A large number of guests made their way to the Food Ladder Community Garden on Monday from a range of different local organisations to help celebrate NAIDOC Week and get more hands on in the cultivation of crops.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Katherine Indigenous Women’s Association and Food Ladder provided the location and CatholicCare NT provided the majority of snacks and refreshments for the morning tea as well as tables and chairs.
It was the youngest members of the community who were most enthusiastic about rolling up their sleeves and getting into the garden beds.
KIWA secretary Angie Siputro was showing the children how to plant seedlings in the Community Patch.
“We’re letting the kids learn how to do a bit of planting,” she said.
“I feel like they will have a sense of ownership when they come, because we want the community to feel like they partly own the community farm.
“We are engaging the young ones to learn how to plant, and to plant veggies in particular.”
KIWA chairperson Taryn Kruger said she had been a bit nervous as it was their first community event and she was not sure what to expect.
“We only thought five or six people would attend, but this is really good,” she said.
“This is good, there’s a lot of interest in Food Ladder.”
CatholicCare NT provided a lot of support to the morning tea Ms Kruger said.
“They supplied the smoko, the chairs, the tables, the urn,” she said.
“We weren’t really prepared for more than just showing off the farm.”
Ms Kruger said they received a lot of interest in some of the smaller displays they had out, including gravity pots made out of recycled water containers.
Ms Siputro said she thinks the community response to the NAIDOC week event is great exposure for KIWA.
“This is a testament of their leadership and their initiative as Katherine women and Katherine indigenous Women,” she said.
“I think it’s good that they are getting this exposure and they are getting recognised for their work.”
NAIDOC Week is an important celebration of indigenous culture and identity in Australia and around Katherine there will be a number of events to celebrate.
Make your way down to Mimi Arts on Thursday evening for a drink and smoke free event showing of the art and culture from across Katherine region.
Starting from 4pm and going until late there will be an opportunity to meet and buy directly from local artists as well as a range of cultural activities including traditional dancing, weaving, painting, wood carving and didgeridoo making.
