Gumala Aboriginal Corporation From Food Scraps to Fertiliser

Funding Evaluation Report

June 2014

This publication has been produced through a grant project funded by the Waste

Authority. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect

the position or policy of the Waste Authority or Government of Western Australia,

which may not be held responsible for the accuracy of information provided, nor is it

liable for any and all outcomes from the use of this information.

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Index:

Page 3 An Overview of Gumala Aboriginal Corporation

Page 4 Description of the Project

Page 8 Project Evaluation

Page 12 Conclusion

Page 16 Achievement Gallery

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An Overview of Gumala Aboriginal Corporation

Gumala Aboriginal Corporation (GAC) is a world-class Indigenous organisation that serves its

vastly growing Membership. GAC has in fact rapidly developed into one of the largest

Aboriginal corporations in Australia, and holds the ambition of becoming the leading

Aboriginal Corporation in the country.

GAC is extremely proud of its growth, achievements and development over the years since

its incorporation in 1996 and the signing of the landmark Yandi Land Use Agreement in

March 1997. The Yandi agreement has resulted in the receipt of significant land

compensation monies from the Yandicoogina open pit iron ore mine, and has enabled GAC

to provide a wide range of services to its Members in the areas of community development,

education & training, cultural & health services, as well as business development.

GAC has become the seventh largest Indigenous corporation in Australia and has recently

restructured its operations to provide additional services and improved service delivery. This

in turn ensures the efficient and effective service delivery of the many GAC programs and

projects, namely the health & wellbeing and education & training programs, as well as

sports & recreation grants, cultural services, community infrastructure and housing

development.

GAC remains focused on its overall key objectives, which are the preservation and

protection of the Members’ heritage, culture and languages; in-kind assistance; training and

employment initiatives; as well as economic, community and social development.

Website: www.gumala.com.au

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Description of the Project

The ‘From Food Scraps to Fertiliser’ program was designed in collaboration with the

Youngaleena Community for recycling organic household and garden waste. It involved

purchasing chickens whose manure can be put in compost bins before being used on the

vegetable gardens and landscaped garden. The compost bins prevent organic waste from

our communities being dumped in a landfill where it breaks down and releases methane, a

potent greenhouse gas that contributes to landfill leachate that has a negative impact on

the environment.

The Youngaleena community garden has been built around the new early childhood

education centre. The purpose of the garden is to:

Provide a green and shady environment for the kids to play

Wind and dust suppression

Supply organic food for the school kitchen and members of the community

Beautification of school and community centre

Education tool for school and wider community

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The garden consists of many different plants and areas with their own function and

purpose:

Playground and sandpit

Lawn

Fruit trees and vines

Raised vegetable garden beds

In ground vegetable and herb gardens

Display gardens

Chicken pen

Nursery and sea container

Wind break (outside fenced area)

Playground and Sandpit

A playground and sandpit is being installed on the far side of the centre with a shade sail

over the top. The playground is being put here so that the kids can play as loud as they like

and most of the sound will be blocked by the building and front garden so not to disturb the

near buy houses.

Lawn

Lawn is being put on both sides of the centre. The lawn will help with dust suppression as

well a cool the area and provide a good area for the kids to play. The lawn area at the front

will have a path around it to provide a barrier between the lawn and vegi garden area.

Fruit Trees and Vines

Many fruit trees have been planted out around the garden. A few citrus trees have been put

between each raised bed as well as a few apple trees at the end of the raised bed area.

Grapevines and passion fruit have been planted along the far fence to grow over and shield

the area from the hot wind. We have also planted lemon grass between trees in other areas

to aid with wind block.

A few grapevines and passion fruit have also been planted next to the centre to climb up

poles for aesthetics.

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A few kiwi vines where planted to see how they would go in the climate but they all died

this may have been due to planting them at the hottest time so some more maybe planted

in winter to see if they go any better.

The apple trees were also a bit of a trial and so far are growing well.

Raised Vegetable Garden Beds

Six raised corrugated planter boxes have been fitted and are mainly for annual vegetable

plants. We filled the bottom of the beds with the rocky soil from the site, and then layered

hay and chicken manure, topping with a layer of river sand and finished with a layer of good

commercial vegie soil.

