On Wednesdays, there's a buzz at the Port Lincoln Aboriginal Community Council garden, and it's not just from the bees and birds among the beds of ripening vegetables and herbs.
The garden is delivering smiles, lifestyle changes and a harvest of fresh and flavoursome foods.
It's also helping an Indigenous community grappling with one of the lowest COVID vaccination rates in South Australia — at 35 per cent last year — deal with the mental stress of the pandemic.
The garden is one facet of a new program called Connecting the Dots, which aims to link community members with each other and with services in the community to improve their lives.
Discovering strong, proud history
Connecting the Dots coordinator Mandy Spalding said the program included gardening, sewing machines, a place for a cuppa and an archive collection of newspaper clippings and other documents.
She said the archives were empowering a new generation.
Ms Spalding said people really enjoyed seeing relatives and talking about those that might have been lost.
"[People are] also exploring their family trees and looking at some of the very active members in the community as well who have formed a pathway for other community members to follow," she said.
"It's really exciting to uncover some of that and really promote it for the younger generation and show how hard their ancestors did work to create something out of a very hard situation they were in."
Ms Spalding said the program wanted to get people out of their homes.
"With COVID, we've had to face the challenge of human interactions being limited, for good reasons, but it still can accelerate that loneliness that people might feel or that alienation," she said.
Ms Spalding said the garden had been used over the years, but as funding waned, it had lapsed, along with their youth club, Gidja Club, that had been integral for connection for young people.
"We can see the negative outcome of that in the community and the lack of engagement with youth, so we're sort of trying to bridge that gap," Ms Spalding said.
"To lose that is pretty devastating, and we're seeing some of the kids now who haven't had the benefit of Gidga Club for two years.
"Going on three, years we're seeing negative social outcomes from that, unfortunately."
They're hoping the garden plants a seed for the generations to support and learn from each other.
Port Lincoln Aboriginal Health Service social and emotional wellbeing Aboriginal community caseworker Christina Lake said the garden could help their clients with mental health issues and chronic diseases.
"Gardening just helps you mentally, getting your hands dirty, you just get in a zone, it's a bit like a meditation," Ms Lake said.
There is also scope to involve elders, native titleholders, and young children.
"We'd like to get the kids involved also, so they know where food comes from, not just from the shops, and they can eat their own veggies, especially tomatoes because they just taste wonderful," Ms Lake said.
Plan to grow Indigenous healing plants
Wirangu woman Susie Betts has tended the garden regularly and knows its benefits.
"It's really helped me, especially in the last couple of weeks, months, or so, especially with COVID and everything," Ms Betts said.
Ms Spalding said Connecting the Dots also had a role in helping the younger generation, working with a youth justice officer to engage young people in the community.
"We're trying to get them to come to the garden so they don't feel like they're isolated, so they feel like they've got a network of family relationships," Ms Spalding said.
Ms Betts said she would like to help plant some Indigenous healing plants that would be available to everyone visiting the garden.
