Does anybody have an idea of where I can get information?

[Sharon K]

Hi There


I am currently a kindergarten assistant in the Moreland area of Melbourne and I am trying to locate Indigenous Bush foods that are relevant to this area as an activity for our Kindergarten children aged between 3 -6 years. Our children are facinated with our European Veggie patch but I would like to show them some of the plants the original owners of the land used for eating. Any help greatly appreciated.
I am finding it really difficult to discover names of plants

[JumpedAngel]

Hi Sharon

Best bet is to get a hold of a little book called 'Koori plants Koori people', it should be available from the Koori heritage shop in Kings St.

Otherwise the most common local to you were possibly the terrestrial orchid bulbs, the yam daisy, tree fern heart and acacia tears. The first 3 of which possibly no longer exist in your area, if you pm me an address I can send you some yam daisy seed, now is the time to be planting them.

[Sharon K]

Thank you so much for your reply

[Sharon K]

Hi Again
Have been tryong to locate what a terrestrial orchid bulb looks like - do you have a photo/picture or idea of what they may have looked like?

[JumpedAngel]

Here you would be looking for:

The Greenhood orchids - I only ever com across these in the damp gullies around the Dandenongs.

The Hiacinth orchid - Only come across this one around Port Albert and Port Welshpool, grows on sandy dunes in amongst the scrub.

The Potato orchid - yet to meet up with one of these

The story goes that the Port Phillip district was covered in these things back in the 1830's. All are fairly difficult to grow. I've tried greenhoods but they only lasted a couple of years.

[JumpedAngel]

In general, Aboriginal family groups would moves around their lands following various food cycles and would out of necessity camp near water courses whenever possible, there are a number of other staple plants used for food by them which I had not previously mentioned because of the fact that they are essentially water plants and short of sinking a couple of bath tubbs into your vegie patch in order to create a miniature wetland, you are not likely to be able to grow enough to be able to demonstrate their use (not to mention the potential drowning hazard for kindi-kids), these include the Bulrush or Reed Mace (Typha Sp.) roots, the roots of the Common Reed (Phragmites australis), the tubers of the Water Ribbons (Triglochin procera) and the corms of the Marsh Club-Rush (Bolboschoenus medianus).

Coastal plants that may survive in your patch include New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia tetragoniodes) and Coast Beard Heath (Leucopogon parviflorus)

Plains/Forest plants include the bulbs of the Chocolate lily (Dichopogon strictus), Bulbine lily (Bulbine Bulbosa), Vanilla lily (Arthropodium minus) and Milkmaids (Burchardia umbellata)

For fruit bushes you could try Muntries (Kunzea pomifera), and Apple-Berry (Billiardiera scandens) and perhaps a couple of Finger Limes but AVOID things like Kangaroo Apple (Solanum lacinatum) with the fruit being quite toxic until it becomes completely ripe.

Please Note. MOST of these foods were prepared by roasting or cooking in some way BEFORE eating!!!.

[Adleye]

if you really want to get information about the growing vegetables then you meet the relevant person or former which already experience of growing vegetables. They also told you how growing vegetable and which seeds are best in different environment or place vise. you must any former which live near your house.