Community Projects

Sunraysia Burundian Garden

ORICoop is pleased to announce it’s first Community Support project. We look forward to enabling more localised food, community programs to be supported by our members and followers…… please share and offer your support today!

Food Next Door are seeking support to continue growing the Sunraysia Burundian Garden.

Great news! The Burundian community was successful in receiving a local government grant to purchase a mill as their first step. The mill has been ordered and will enable the dried maize from last year’s and this year’s crop to be milled into flour for the community.

Four acres of land in addition to the one acre pilot property has been generously provided for the Burundian community to access to grow other diverse crops, including peanuts and a couple of varieties of dried bean. Interestingly peanuts use less than 10% of the water that almonds do for the same yield. In the arid climate of Sunraysia it’s a much more suitable crop and we’re excited to see how it goes.

 We are seeking to raise funds to support the installation of the irrigation system on the four acre property to enable planting in spring this year. So please consider donating directly to this great project!

Support Fungi 4 Land: A Guide for Managers

We know that healthy bushlands are resilient due to the myriad of interactions between our plants, animals, fungi and microbes. Australian fungi are different from those in other countries in the same way that our plants, animals and other species differ. Despite this, Australia lacks a practical guide to integrating fungi for conservation and restoration focused management. Restoration guides from other countries are therefore at best less applicable and at worst may suggest the incorporation of fungi from other regions and other counties, which would be detrimental to our Australian landscapes and species.

Sapphire and Roz have been teaching people the importance of fungi in healthy bushlands for two decades. When talking about how we needed a guide for Australian landscapes, we realised that wehave the skills and knowledge and we want to produce one ourselves. This guide will share how to use Fungi in conservation and restoration in Australian landscapes, for our forests, woodlands, grasslands, riverways, and arid lands. Both Sapphire and Roz have more than two decades experience in fungal community education and conservation projects and will work with mycologists from across the regions to produce a practical and science based guide.

We have the knowledge and networks to collaborate with Australian mycologists, other scientists and managers. With your support we will produce this this much needed and often requested Guideto the use of Fungi in conservation and revegetation in Australian landscapes.

Our guide will focus on integrating fungi into current management tool kits. We hope to sell the guide for about $25 each.