‘Aboriginal business is about doing it different, basing it around cultural values.' Bush to Bowl's April & Adam on some simple truths we can all learn from our First Nations people.

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👉 Why listen?

I've often heard it said that we need more First Nations voices influencing the way we do business. But I must admit, I never really knew what that meant. Until now.

This episode changed my way of thinking about almost everything. 

🌳 I've always known making time for nature is good for my soul. They reframed for me: "Time in nature is time with your Mother." Mother Earth, that is. 

☺️ I've always felt that being good to people you're lucky enough to have working for you is important. Adam says about April: "We want her to excel in her career and as a young woman. It's our responsibility for her to support her in her path.'"

🐢 I feel like I've spent my career so focused on the urgent that there's rarely time for the important. They say: "To create great strategy you need to sit down and slow down, and that's culture. There's better ways to get the best out of ourselves, and it's hard to do that in a really fast world."

When you add it all up, it becomes very clear that the way of working so many of us want is pretty much exactly what indigenous culture says it should be. No text books, no frameworks, just 60,000+ years of learning to live in harmony with nature and each other. 

I hope you get as much out of this episode as I did and that it inspires more First Nations people to start a business, and more of the rest of us to learn from the wisdom the world's oldest living culture has to offer. 

We gave AI a listen. Here's what it had to say:

If food is culture, why do so many of us live on the oldest living culture on Earth and still don’t know the plants in our own backyards? We’re recording on Garigal Country and yarn with Adam and April from Bush To Bowl, an Indigenous-owned, Indigenous-run nursery working to bring First Nations bush foods from bush to bowl, and to help mob reconnect to Country through growing, sharing and learning.  

We talk about how the idea starts small, backyard growing, a landscaper sick of monocultures and “boring” gardens, then grows into school bush food gardens where kids taste native ingredients, ask better questions, and take that knowledge home. Along the way we face a confronting reality: bush foods can be trendy while Indigenous ownership in the supply chain stays tiny. Adam and April explain why that matters, not as a guilt story, but as an opportunity to build real Indigenous business, jobs, skills and pride.  

You’ll also hear what makes their model different: caring for people as a cultural responsibility, supporting young athletes and workers moving from community to city, and creating space for cultural days, walking Country and learning. We cover practical steps too, from growing Australian native plants at home to supporting Indigenous-owned nurseries, plus a huge milestone: Bush To Bowl plants reaching Bunnings shelves as an Aboriginal grower.  

If this yarn shifts how you think about Australian native food, social enterprise and sustainable business, share it with a mate, subscribe, and leave a review so more people find it.

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Full Episode Transcript

Singers 0:00

I'm gonna change this world today. Make those bad things go away.

Ben 0:04

So before I begin, I'd like to say that today we're recording on the land of the Garigal people and pay my respects to Elders past, present, and emerging. Adam, what's your favourite place in Australia?

Adam 0:13

I'd almost say Budar National Park, which is probably without an hour and 20 minutes north of here. Still on the boundary of Garigal Country, broken bay. And that would be one of the most special places that I feel I'm connected to. Alright. How about you, April?

April 0:30

My favourite place? Um back home in Townsville. Yeah. .

Food As Culture And Connection

Ben 0:39

Food. It's life's great connector. It connects us to the land, then it connects us to each other, bringing together people from different ages, families, and places, and giving us a first taste of what different cultures are all about. Yet while we've all enjoyed Italian, Greek, Thai, Chinese, Indian food, and more, how many of us have ever dived into the culinary delights of our own First Nations people? Bush to Bowl is on a mission to bring First Nations food grown by First Nations people to Australia and the world and reconnect their own people to country and culture by doing so. With us today is co-founder Adam and April, who I'm told is the real big boss of the show. So welcome, Adam and April. Hello, yeah, Warren. Thanks for having us. So,

How Bush To Bowl Began

Ben 1:22

Adam, we're sitting here in an indigenous-run nursery founded by you and Clarence, and it grows some pretty tasty bush stuff. But the idea didn't begin with a plant nursery, did it? It actually started with you growing your own bush food and finding others wanting to grow some too.

