The Edible Brisbane: Public Fruit Map & The Brisbane Feral Fruit Map

I recently visited the market village of Axminster on the South West English coast, where the River Cottage Canteen is situated. River Cottage Canteen is the British celebrity chef Hugh Fearnly Wittingstall’s (HFW) cafe and local store. Why am I writing about a celebrity chef? Well HFW is a celebrity chef with a difference, along with Jamie Oliver he was hugely influential in the UK free-range chicken / egg revolution, through their programs, respectively Hugh’s Chicken Run and Jamie’s Fowl Dinners. In an independent poll by the RSPCA, it was found that since this movement 73% of adults in the UK claimed that they now only purchase birds that have higher welfare conditions.

HFW started a program titled River Cottage which is about him moving to the countryside and growing organic vegetables, harvesting from the hedgerows and the seaside, and producing organic meat. Since then he has created something of a brand, a brand of green living and sustainability, and he has grown in popularity as a result. I am impressed by his ability to shift the public psyche and popularise sustainable living, however my interest in Hugh has not been born of this, my primary interest in Hugh has developed from his interest in and support of the Landshare movement and Guerrilla Gardening movement in the UK.

I have written about Guerrilla Gardening on Brisbane to Bogota before, and HFW has shown interest in his program and on his website about this movement. He has reported on a wonderful urban group in Sheffield called the Abundance Crew. Although not Guerrilla Gardeners in the traditional sense, they are certainly utilising the urban space to harvest produce for the entire community. The Abundance crew have gained permission from landowners to pick the fruit from trees that usually go un-picked and are often left to rot. The crew pick the fruit (including apples, pears and peaches) and distribute these to poorer members of the community. Check them out hereon the Grow Sheffield site

Also Hugh has spoken about two Guerrilla Gardeners Pam and Mary in Todmorden, who started Guerrilla Gardening in Todmorden, because of a lack of Allotment sites. Pam and Mary started planted wherever they could in Todmorden, so they could inspire others to do the same in their town. They then launched the Incredible Edible Todmorden campaign and their plight was so successful that in March 2008 Calerdale Council got on board and now Todmorden has an extra 500 fruit trees and every school in Todmorden is now involved with growing food with the Incredible Edible crew. It would be amazing of more cities could take a leaf out of the Todmorden hat. I reckon you should check em out here and get inspired to grow some food on your streets.

What is Landshare?

With 100,000 people on the allotment list in the UK, HFW created the Landshare website which aims to connect people (or communities) who are looking for land to grow food to people with land to share. Landshare is to be launched in Spring 2009, although they already have 25,000people registered on the website.

In the UK interest in growing food has increased recently, this is partly due to the financial crisis and also due to a revival of the civic voice and community involvement, not to mention peoples increased interest in ethical and sustainable living. This increased interest in community agriculture has inspired the the UK National Trust has get on board and they are now working with Landshare to provide some National Trust land to keen growers, in fact in February they pledged to provide 1000 new plots over the next 3 years.

This is an inspiring contribution and will provide a lot of communities, families and individuals with a connection to the land that they may not have previously experienced. As individuals create their own food not only does the food security of that country increase so too does the social capital, as people connect with each other to share knowledge and stories (this is essential to creating sustainability). I think too often people hear the word ‘sustainability’ and they think only about the environment, however sustainability is the interconnectedness of the social, environmental and economic. Without all three of these working in unison sustainability with remain an overused, under-explained word, meaningless to too many.

I guess in conclusion I really appreciate HFW’s presence in the British public sphere; I think that anyone who can use their status to inspire conscious eating, sustainability and civic engagement is at least worthy of comment. I hope the UK citizens continue to strive to find connection to the land and each other, what else is there really?

