Moodji Farm is a fully operational Indigenous-centred urban farm located on Merrimans Aboriginal Lands Council land adjoining Bermagui Preschool in the centre of the Far South Coast town of Bermagui.
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Moodji Farm recently held workshop events for Seniors Week that focused on teaching gardening techniques with permaculture expert, Dan Bakker and basket weaving skills with South Coast Indigenous artist, Cheryl Davidson.
Seniors Week was held from March 25 to April 3, however Moodji Farm held its belated workshop events across two weeks, with the first workshop held Thursday, May 26 and the second on Thursday, June 9.
The workshops were attended by some of the senior members of the Moodji Farm working bee group and others who were invited to attend from the Bermagui District University of the Third Age (U3A) group that provides short courses on various topics for older Australians.
U3A member Kym Hawes said after she completed the first workshop she got a taste for volunteering at Moodji Farm and has since been coming back on Thursdays to help during the working bee events.
"Once I got a taste of this a few weeks ago I thought I think I'll volunteer because it was taking me to Cheryl with the weaving and that was wonderful. I've been working on my weaving because it's such a beautiful little cultural connection," she said.
Moodji Farm manager and owner of Eat Dirt Permaculture Dan Bakker held workshops on no dig gardens and planting native saplings in paper pots made from recycled toilet paper roles that were brought to the farm by the community.
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Mr Bakker explained that saplings of indigofera and black wattle were being grown to create shade and windbreaks around the perimeter of Moodji Farm and would be a key part of the farm's syntropic food forest.
"Syntropic agriculture involves the designing and cultivating of a system that mimics the ecological processes inherent in a passive natural environment.
"In the case of a 'food forest' such a design might create a landscape and specific selection of plants that will rely on the passive elements at play in any self-regenerating forest," he said.
South Coast Yuin artist Cheryl Davidson was invited to present an interactive workshop on natural basket weaving using traditional practices.
Lomandra fibres, locally known as Jigamy grass, used during the weaving workshop were grown at Moodji Farm, planted around two and a half years ago during an earlier workshop with Ms Davidson and the Bermagui community.
"It's a classic Indigenous weaving grass used for mats and baskets. It's also edible, you can eat the white tips at the base and the seed," Mr Bakker said.
"It's not woven when it's green, there's a way to strip, dry, and bind it in a particular way.
"After it's been hung to dry and when it's ready to be weaved it's soaked in water for a couple of hours. I think a lot of the shrinking has already happened but by reconstituting it in water it makes it viable enough for weaving," he said.
The workshops were supported by grant funding from the NSW Seniors Festival Grants Program, the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal drought resilience program, and the Regional Arts NSW's Country Arts Support Program.
The Regional Arts NSW funding has also been used to support Ms Davidson to design a new graphic and logo for Moodji Farm to be used for ongoing promotions and in the creation of a new sign for the farm.
Some of those motifs in the design would also be used to design the new cultural fire circle at the farm that would be used for events such as the annual winter solstice celebration and by the preschool next door.
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