Adam 1:35

Yeah, well, Clarence is just a good fella to um bounce off, and he's got as much energy as me. And he was just practicing that cultural piece in his backyard. Me at the time on a balcony in a unit. I'm a landscaper by trade. And um, I just got sick of working for other people. Or maybe just that person I was working for, to be honest. And I was just seeing this real recurring trend of gardens that I just thought was just a bit boring, but also a bit too maintained. And then I thought then my cultural values was clashing with what I was doing in that job, um, spraying and um creating like monocultures in people's backyards. So, as you do when you've got a uh a young bub on the way and um you've got a pregnant wife at the time, you just go and start your own business. Um and yeah, I ran into one of my sister's best friends growing up, another proud Aboriginal woman. She's from up there in Alice Springs, and she said to me, Do you want to work in my backyard? And I got my first job. And yeah, I made her a native garden. And it just then it sort of transitioned into schools. Um,

Schools, Gardens And Cultural Learning

Adam 2:48

schools just really wanted a cultural sort of learning area, and they wanted to learn about bush foods, and it was just a really good sort of segue into sort of teaching that gentle approach of you know, being on country and working with plants and foods. But I think foods just such a big missing piece, along with language in this country, about um Aboriginal culture. Something I admire is like some of those Italian families and that are still practicing that culture and they hold on to that food story. It's a big part of their lives. And they chose to just keep that going when they came to Australia. But we know why we don't know about the foods here, it's because the I guess that shameful history of not letting the wider Australia learn culture. It's and on top of that, you know, the hard truth of families not even allowed to attempt to practice their own culture and being shamed out of it.

Who Grows Australia’s Bush Foods

Ben 3:47

There's the loss of the culture understanding by non-Indigenous Australians of what was going on. There's a loss for Indigenous Australians of their own culture. Uh, but then there's also this problem that like people are getting interested in finger lines, and I use that as an example, you know, because the one that many people have tried. But the problem that most of it's not grown by Indigenous people, it's actually either imported or just grown by everyday nurseries. So you guys are an Indigenous-owned indigenous-run nursery making indigenous food. How's that make you feel when you realize that 1% of bloody indigenous food comes from Indigenous people?

April 4:21

Well, it definitely is um kind of a bit sad, you know, that a lot of people don't really know our own land and stuff. And we grow up from a young age, like for non-Indigenous people as well. So we all live in Australia and all these fruits are legit at the back of your house, all these plants. So instead of like going to supermarkets, buying all that food and stuff, some of these can be growing in your own little gardens and having twice the amount of vitamins that are within a normal fruit or veggies that is found at the local store. So yeah.

Adam 4:59

Well, food's culture. I like we travel all over the world for culture. We've got the oldest living culture here, and we just want to share it in a peaceful way. It's like it actually, we're eating other people's bush foods, right? I think a high percentage of our foods are actually Native American foods, like tomatoes and spring onions and beans. They're native like corn. Like we're eating like other indigenous foods, which is incredible because you wouldn't know that, would you? But we are, we are, we're eating other bush sucker. We all are. How do you introduce some of those staples and replace them to build not only industry in Australia for Aboriginal people? Because

Industry Over Charity For Community

Adam 5:43

I'm a big believer in industry opposed to non-for-profit. My non-for-profits should be helping people like some really important sort of causes like um women's shelters and 100%. But I think we could also sort of free up some of that support for those really important organizations, more money flow into those ones, and we build more industry in our communities. I feel when you build something on your own, it creates purpose and builds that community workforce. That's what we're trying to show is that yeah, we can do this.

Ben 6:20

So when you put a garden, say in a school, do you find that does start to provoke questions about culture and about land and that sort of thing? Like, what's the journey you see people go on?