A number of different plants have been put through the beds including, cucumbers, carrots,

radishes, eggplants, sunflowers, and corn, just to name a few, as well as growing new plants

that the community members like to experiment with.

Each time we sew some plants we try a few new ones that people are unfamiliar with to see

how they grow and to get everyone trying something new and learning something new. The

eggplant was one of these. This was one vegetable nobody in the community had seen

before, so once it was ready and ripe, we showed the community members how to cook it

and it turned out to be a big success with the kids.

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Vegetable and Herb Gardens

Fruits and herbs were planted along the fence in front of the raised beds and beside the

chicken pen vegetables.

The area was very rocky so we went over the area with a rotary hoe and tried to dig out and

remove the larger rocks.

A mint garden bed was planted on the community side of the centre. The mint has done so

well we have decided to extend this garden right the way around.

The far end of the garden is currently being used for watermelon, rockmelon and pumpkins.

As this is at the front we have decided that the melons are a bit to untidy and the melon

garden will be put out the back on the other side of the fence.

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Project Evaluation

Display gardens

A garden was put at the front near the entry point to the building to increase the overall

attractiveness of the surrounding landscape. The garden is edged with flat river stones and

clumps of garlic were planted around the sides. Wattle was planted in the middle with mint

at the top and occasional annual flowers throughout.

Along the outside of the fence on the community side we planted some large frangipanis of

different colours.

Chicken pen

A chicken pen area was selected and a coop was built. A hen and six chicks where put in.

Unfortunately only a hen and 2 rosters are left, so more hens will need to be acquired. The

chickens that are there now are very happy they get lots of scraps from the community as

well as weeds from the garden, grasshoppers and other insects caught from the veggie

garden.

A lemon tree and mulberry tree were planted in the chicken area. The plants thrive from the

excess chicken manure and provide the chickens with both shade and food.

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Two fences are covered in shade cloth and the other fences are covered in plants like snake

beans and passion fruit. Inside the pen beans, water melons and a few other seeds have

taken off.

Nursery and sea container

A sea container was place and secured next to the chicken pen. This is being used as a

garden shed for all of the tools to be stored. A basic nursery was built to the side of the sea

container and plants can now be propagated in here both by seed and cuttings.

Seedlings can be grown from the raised beds so as soon as the bed is ready, new plants can

go out. Any food scraps and weeds that don’t go in to the chook pen go in here with chicken

manure cleaned up from the pen. Once the compost is nicely broken down, this will go out

on top of the raised garden beds to be mixed in. Six compost bins were purchased for the

garden.

Wind break (outside fenced area)

A wind break was built on the far side to the garden to help stop the hot winds. It was made

using gum trees and eremophila.

Acknowledgement

There was an article in our Christmas 2013 newsletter about the Community Waste Grant,

and the project will be featured in an upcoming newsletter also. There is also an

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acknowledgement on our website and in our next annual report, thanking the Waste

Authority.

Overall evaluation:

Once the project objectives had been identified and the funding received, GAC set out to

organise the compost bins, chicken coop and chickens.

Approximately 40 Members benefited from the project.

Workshops were held with the community liaison officer regarding care for the chickens,

the correct use of the compost bins and compost once produced. Workshops will be held on

an as need basis to address any issues Members of the community may be having with the

areas of the project as a whole. No issues have been reported to date.

As part of this project GAC collaborated with community residents to create a vegetable

garden and a community landscaped garden. Accredited training is being planned to be

delivered for the Youngaleena Community Centre in horticulture. Given the need for land

care services across the Pilbara, it is anticipated that Indigenous business opportunities will

result from such training.

The community had noted a significant decrease in waste going to the landfill as a result of

the compost bins provided as part of this project. GAC hopes to carry out similar work in an

upcoming project for the Bindi Bindi community in Onslow this year.

It was decided after transporting the equipment to build the Youngaleena Community

Centre (another one of Gumala’s projects) that it would be more economical to re-use the

second hand shipping container as the storage for the tools for the ‘From food scraps to

fertisiler’ project. The Community Grants Scheme was contacted to ensure that this was

acceptable under project scope and it was raised that we could potentially need planning

and environmental approvals if this were to take place. The Shire of Ashburton was

contacted regarding this request and they confirmed that no planning approval would be

required, but that a building permit would need to be obtained.

