Our people.

“I love discovering all the people who are already growing local, urban food systems. I am privileged to work towards systems that regenerate and to keep learning from the natural world.”

Christy is Adaptive Communities Coordinator with Green Adelaide and facilitator of the SA Urban Food Network. Christy is connected to community gardens across SA and supports her local garden when she can.

Christy grew up in the creek beds of Ernabella, an Aboriginal community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia. She moved to Adelaide to study communications, becoming the first CEO of Encounter Youth Inc.

Having three children sparked her interest in ecological neighbourhoods. She loves conversations and action that come out of creek beds, parties and homes.

Christy is the Network Facilitator and ‘Community Groups’ Connector.

“I am hopeful that my grandchildren and future generations will know the pleasure of eating fruit plucked from the tree and the joy of sharing seasonal feasts that they have cooked from scratch.”

With over 30 years experience working in food, health and equity, Linda is passionate about quality, delicious food.

Her career has ranged from dietetic health services, community health promotion, state-wide health policy and national food regulation in Australia.

While living in Glasgow, she was able to pursue a career shift based on her love of growing and cooking food, working with groups establishing community gardens and food hubs.

Now back in Adelaide, Linda is combining her passions and experiences to consider how an alternative food system can support an equitable society, healthy environment and meaningful life – and, of course, delicious fresh food to celebrate.

Linda is a dietitian and has a certificate in narrative therapy and health administration.

Linda is a Coordinating Group member and ‘Eaters’ Connector.

“This is the moment when what we need most is enough people with the skill, heart, and wisdom to help us pull ourselves back from the edge of breakdown and onto a different path. Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Otto Sharmer.

Priscilla is founder and farmer at Adelaide Urban Food Mosaic. Although AUFM is in its’ infancy, Priscilla’s grand vision is to see a mosaic of interconnected, supportive and productive growing spaces among our concrete jungle, providing sustainable, nutritious food to the local community.

She believes there is huge potential for creating and expanding a micro-farm network within metro Adelaide that complements our peri-urban growers. So drawing on her experiences as a winemaker and as a management accountant, she is quietly working away at nurturing soils and souls.

Her belief in the goals of the SA Urban Food Network is best summed up via that Otto Scharmer quote (above).

Priscilla holds a B.Com (Hons) from the University of Adelaide and a B. Applied Science (Wine Science) from Charles Sturt University.

Priscilla is a Coordinating Group member and ‘Farmers’ Connector.

Alex is a passionate food grower and community organiser. Alex began consultations with the City of Holdfast Bay when she was 19 to create the North Brighton Community Garden, a beautiful garden that celebrates growing good food and nurturing an awareness of how our everyday actions affect the world around us.

Alex is also the state representative for Community Gardens Australia and works with the SA Urban Food Network, writing case studies, and helping with communications and event coordination.

You can also find Alex working part-time at The Diggers Club in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. She has a passion for seed saving, permaculture and is currently working to start a city farm in Adelaide.

Instagram | @gathered.gardens

Food has an incredible power to connect people, nourish our bodies, and teach us about the value of our natural environment and communities. After growing up with the importance of sustainability, climate and conservation instilled in her, this firmly held belief was what motivated Kahlia to complete her concurrent degrees in Environmental Policy and Management and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Adelaide.

Throughout her studies, she has also held roles with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Conservation Council SA, Ecoversity, and The Food Embassy, all of which have helped her to develop valuable skills in project management and community engagement and guided her to pursue a career in sustainable food systems youth education.

Now, Kahlia is undertaking her honours thesis with a focus on sustainable food and youth engagement while running the SA branch of the Youth Food Movement and being part of the SA Urban Food Network as a social media contributor, case study author and event volunteer.

“I am passionate about growing the urban food movement and helping create change for a better world.”

Keri has more than 15 years’ experience as a researcher and educator, with a background in social science and an interest in environmental anthropology, social movement studies and theories of social change.

She is Founder and Senior Consultant for Dream Awake: Research, Education and Design (DARED), which specialises in regenerative design, research and education beyond sustainability. Prior to this, she was Head of Program and Discipline Leader of Permaculture Design at CQUniversity.

Keri is a member of the International Permaculture Convergence Council, has served on the Permaculture Australia board of directors, and is a Permaculture South Australia committee member. She is a trained Living Smart facilitator, Permaculture, and Retrosuburbia facilitator, Green Educator, Red Cross Climate Champion, and Community Social Marketing practitioner.

Role: Coordinating Group member and ‘Educators’ Connector.

Facebook | @DreamAwake:ResearchEducationandDesign

“I really believe there is potential for a reawakening of our food system around smaller and more local production and distribution – from backyard to community-scale – to engage more people in our food supply while increasing its resilience and long-term sustainability.”

James is a full-time academic at the University of South Australia, where he’s lucky enough to do a wide range of research in the hope of contributing to an informed vision of a more sustainable world.

The work James does spans different scales, from global problems – chiefly “limits to growth” and constraints to world energy resources – through to local solutions, with a particular focus on sustainable food systems.

As an environmental engineer, his big interest is ‘crunching the numbers’ on urban agriculture, in terms of how much food can be grown with the constrained resources we have in cities.

Role: Coordinating Group member and ‘Researcher’ Connector

Twitter: @dr_james_ward