Adam 6:30

Yeah, like yeah, definitely. Like when we go into a school, like it's even just having the presence of Aboriginal people in a school. I played footy, so a lot of Corey Fullers, you know, that was just around me, you know. So it was normalized. My dad grew up in Redfern, so did mum, and we had people that were Aboriginal around us, and as well being at as being Aboriginal, and it was just a part of that. But some kids just didn't have the privilege to have um Aboriginal people just around them, especially in some of the urban areas. And I think that presence there is a really big thing to normalize it for kids, because if they aren't sort of introduced to the culture, then how can you expect them to learn about it or just feel comfortable in it?

Ben 7:20

Yeah, totally, totally. I mean, how what's your experience of going into a school? A lot of kids have never actually met an indigenous person, you know, and then you roll up and you put a garden in them, show them how to do it. Tell me about that. What's the experience like?

April 7:34

They want to learn, they actually do want to learn about the plants that we bring in and they want to know what we can use from that plant, and they've been interested. Uh, we do do some like where they can taste the fruits. So we do make some like lemon metal teas as well. So we do try and teach them how to plant these plants as well, but um also give them the knowledge as well, have a sit-down with them, and we talk about why the significance of this plant, what you can use out of this plant. That just helps the kids like broaden their knowledge and stuff. And then when they go back home and they tell their parents, and their parents, they're like, Oh, I have no idea about this plant or anything. So, and then it's legit. Some of the kids are spotting some of the plants that we are showing them, and they're like, Oh, we legit have that back garden, like, but they just didn't know that you could actually use it on anything.

Adam 8:34

And kids teach parents too, like that challenges some, but kids are going back to households and like April said, and going, Dad, like dad or mum, like I like, you know, I did this, I did that, you know, and they're excited. They don't see anyone any different, you know, like they just see a person or even animals, everything they see everything, they're so innocent, and that's a real powerful thing to start. And it's a pretty big operation now.

Ben 9:01

Well,

Work, Sport And Caring For Mob

Ben 9:02

you got about 40 people, haven't you? So that's part of the business, right? Obviously, uh um First Nations owned, but most of the people at work here are First Nations, but from around the country, right? And they come here, and a lot of them are coming to play sport in the big city, have a go, making the Swannies, make it into the uh NRL, whatever it might be. And um, and you're actually giving them a place to work as part of that, but also importantly, you're giving them a chance to learn more about their own culture. Is this true?

April 9:28

Yeah, yeah, it is it is true. Like that's pretty much me. So, you know, I'm came away from Townsville and um came to do some sports, and um one of the aunties I live with um has reached out with Adleman Bushabowl and got a bunch of us girls working here. Like I'm from Queensland, so I'm learning a lot more about the culture down in New South Wales. And there are some plants here that are actually have grown in Queensland that I did not know. So it is really exciting and you know, learning about all these different plants. But yeah, I'm definitely am getting a lot more culture and knowledge

Volunteers, Wellbeing And Hands In Dirt

April 10:12

into it.

Ben 10:12

But yeah, what's been the best bit so far?

April 10:14

Well, when we do have like volunteers coming and we do talk with them, they're like, wow, it's um definitely is something.

Adam 10:23

They have a need for it, eh? Like people come in and go, Oh, you don't understand how much this means to me, just like one day of potting up.

April 10:30

Exactly. Like they're all cooped up and like inside and just like staring at leave a screen or something, like all day, just not really being connected outside.

Ben 10:42

So this is office workers who come and do a like a day, they yeah. And what do you yeah, what sort of things do they say to you?

April 10:50

Like, wow, this is so cool. Like, it's nice to be out here connecting, just being amongst you know, other people yarning and like just even simply potting up these plants. They're like it's just a nice feeling. It's like, and you're just like hitting fresh air as you walk in here too. So yeah, hands in the dirt, fresh air, yeah.

