How to Start a Bush Food Garden at Your School
Starting your very own bush food garden at your school or early learning centre is a beautiful way to embed Indigenous perspectives and STEM learning into your outdoor space. It is a great platform on which to engage with your local Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community; getting them involved in the planning, implementation and ongoing learning program of the garden is a wonderfully enriching experience. For us, the idea behind a bush food garden is that children are creating a garden that highlights their local Indigenous culture. Here’s some easy steps to starting your bush food garden:
Talk to your local Indigenous community. You may even be lucky enough to have a local Indigenous business nearby that specialises in creating spaces like these. Ask if they would like to be involved. Businesses and/or organisations involved should be remunerated for their time. Don’t expect community to give their knowledge and time for free. Another avenue of engagement is to ask families within your school or service if they would like to be involved in the process.
Ask children to draw or paint out a picture of what they think their garden should look like. These can be used as inspiration for your garden design and will assist children in taking ownership of their new garden.
Do your research. What are the local bush food plants to your area? How do they grow and are they suitable for a garden? Think about what you’re planting in terms of what can be harvested and used by your children and students.
Fill your designated garden space with native plants! Here are some tips to keep in mind:
Plant sporadically (unlike other gardens that are usually planted in neat rows, a native Australian garden should be more random).
Include some special bush plants (e.g. ones that are used for special purposes, like bush foods or medicines).
Include bush grasses – these can then be used for children’s crafts (e.g. Lomandra longifolio, also known as basket grass, is great for basket weaving activities).
5. After your bush food garden has been created, decorate it with ‘story stones’ that the children have painted. Story stones can be made by letting the children paint rocks with symbols and pictures. Spread them throughout your garden.
6. Use your garden as a special place for outdoor story times or yarning circles.
What STEM Children Might Be Learning in this Activity:
The names of different native plants.
About designing a garden space.
How different plant species can attract different animals and insects.
Plant lifecycles.
Biodiversity.
Be sure to check out our Bush Foods Books section for more great resources.
