Bushfood, belonging and helping nature do her thing | Australian Native Plants | Gardening Australia

We meet Indigenous horticulturist and educator Kris Schaffer, whose native garden is built on bushfoods and belonging. Kris Schaffer is an Indigenous horticulturalist and educator living on Muwinina Country in (Neika, Tasmania) that has been “cared for and sustained by Aboriginal people for 150,000 years”. “Every day we touch the morning and say, ‘we are honouring our ancestors, we’re honouring those that have walked this land before us, this beautiful island that is like a sanctuary for us’.”
Kris has been working with nature to build a garden 140 metres above sea level south of Hobart. Being above the snow line, there’s a “lovely, cool wet forest atmosphere.” The site had been cleared in the late 1800s for use as a horse paddock and become degraded and forgotten. “When I first acquire the land, I realised that I needed to grow a lot of plants, so to actually learn to propagate was critical to having so much open, degraded land. I really wanted to extend that knowledge further, so studying horticulture was that next step. Also, I was part of the Australian Plants Society and that was a critical way of learning how to propagate and grow the more difficult Australian plants.”
When Kris started the garden there were Climbing Blueberries (Billardiera longiflora), an iconic bushfood, so she started propagating it and grew it to the point where she had 6-kilogram harvests! That led to a specialisation and passion for bushfoods. “I’m part of a national Aboriginal women’s bushfood alliance that ensures that we as women are continuing to work on country through the collecting and cultivating, cooking, and eating of bushfoods.
“When I was looking at creating the garden, I was aware that I wanted to have those species of plants that were best suited to this spot.” Planted in bare clay soil, the indigenous Richea dracophylla grew without effort as it was simply the perfect environment for them. Pandani (Richea pandanifolia) is another iconic species endemic to Tasmania, which Kris successfully grew from seed thirty years ago. Kris also grew plants to attract birds such as Silver Banksia (Banksia marginate) and Old-Man Banksia (Banksia serrata) especially for the “manganas”, or black cockatoos.
“The legacy of this garden is letting nature do her thing, but those plants that belong here, if we can bring them into cultivation so that we can secure that that’s left in the wild, this is a demonstration of that.”
Kris’ garden is now “purely for the wildlife” including bettongs, bandicoots, potoroos, and pademelons. “I believe it’s using those Aboriginal, those Indigenous land practices, in the process of gardening that has made it so beautiful.”
Featured plants:
Climbing Blueberry Billardiera longiflora
Richea dracophylla
Pandani Richea pandanifolia
Silver Banksia Banksia marginata
Old-Man Banksia Banksia serrata
Filmed on Muwinina Country.
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[@simpletownworx]

Let's regrow what was destroyed and heal as a country. Grow local indigenous species!

[@vintendogirl4146]

Please do more bush foods. We live in Australia but so many of us don't know what's native or how to use a lot of the bush foods we are blessed with. We should be growing what grows here naturally, don't fight nature, nature's always right.

[@sweetlorikeet]

I love seeing Tasmanian Aboriginal people get to tell their stories, too many of us mainlanders get told in school that they got wiped out, we don't get told that they're still here and still keeping their traditions alive.

[@mrsbeard5225]

Yeah I think the school curriculum has perpetuated a lot of myths and was orientated towards some fairly inappropriate discourse and terminology - at least that was the case when I was at school 15-20 years ago.

[@tristanbuckoke9121]

Thanks for sharing your story. I am in true awe of the amazing transformation of that bush beauty. I'm a true believer that we should grow locally native plants for the benefit of our ecosystems. Cheers from south Australia

[@_MSD75_]

what a wonderful garden and a wonderful lady.

[@billwilliams7620]

Watching again, it's a great story!

[@NewMindGarden]

Amazing....

[@leonardacoppolella1908]

Awesome story, I wish everyone could do this, and hopefully more people will because they are the ones who survive with nature.

[@ytl9558]

I'm trying to grow bushfoods in my garden, having no luck though. I wish there were more videos about them.

[@jalbu8330]

So beautiful to see sister 😊

[@La_Space]

Thanks Kris, this is a great video. I wish nurseries offered bushfoods.... it would be a great way to ensure the growth and knowledge sharing would continue. Love this... How do I find those Climbing blueberries!

[@meikahidenori]

Many do but usually as ordementals (seriously There's many varieties of lilli pilly, all edible that you can buy anywhere!) . There's a few that do have poisonous speices like Blue Flax so ALLWAYS source bushfoods from reputable sellers who know the exact species they're selling and don't go picking wild ones (especially in Melbourne & Tasmania as the speices planted here in regeneration areas are toxic to humans and it's hard to tell the speices apart) companies like Melbourne Bushfoods sell seedlings to most states so always check if you can have things shipped to you. If not, find out what is local from a native plants co op.

[@chlorophyllheart]

My dream is a garden of Australian native edible plants. It grows here, why not cultivate it here and use it! I have native grape/kangaroo vine, native voilet, native thyme, plum pine, pigface; I want to grow finger lime, yams, and everything that I can find and grow that is native Australian.

[@avenueparramatta8572]

l love eating bush food

[@skie6282]

Do you know how long it takes for the climbing blueberry to mature to fruiting age? Is it the first year?

[@haydenwardell122]

150'000 years is a bit of a stretch but still love the video

[@peteron9541]

150000 years? not convinced that is true