Adam 11:15

It's what we're all meant to do. Like, like I'm not I'm no philosopher. It's just like it's such an anxiety riddling thing, isn't it? Like um, we're meant to move. Well, that's like makes me um real proud to hear what she just said over there is like she loved the like connection piece, and that's my kind of responsibility. It's like if you walk on to someone else's country or someone walks on to your country, it's your responsibility to take care of that person, and that's no different to the old ways. Like, if I walk onto her country, that's what April would do for me. So it's just a modern world version. It's a social enterprise, a business. That's the modern way of saying it. But it's no different to like oh her walking onto country here, like traveling down here, and um, you know, we feed her, we make sure her health's good if she's sick or if she's crooked, and and we house her and make her feel strong and safe in a spirit, yeah.

Ben 12:16

And you're getting a whole career out of it too. Of course, the NFL is gonna be where you're gonna be, but once you're retired with your, you know, best player ever, you can set up your own nursery in Queenland.

Adam 12:27

Yeah, 100%. Like she's a powerhouse, that's for sure.

Selling Plants Online And Through Bunnings

Ben 12:30

Yeah, so you talked about the social enterprise bit, the business model bit. I get the feeling it's the secondary piece, really, that this business is really about you know getting together and helping people and creating culture and connection to country. But obviously, you've got to like everything, you've got to fund it, right? So tell me about the things you do to turn it into a business.

April 12:49

A few things that we do. Um, we also do online sales plants. We've actually connected with Bunnings. So we actually got some plants on the shelves at Bunnings in the stores, so that's pretty cool.

Adam 13:02

Yeah, it's um first Aboriginal nursery to ever been a Bunnings store, like grower. I'm surprised it took that long, but it's good. Yeah, so um, yeah, that was last week. Um, the first plants went in store, grown by uh all of us. Yeah.

Ben 13:17

Grown with love. Yeah, grown with love. I think indigenous people are about three percent of the Australian population, but from what I found, only about one percent of businesses are owned by Indigenous people.

Growing Indigenous Business The Cultural Way

Ben 13:29

So huge underrepresentation there. What do you think are the biggest opportunities? Obviously, you found a great one in Bushtaker, but what other opportunities would you see where you think that's a good place for Indigenous-led business?

Adam 13:43

Uh well, definitely one which maybe April can sort of talk about in a second is the sport piece. I think sport's a really huge piece of our communities because we've got so much talent, like the arts, sports, they're huge opportunities. Oh, I another piece, I tell you what, there's a lot of regeneration that needs to be done out on country around Australia. And I think there should be more young rangers out there, not only growing the plants, but planting them and taking care of that country. And there's no better people to do it than Aboriginal people. I'm just a big believer in that. But also, like Aboriginal business is about sort of doing it different around like basing it around cultural values and all that too. So it's not only are you being supported by a social enterprise, but I want her to excel in her sport. I want to excel in her career as well. Um, or just as a uh a young woman, we're gonna do the best we can. Again, it's our responsibility for her to support her in her um path.

Ben 14:49

So that's interesting. There's different business owners that are very different people, you know. You said there that you don't want to necessarily do business how everyone else does business. You want to do it in a way that is in keeping with your culture. And one of those is take care of your people and support them, not just to learn at work, but also, as you said, to excel at your sport, excel as a human. What are the other sorts of pieces of indigenous culture that you bring in that you think are different to maybe how everyday businesses are done?

Adam 15:17

It's a hard one that we've got to like it's hard to sort of do in a capitalist world as well, like to not be go to the pace of like something that we're striving for as much as we can because obviously you've got to pay the bills and all that too. So the end of last year we finally went camping and we went on a cultural.

Ben 15:38

So just going on cultural days out, yeah.

Adam 15:41

So, like, and that was an achievement for us, like to be able to take our team um camping and doing cultural stuff. So, you know, we're trying to sort of build the business to free up more time to learn our culture.

Ben 15:54

Great, yeah.

