Australian Native Plants for Food (Bush Tucker / Indigenous Plants) course

Course Level	Statement of Completion	Supplier	Courses Direct
Delivery Modes	Online, Distance Learning	Price	~~$874~~ $699
Duration	100 Hours, 9 Hrs/Week

DESCRIPTION

Learn about identifying, growing and using Australian Indigenous Plants for Food. There are many Australian plants that are edible, and even some that are in very high demand as foods throughout the world. The Aborigines lived off the land before white civilisation came to Australia. Plants contributed significantly to their diet.

There are many different types of bush tucker foods:

Nuts and seeds (eg. Acacia, Macadamia, bunya nuts)
Drinks (eg. hot teas, infusions of nectar laden flowers, fruit juices)
Flavourings (eg. lemon scented myrtle)
Berries (eg. Astroloma, some Solanum species)
Fruits (eg. quandong, Ficus macrophylla, Syzygium)
Vegetables
Wattle seeds ground to produce ‘flour’
Plant roots ground to produce a paste or flour.

LESSON STRUCTURE

There are eight lessons in this course:

Introduction
Scope
Is it Edible
Native Plants to be Cautious with
Understanding Plant Toxins
Nutritional Value of Bush tucker
Plant Identification
Naming Plants
Hybrids, Varieties and Cultivars
Plant Families
Pronouncing Plant Names
Resources
Growing
Understanding Soil
Improving Soil
Feeding Plants
Growing Australian Plants on Low Fertility Soils
Planting Procedure
Mulching
Pruning Australian Plants
Propagation
Seed
Collecting, Storing, Germinating Seed
Difficult Seeds
Seed Germination Techniques
Handling and raising seedlings
Asexual Propagation (Cuttings, Division, etc)
Gathering
Introduction
Ethics
Bush Foods as A Commercial Venture
Gathering Acacia Seed
Developing a Bush Food Garden
Designing a Bush Garden
Selected Native Trees for a Bush Tucker Garden
Selected Shrubs for a Bush Tucker Garden
Selected Small Indigenous Australian Plants for a Bush Tucker Garden
Rainforest Gardens
Desert Gardens
Edible Arid Zone Bush Tucker plants
Water Management
Nuts and Seeds
Macadamia
Araucaria
Aleurites moluccana
Athertonia diversifolia (Atherton Oak)
Castanospermum australe
Hicksbeachia pinnatifolia
Acacias
Using Acacias (eg. Wattleseed Essense)
Vegetables
Native Spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides)
Pigface (Carpobrotus sp.)
Longleaf Mat Rush (Lomandra longifolia)
Solanums (Bush Tomatoes or Kangaroo Apple)
Blechnum indicum
Apium prostratum (Sea Celery)
Native Lilies
Microseris lanceolata (Yam Daisy)
Dioscorea transversa (Wild Yams)
Native ginger Alpinia caerulear
Seaweeds
Fruits
Astroloma
Austromyrtus dulcis (Midgen Berry)
Billardiera sp (eg. Appleberry)
Davidsonia purescens (Davidson’s Plum)
Eugenia spp. and Syzygium spp. (eg. Bush Cherries)
Ficus (Native Figs)
Planchonella australis (Black Apple)
Quandong (Santalum)
Rubus sp (Native Raspberry)
Other Fruits ...lots more outlined
Flavourings, Teas, Essences
Backhousia
Curcuma (related to ginger)
Eucalyptus
Leptospermum
Soaked Flowers (eg. Grevillea)
Acacia
Alpinia caerulea
Tasmannia sp
Using Bush Tucker Plants
Develop your ability to identify, select, and develop processing procedures, for a range of varieties of bush food plants selected.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

AIMS

Discuss the nature and scope of bush tucker plants.
Review the way bush tucker plants are accurately identified.
Describe how to cultivate a range of bush tucker plants.
Describe how bush foods are harvested from the wild and how to set up a cultivated bush food garden.
Outline the cultivation, harvest and use of various bush tucker nuts and seeds.
Explain the cultivation, harvest and use of various bush tucker vegetables
Explain the cultivation, harvest and use of various bush tucker fruits
Explain the cultivation, harvest and use of various bush tucker plants that are used to flavour foods or beverages
Describe the preparation of bush tucker.