A building permit was obtained and the container placed in an appropriate location.

Some of the plants grown:

Lemon grass: A few lemon grasses were originally planted together, however these have

now been used as mother stock and divided and planted out in other areas. Lemon grass is

being used as a wind block as it grows so well. The leaves are being cut and dried and used

as a sustainable mulch and of course the lemon grass will be used in cooking, teas and we

also made some cordial for the kids and it was a big hit.

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Homemade lemon grass cordial hasn’t got all the ‘nasties’ normal cordial has plus, using

organic lemon grass gives many added health benefits to the kids. We are planning on

putting in a trail crop of stevia to see how it goes out there. If it does well we will put more

in and replace sugar with this.

Tapioca: Small tapioca shrubs were planted to see how they would grow, they have taken

off very well. These plants will also be used as mother stock and cuttings taken to grow

more.

The tapioca plant grows an edible root which is used in a lot of things; also the leaf is edible

and highly nutritious.

Rosella: Rosella grows well over summer and flowers look great as well as bearing edible

fruit which is great in jams or as a cordial or just eaten straight off the plant.

Snake beans: Snake beans are being grown over the fence and grow great up here. The

beans are being eaten like normal beans.. They put out a crop quite regularly and dry seeds

have been collected for re-seeding and some have been used to feed to the chickens.

Curry bush: A curry bush was planted and is now growing well and being used as a mother

plant to take cuttings from. The leaves of the curry bush smell just like curry and can be

used to flavour meals.

Mint: Mint is being used as a low hedge around the centre as well as looking nice and green,

it also adds a nice sweet fragrance through the air which can be very calming. Mint is also

being used in cooking and being used to make a good healthy alternative to cordial.

Response from project recipient:

(Statement from Gumala Member and Youngaleena Community Resident – Patricia Parker)

“The Youngaleena community is pleased and appreciative of the work carried out in partnership with

Gumala for the food scrap to fertiliser program. The chickens and rooster are healthy and strong. The

mulching and wood chippings were a great thing to receive because of the hot climate, given that the

plants need more protection for survival.

On behalf of the Youngaleena community, I, Patricia Parker would like to state that I am delighted

with what we have achieved via the Community Grant Assistance Scheme and thank them for their

contribution.”

Signed: ………………………………………………… Date: …..…..…/……….…/……………

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Conclusion:

Overall, the food scraps to fertiliser project has been a resounding success. Input and

ownership of the project from the Youngaleena Community has been one of the key

outcomes, and feedback from local residents regarding the project has been

overwhelmingly positive and a sense of empowerment is obvious from the faces of the

community participants.

The chickens in particular have been extremely popular with the children in the community,

and are giving them an insight into ways to make the most of the scraps from the

kitchen. With the school year beginning shortly, the chickens and gardens around the new

community building will form a key part of the daily school curriculum, further

strengthening the opportunities for learning associated with the project.

We found the application process and administration of the grant to be user friendly and

straight-forward. The only advice we would give to other prospective applicants would be

to have clear objectives and keep good records along the way to ensure ease of reporting at

the conclusion of the project.

GAC is currently in the feasibility stage of another community building/early childhood

centre to be constructed in the Bindi Bindi community in Onslow, and we would certainly be

looking at reproducing some of the positive outcomes achieved in Youngaleena in that

project.

Things to come

On the outside of the far fence between the garden and the wind break, we will be putting

in a potato (normal and sweet potato) patch and an area for melons and corn.

Some bush plants have been incorporated in to the garden but more will start being put in

to provide some good local bush foods.

The garden is completely organic and as such the community can make their own pest and

weed sprays.

Organic fertilisers are used as both manure and liquid sprays. At the back of the sea

container drums will be set up to make liquid fertilisers out of compost, seaweed and

cowpats.

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The garden is growing great and the community input has been exceptional. The kids love

getting in to the garden and helping out.

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Achievement Gallery

The Community Garden

Taken Early November Taken Early December

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The vegie bins are looking fantastic, an exciting outcome from a healthy rich soil full of

nutrients and we are now producing cucumbers and melons. Germination is occurring

rapidly really is good to see.

Cucumber Watermelon

Grapefruit Tree Apple Tree

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Mama Chook Baby Chook

Beautiful trees growing in front of the newly built Youngaleena Community Centre