This is an excerpt from episodes 88 and 89, parts 1 and 2 of A Native Grains and Native Mills Resurgence. It features around 15 minutes of each episode, patched together with Rob’s closing lines from the Extra to episode 88.

So first up, you’ll hear Rob Pekin and Gaala Watson from the legendary social enterprise Food Connect. We chat about how Gaala and Rob came together here, and the connection between social enterprise and Aboriginal systems of governance. Then we go on to explore how their early experiments with a ‘custodial enterprise’ model are reaping big rewards – from a change to their leasing model, to this brilliant milling and baking initiative.

In the back half of this excerpt, you’ll hear Ian Congdon and Courtney Young, the young farmers pivotal to this changing of the face of farming, and the food and economic systems generally. We talk of their vision, and their experiences of the growing demand for what they’re up to. We chat about their doubts, how incredibly this story has come together, and their reflections on where to take it from here.

Title slide: hand chiselling the new locally made mill (supplied).

Music:
Faraway Castle, by Rae Howell & Sunwrae.

Find more:
You can hear the rest of our conversations in the main episodes, ‘A Native Grains and Native Mills Resurgence’ – Part 1 and Part 2 (you'll see some photos on those episode web pages too).

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88 & 89 Excerpt. It’s the most exciting thing I’ve done in a long time