Food Underfoot is on!

It’s a Monday post, on a Monday this time, from Cafe Sia, of course.

As usual, it’ll be held in Henry Chenoweth Park but this year, things will be a little different. We’re working in conjunction with the Gawler Environment Centre and, together we’re presenting the 2021 extravaganza as part of the Nature Festival of South Australia. It’ll be covered in a little feature in Citymag too. Does the fame ever stop coming?

Silly me, I’m assuming that everyone knows what Food Underfoot is! Let me give you some details…

Food Underfoot has been running for 4 years now. It started as an informal wander around Henry Chenoweth Park, near the heart of Gawler. This park has the largest number of edible wild food and medicinal plants in the local area. Henry Chenoweth Park is also easy to get to by car or on foot and is a large, flat, open space that is easily navigable by folks with minor disabilities and for participants with kids or dogs in tow. There is also a small network of paved and unpaved paths throughout, benches to rest on and bins for rubbish.

I got to know this park well over the years, Ligaya Garden is just a 5 minute, brisk walk away. It’s the walking shortcut through from Gawler South into the heart of Gawler and a place that is great for letting dogs run amok. I’ve been observing and foraging the selection there for ages and have got to know the plants and their distribution very well. Recently though, I had to remove a big part of the tour from the range that it used to cover when Gawler Council did what they seem to do best and took out all of the grand old Pepper Trees just across the road. It was a place I took participants for a bit of shade and to see some of the participating plants in a cosy, different ecosystem. Sadly, it’s all mulch now and the trees have been replaced with a crop of green tree protectors that I hope will grow into something substantial like they did at the river junction.

Henry Chenoweth Park is on an elbow of the South Para River and has most of the ‘weeds’ that you’ll find on our ‘Wild Foods and Medicines‘ page. Particularly common are Chickweed, Dandelion, Fumitory, Mallow, Petty Spurge, Plantain, Prickly Lettuce and Sow Thistle. You’ll here a lot of fascinating information about all of these and more. There’ll be info and anecdotes about their edibility and medicinal properties. I also explain their ecological roles as colonisers both individually and as a whole. The whole ramble takes about 2 hours so bring a drink! It may be wet on the day so appropriate clothing and footwear are essential and something to kneel on makes wet knees something that you won’t have to worry about. I supply a few magnifying glasses for the tour but if you have your own favourite, please bring it along.

We’re preparing an introductory pamphlet which will be available HERE when it’s ready. You can download it and print it even if you’re not coming along on either of the two days and it’ll be available on our ‘Published Stuff‘ page shortly after the final day.

Some of the usual suspects you’ll learn about –

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We’ll be hosting the event on two different dates, they are Sunday Sept 26th and Sunday October 3rd. Both sessions will be from 10am to 12pm. Each session will be limited to 5 people (+/- kids and dogs) and that’s for two reasons – Covid and the fact that with small groups, it’s easier for everyone to get up close and personal with the plants (while maintaining 1,5 metres distance from each other?).

Please note that we DO take Covid seriously so would prefer folks to wear masks as much as possible during the event but acknowledge that 2 hours or so is a long time to be undercover so will respect the need for folks to take a breather as often as they need.

Here’s where you can find out more by clicking the one that you want –

The cost is $20 ($22.19 if you include the booking fee that Eventbrite charges) but ask for whatever concessions you may have and if you’re really doing things tough, give us a message either here at Ligaya Garden or through the GEC. We’ll look after you!

Click on either you prefer below to find more details –

or you can book directly through Eventbrite for – Sunday Sept 26th OR Sunday October 3rd

I hope to see you there!