Adam 15:55

So that's the piece that we find is the most important and also productive because like that's gonna also bring us back feeling more our spirits more filled and healthy. And that's something you can take into any business. It's like the whole concept of productivity, you know, there's better ways to sort of get the best out of ourselves, and it's hard to do that in a really fast world. So it's like to me, it our big end goal is to be able to learn our culture more because that is something that is to me the most important thing for this country is for us to learn culture because if this culture doesn't get learnt, like imagine it got lost, you know. And um, we need to build that culture for everyone, include other people in some of it, and then some of it we just need to learn to empower our young ones through some um, you know, some tricky obstacles that some of you know the reality of our communities have had to deal with.

Ben 16:58

So giving them a chance to do business in a way that is actually in keeping with culture is in its sense setting people up for a better future, in it.

Adam 17:06

And hopefully when you work with some of these bigger corporate mobs, they they can learn off our communities. Because it's about to really create great strategy and values in an environment and to also to take care of the people in your teams. You need to talk, you need to strategize, and you need to sit down and slow down to do that, and that's culture.

Ben 17:28

Do you find that is a challenge working with other businesses that don't necessarily connect like that? They're like, Well, no, I need them a month earlier, I need more. I want you to drive your team harder to meet my goals. Do you find that there is that tension or has it been okay so far?

Adam 17:44

Yeah, business is not easy and it does can take its toll on people. And like I want to show up as the best mentor and leader as I can when we're around our team. And sometimes I feel guilty, like because business does yeah, it sort of pull you to that space and that speed and that. And then I don't want to put that onto our team and our community, but yeah, the reality of it is um I think it's gonna take a bit of time and flexing till we can get to a point where we go, no, no, no, this is like how we do it. This is how we do it. Yeah, and that's something I guess we're really grateful for that our team have done that, you know. April, Jules, everyone, like all the titters in the background, like my sister and Georgie, like the whole team have really, really sort of put in those extras with that hope that you know, one day we can sort of do business our way. Because our families have done business for thousands of years, trade.

Ben 18:43

Yeah, just in a different way.

Adam 18:45

Just in a different way, but it is a bit of a flex to be able to change a capitalist world around us. Yeah, just a small mission. Yeah, yeah. I

Circular Economies And Time On Country

Adam 18:56

think it's like that smaller sort of system as well, right? If you go back to food, someone has told me before that most food comes from smaller farms, which changes the whole sort of narrative of big, big farming. And that's how we see it. We want to create like circular economies of Aboriginal nurseries, so not like we do it all. We want to pick a capacity because we don't want to just turn into robots and just do it, bigger, bigger. Yeah, we want to create time to learn inside of that. So creating spaces for us to learn culture and for it to progress and to evolve because we need to create space. So that's our business plan there is creating time to walk country.

Ben 19:39

That's a very nice way of doing business, isn't it? Does this make you feel proud? Most people like literally, you are taught in any business school it's about growth. Yeah, what you're saying is it's about all winning together, finding the bit you're gonna do that gives you time for spiritual nourishment fundamentally.

Adam 19:56

And sport, that's spiritual nourishment.

Ben 19:58

Yeah, that's health, it's a whole bunch of things, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then help others so that together as a whole group, everybody kind of wins. When you hear that, do you go, yeah, that makes sense? Or do you go, wow, that's totally revolutionary?

April 20:12

Well, it it just is so good. It's it's definitely as a wow. We are legit that small indigenous business that are putting the effort into bringing in our culture into these stores so then we can able to help other small businesses with that running nurseries and make sure that within their areas, like we want to be that inspiration, you know, so that other small indigenous businesses can branch on. So I've got my study in horticulture, so definitely this is something I want to do in the future. So maybe I might have a nursery. Who knows? But um, I would like to and be able to do more different plants, especially back home in Queensland. So just start up a nursery there with um all the needed plants and fruits and all that that we can use. So yes.