]]> http://www.brisbanetobogota.com/2010/02/17/hughs-edible-britain-%e2%80%93-landshare-and-guerrilla-gardening-in-britain/feed/ 0 http://www.brisbanetobogota.com/2009/12/28/balaangala-community-group/ http://www.brisbanetobogota.com/2009/12/28/balaangala-community-group/#comments Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:43:54 +0000 admin http://www.brisbanetobogota.com/?p=308 Balaangala Community Group is a reconciliation group that formed as a result of responding to ‘GetUp!’ (an online independent, grass-roots community advocacy organisation), that was requesting people or groups to start a conversation about ‘reconciliation’. From this Balaangala formed in 2008 in the Brisbane Suburb of The Gap and is currently in the development stage.  Balaangala Community Group state that they aim to creatively bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians by;

• “connecting and caring for country
• developing and maintaining the Re-Creation place for community gatherings; sharing; listening; learning; self-reflection; discussion and collaboration
• developing sister/brother relationships with rural/remote Indigenous communities
• sharing creative practice, skills, experience and knowledge between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people through small -scale (achievable) projects
• conducting both public and private events/ceremonies
• being an advocate for Indigenous rights” (Reconciliation Queensland 2008) 

According to the Balaangala Community Group “the name is made up of two parts:  balaang meaning ‘two coming together’ from the Gamilaraay language of which members and their family are connected, and ala which we understand to mean ‘place of’ from the local Turrabal language.” 

Balaangala have developed a partnership with the local Bush Care organization Save Our Waterways Now (SOWN) and are currently developing an Indigenous demonstration garden, which I had an opportunity to visit in November. According to the Reconciliation Queensland website the Balaangala group report that they will “grow food and other produce which can be used to run education/craft/art workshops.”  They report that their “main focus is currently to develop and maintain part of the block with traditional Indigenous plants, as a place for community gatherings, sharing, listening and learning.”  Balaangala Community Group state they “are interested in connecting and caring for country through giving value and respect and promoting the position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Indigenous peoples of this land.”

When I was at the Yoorala Street site in The Gap earlier last month I was shown the “re-creation space” which is a gathering place where the community can come together, I was also shown some native edible plants including native hibiscus, kangaroo apple, native spinach and the first tree that was planted at the site at Yoorala St on 26^th May 2009 to commemorate Sorry Day.

It was a pleasure to visit the site in its development phase, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet with some of the members of the Balaangala Community Group, who are opening dialouge about reconciliation and engaging the community through growing food and connecting to the land.

To learn more about Reconciliation please go to the Reconciliation Australia website.

To learn more about GetUp! please visit their website.

Reference: Reconciliation Queensland. 2008. Balaangala Group. http://www.rqi.org.au/LRGProfiles.htm  

Quandong

I was wandering around Kelvin Grove Urban Village (KGUV) this morning, which is a 16 hectare master-planned community that demonstrates best practice in sustainable, mixed-use urban development in Brisbane. While I was there I saw few dismal looking ornamental potted plants beside a street cafe and it occurred to me rather than planting a non-native water hungry species, KGUV and Brisbane City Council (BCC) should plant some native drought-resistant fruiting plants.

It ceases to amaze me how few native fruit trees are planted in our streets, in our parks and in our public gardens. I strongly believe that there should be free food in the city, and there is no better way to do this than with native fruiting plants including;

Lillypilly

Moreton Bay figs

Quandong

Bush Tomatoes

Wattle seed

Davidson Plum

Lemon Myrtle

Lilly Pilly

These fruits have been used for thousands of years by indigenous people and yet most Australian people these days wouldn’t recognise a single native fruit tree.

I think its time to plant our gardens and streets with these fruiting plants and provide some edibles not only to native bees and birds but also ourselves.

If this food were to be grown in and around Brisbane it would be important for BCC to facilitate simultaneous education regarding the use of native fruits. This could be achieved in consultation with Brisbane’s traditional owners the Turrbal people, utilsing their skills and knowledge of native foods and their uses.

Doing some native Guerrilla Gardening would be a great way to invite some native fruiting plants into your streets and our city.

Please note: When identifying native and non-native fruits always be sure that they are edible before consuming.