davidsonia jerseyana from northern NSW, or perhaps Davidsonia pruriens from north Queensland). We tasted Finger Lime (Citrus australasica), and Veronica showed us a locally grown lime (Citrus australis) indigenous to the Woodford area; it's a round fruit about the size of a golf ball. Apparently, scientists in Sydney have been fiddling about with finger limes to the extent that the flesh could be of the pink, red or green variety, and with species crossing it could become difficult to tell which is the original. We also tasted the Burdekin Plum (Pleiogynium timorense) and a Northern Tamarind (Diploglottis diphyllostegia) (or it could have been either Diploglottis campbellii or Diploglottis smithii, as both are growing beautifully at this site).

Graeme told us that we should not look at native bush foods as we would pieces of fruit in the traditional sense but in terms of their flavours. Some bush foods have very strong flavours and, like plums, make excellent jam but can be a bit tart for some palates. The Sandpaper Fig (Ficus coronata) is an edible fig, and I have it on good authority that the best tasting is the Ficus opposita.

For those interested in growing bush foods, Graeme and Veronica specialise in supplying plants for the home gardener. Their nursery is open by appointment only, and contact details are listed below.

The second festival attraction I'd like to share was an installation created by local artist and Co-op Board member Marc Kalifa. Entitled "Celebrating Spring", it was set up on a hill overlooking an area planted out to bush food trees. This installation was commissioned by the Visual Arts Department of the Qld Folk Federation and was co-ordinated by local artist Penny Smith. As an adjunct, artist Corrie Wright was commissioned to produce a labyrinth of light – an installation lighting the way up to Marc's work.

Marc's structure had three wings or arms made of locally grown bamboo that spread out from a focal point, which was a live tree (a Eucalyptus species). It was designed to echo the presence of giant ferns and primitive flora that one can imagine growing out of a forest floor. The structure was on a thick bed of white sand and Marc had included wooden rakes to invite the viewer to rake the sand and share in the practice of Zen gardening.

The rakes had round dowelling as forks, which created furrows in the sand – a reminder that our food comes from our cultivation of the earth. The three-piece archway created a peaceful space to rest, relax or contemplate, and gave a wonderful view of the northwestern arm of the festival site.

Contact details: Graeme White and Veronica Cougan, Witjuti Grub Nursery, 264 Walli Creek Road (PO Box 171), Kenilworth Qld 4574, tel (07) 5446 0264.

Editor's Note:
Steve Swayne of Serendigity Multimedia has compiled 500 of his high-resolution photographs of the 2006–07 Woodford Folk Festival (focusing on the Fire Event) on a photo CD ($15 inc. postage). A portion of proceeds is being donated to the WWF-Australia Partners in Conservation Programme. For more details and to see samples of these amongst other photos, visit http://www.serendigity.net.

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", February/March 2007; published by The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.co-op@serv.net.au,
website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]