Adam 21:06

Look at aprilsnursery.com. Like, but hot so capable, and she'll be a leader, like without a doubt. And what I love about it is like she's repping the sisters as well, you know. And there are a lot of women in the horticultural in the plant space because they're so good with plants, they have that connection and they've just got that touch with plants. So hopefully there's a lot of titters out there that see April and go, geez, like that's um, I wouldn't mind giving that a go. Bring in the sisters, you know, bring them in and um and learn country because you are the heart and soul of everything, you know. It's all about women, and we come from a woman and we provided by mother by the land and the by country, and and she's our provider. So I think the woman piece, you You know, the sister piece is huge in this space.

Country As Mother And Our Duty

Ben 22:03

Is obviously in you know, Mother Earth is what you know we say, is that in indigenous culture? Does that translate? Is it mother earth?

Adam 22:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So around here's Nura. Um, but it's all in your country, you know, like for land or for country word?

April 22:20

It's just mother. Mother.

Ben 22:22

So mother is literally the word for you coming from mother. Yeah, mother. Yeah. Wow. So literally you don't have mother earth. You just got mother.

Adam 22:30

Like the she's easy to define. Yeah, she's our mother. She gave birth to us and we go back to her when we we go back to her, so yeah. Yeah, it's just um, and it all aligns with all the science, you know. Like we celebrate her down to the dancing harder, singing louder, ochre all over you. Um it was just like the more I love her, you know, you want her to know, the more she'll protect you.

Ben 22:57

So it's literally let us show our love for mother.

Adam 23:00

Every day, yeah.

Ben 23:00

And mother will love us back. It seems like a very simple philosophy that maybe the rest of the world might do well to listen to.

Adam 23:06

But everyone's a part of mother. I mean, if you walk the land here, you are yeah, like earth is our home. So you are a custodian yourself. You are walking on country, so you have a responsibility on this country. Do you find that frustrating?

Ben 23:24

Like, I find that frustrating. The earth is where we come from and it's where we go to. And quite frankly, in a if you want to put it in a selfish way, it provides most of the things I really enjoy in life. Like getting out in nature, surfing, like bushwalk, whatever it is, food, like it's it's everything. Yet all I see is a society of an economy set up to destroy it without a few.

Adam 23:45

And it's only a small piece, too. You know, when like we what there's such a focus on like so much bad stuff, but I I just I still think that majority of us don't want that. We're good. Like, I think we have a good heart. I think so. Like, I just think it's a real minority of people that ruin it. It's like there's always one dickhead in the party, you know what I mean. That there's that saying there's always one fellow or one someone in the party that just it's just like the wet sock, you know. It's like, but majority of the party, we want a good future for our young ones.

Ben 24:17

I believe that too. Lady Hood Leanne Rossler once said to me, you know, you asked people if they had all the money in the world what they'd do, and they picture themselves on a beautiful island with perfect nature, and they're like, So why are we prepared to destroy nature to get to that if that's what we want? Also, you probably don't need to get rich to do that. If you don't destroy it to start with, you can just go to the island, you know. So, in that sense, do you I don't know, personally, I feel we're almost all caught in a system where you, you know, there's not a lot of choice on where you get your food. You can find ways, don't get me wrong, but you've got to try pretty hard to work outside of the everyday system. You know, and what you guys are doing in a funny way is trying to break the system. You're showing new foods to people that connect them to culture. But importantly, what you're saying is showing them new ways to think about business, more respect for females is in itself, you know, probably only 50 years old in business, if that and then, like, hey, let's not worry about growth for growth's sake, let's get to the point where we can back ourselves and have time for culture and then show other people how to do it so we all win together, you know. Do you feel like it feels like this is pretty revolutionary stuff in a very simple way, though? You know?

