Mooddji Farm helps Bermagui Preschool connect with community

Moodji (meaning ‘friend’ in the native Djiranganj language) farm is a fully operational urban and Indigenous farm located on Merrimans Aboriginal Lands Council land adjoining Bermagui Preschool through which people of all ages and backgrounds can come together to share histories, care-for-country and learn from each other through the growing of local food.

The farm is managed in partnership with the traditional owners, Bermagui preschool and the Moodji’s volunteers to provide a wonderful intergenerational and cultural melting pot that allows each to learn more about what it means to care for Country.

A thriving hub for people of all ages, the farm sees Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities come together to develop climate resilience, engage in Indigenous culture and learn about growing food in a climate responsive way.

“The children are deeply engaged in the farm, the Indigenous advisors and the community of volunteers who come together to tend to the patch and work hand-in-hand with the pre-schoolers,” explained Bermagui Preschool Director Narelle Myers. 

Over the past several years, drought, bushfires, water restrictions, unprecedented wind and rain events and compounding COVID-19 restrictions highlighted the need to educate the children and community on how to adapt to the ever-changing climate and the economic instability in the community that results.

While the COVID -19 pandemic presented challenges for Moodji, in the spirit of resilience, the team focussed on building up the skills and capabilities of a dozen volunteers who were socially isolated.  For five hours every week, these volunteers learned about a wide range of climate resilient plant variants, how to propagate successfully and how to best manage the coup, relishing in the connection to community and country during a very difficult pandemic period.

As a result, the farm now has “an incredible team of highly skilled volunteer gardeners who manage the farm and work with our Bermagui preschoolers,” said Moodji Farm’s Project Manager and permaculture specialist Daniel Bakker. 

“By having Indigenous and non-Indigenous seniors and the pre-schoolers work together we can reinstate wisdom systems that have been undermined by societal segregation, which is fantastic’, continued Mr Bakker.

The farm has been described as “an exemplary working model of integrating sustainable food production and Indigenous heritage thinking that considers the future of the Bermagui preschoolers, now and tomorrow”.

Learn more about the farm here.