Adam 25:23

Well, I'm a pretty simple follower, like to make it about myself, but like I didn't do good at school. Like, I could I got barely got to year 12. The thing they threaten me with is not going to play at the footy carnival, so I turned up, you know. But I've learned through people, and I just somehow found a way of just being really vibed off people, like and teams. My old man, he is just through and through footballer, right? He was a good footballer, had a real hard life, um, and had to just fend for himself. And he's just shown me a lot in my life, as well as my mum. But dad showed me how to work as a team to be a part of a team. And I've never known any different way. I don't want to do it alone. If I made millions of dollars, I wouldn't know what to do with my time. Like, I can't stop moving anyway. So, how am I going to sit on an island? So, like, I'd be like going, April, come come enjoy you, wouldn't I? I'd be like, Well, I'll build your house next to me. Like, I need my community near me and around me because I'd be bored as.

Ben 26:28

So, uh, what I'm loving about what I'm hearing is, you know, I think if you honestly sat someone down and you know you've seen it in studies over and over again. What's truly valuable to you? You know, what people always come back to is connection. Um, it's you know, you've everyone's seen that meme about you know people on their deathbed and the thing they la-di da. So you've got connection, you've got teamwork, you've got health, you've got time is a large thing. This is all fundamentally, it seems to me, you trying to live what is an indigenous culture through this business. But what I love about this is this all resonates so strongly with me. That's the life I want to live. I know, you know, is you're finding do you get that reaction out a lot of non-Indigenous people when you start to discuss what it means, connection to culture and these things? And they go, Oh, geez, I didn't realize that's what I want to.

Adam 27:18

Yeah. And it took me probably 35 years to learn that out. Is like we, you know, clearly can't sit down and just look at a computer. You just got to get outside, be around people. That's my business plan as a person. Around people, interesting people, like like-minded people in all walks of life, and just doing lifting and moving and just um yeah, learning people as well. Yeah. And that's pretty much how I end up where I am, and culture.

Defining Connection To Country

Ben 27:49

When you say I read it on your website and you hear it from Indigenous people a lot, connection to country and connection to culture. My first question is, are they the same thing? And my second question is, what are they? What does it mean to you?

April 28:01

So connecting to culture. So culture is like pretty much your identity. It's like it's who you are, it's what you practice and stuff. So it's connecting to country is just being able to, you know, give back. So we're taking a lot from mother, we're taking a lot from the land and stuff. So we want to be able to give back. That's either by planting more plants or just going out and being within the environment, you know, just having a stroll, some sort. So that's pretty much is connecting to culture, uh, to country. So that's um pretty much simple stuff.

Adam 28:40

Yeah, it's like a living thing, it's a living thing.

April 28:42

You don't want to destroy it or anything.

Adam 28:43

So it's like having time with her and just like connecting, not seeing you as something separate. So it's like you walking country and knowing that yeah, it's a living, breathing, it has a heartbeat, it has spirit, there's spirit everywhere around us, and just reflecting on that. And that takes you back to that sort of sitting down and going, all right, let's sit around and recognize like how can you learn country if you don't sit on country or you walk country? So the more you're on it and you're outside, or country's everywhere, but the more you sit and look and listen, this is I should be taking this in myself and do more of it. But shouldn't we all? Yeah. Um, it's easier said than done. But how can the culture evolve as well unless you're on it, learning it? And that's what this thousands of years of knowledge, incredible knowledge, that's where it evolved from. It's just like that's how our families knew the land. Like it took them thousands of years of monitoring and seeing the cycles and seeing what the animals are doing, seeing what the tides are doing, what the the stars and the skies, you know, are showing and what and learning from it because it's you're walking next to your mum, and mum just walking along with it going, all right, Bub, see that over there? You know, and it was done slowly as well. And that is connecting to country, and that's the time we want to free up for, right? And then um, you know, and hopefully that'll rub off on other people to bring that into their lives, which will make for better decisions, better connections, and all that.

Ben 30:25

Beautiful answer. Attenborough said we act like we're apart from nature, but we're a part of nature.

Adam 30:31

Yeah, everyone is real, isn't it?

Ben 30:33

Yeah, we we're made of it. Yeah, and what we're made of has been everything else around us, and it'll go back to everything else around us.

Adam 30:41

Returning to mother, yeah. Returning to mother, yeah.

Ben 30:43

All right,

Wishes, Advice And A Better Future

Ben 30:44

I'm gonna give you some last questions. Yeah, yeah. So um, all right, April. If you had one wish, what would you change in the world?

April 30:51

Well, change in the world. Damn. Oh change the world, sorry. Um I wish we could, like, you know, be able to find a way where we can dispose rubbish and be able to like recycle it, which we already are, but like there's a lot more the rest of it, yeah. The rest of the stuff instead of including the land and stuff, so that's obviously one thing. Pollution is definitely one thing I wish we never had. Um, but we humans are curious and about things, so that's just all I can think of the top of it.

Adam 31:29

You gave me plenty of time to think about my wishes.

April 31:32

I might say add another one to that.

Adam 31:35

Yeah. I'd think I'd be that's kind of well, it is a part of what I'd wish for. I'd wish for um just a more a better future for my young fellow and all the young ones. So just to give a mother a a break, just work out ways of not to take so much from it, you know, to slow down a little bit and like building habitat opposed to stripping it away. Um, and I think if we took a page, even though we didn't have pages as a people, you know, the traditional the law of this land, you know, like and just the simple parts of that that we've spoken about, of like, you know, getting not you know, separating yourself from being that lens of like you're a part of it and you have a responsibility, yeah. We could do it. I think we can do it. You can only be hopeful, you know, just keep fighting the good fight and being around good people. That's the goal, yeah.

Ben 32:35

Good answer. So I reckon the world needs more people like you too. Someone like you, April, coming down from Townsville and joining this, and someone like you, Adam, starting something for people to join. One piece of advice for an indigenous person wanting to go, hey, I want to do that. I want to be part of the circle.

April 32:56

Definitely like branch out of your community. There's a lot more out there, you know. So it's always good to be within your community, but definitely there's a whole world out there, so try new things, um, try and explore. That's one thing that needs to be taken on.

Adam 33:13

That's the incredible thing about today's world. Hey, you can do that now overnight if you want to.

April 33:19

So Stephanie is I love that. Get out there to get out there, like live the world, like you're not stuck in one bubble. Yeah.

Ben 33:27

Yeah. Good answer. How about you? One bit of advice.

Adam 33:30

Don't be afraid to connect and um don't doubt yourself. Just surround yourself with other people that are um like-minded and celebrate you and your uniqueness. Um, and there's people out there that are doing it, like April said, you know, there's a big wide world out there, and there's lots of Aboriginal people doing incredible things in this country. Um, so just reach out. We love it when people, other mob, reach out, and we'll always welcome you to our community if you want to be around sort of like-minded people that truly care about not only the culture, but just um about a country and mother, like we are. I can confidently say that we are walking the walk, but from a place of love. So come from a place of love, and you can't go wrong.

How To Visit And Reach Out

Ben 34:18

Great ending words. So if I want to come from a place of love and reach out, do I go to bushtobowl.com?

Adam 34:24

Yeah, you can go to the website, but more so you can even just come into the nursery and have your yarn. That's do it in person. Yeah, right. Um, so yeah, just reach out um and we'll do our best to um just to get back to you when we can. We are sort of always going, but remember we were trying to sort of free up our time so we can connect more. So yeah, reach out. That's the first step.

Ben 34:48

Are you on social media?

April 34:49

Yeah, we are. So on Facebook and Instagram.

Ben 34:52

So who wants to handle?

April 34:54

It's bushdabl.com.au or just go on our website web bushtobowl uh.com. Yeah, and then all our social media and stuff is on there.

Adam 35:03

Yeah, yeah, that's it. Yeah, we're super in touch with it. But yeah, bush the bowl.com. Let's just start there and then everything's on there.

Ben 35:10

Everything flows, yeah. Great stuff. Thanks for spending time today. It's been fantastic. Yeah, beautiful. Thank you.