Episode 37: Mindy Woods // Native Ingredients, Karkalla at Home, First Nations Calendar, Foraging, Whisky Sour

~ This season of Avant Gardeners is proudly supported by Blundstone's new series WorkLife. Launching in November and perfect for gardening. Find your local stockist here. ~

Mindy Woods is a chef, restaurateur and author, and the first female Indigenous chef to become hatted by the Australian Good Food Guide. A proud Bundjalung woman, Mindy was pursuing physiotherapy when she barged onto our screens in on Masterchef in 2012.

Since then she’s created an impactful career around food and education with Native ingredients being at the centre of everything she does. Mindy was named a Champion of Change at the 2025 World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards, and she’s recently reimagined her award-winning restaurant, offering a full experience on country in the Byron hinterland. At Karkalla on Country, guests can take cooking classes or immersive dining experiences. 

In 2025, Mindy released her first book, Karkalla at Home. Mindy forages, gardens and cooks on the lands of the Bundjalung people in northern New South Wales.

Before we get into this beautiful chat, Maddie and Emily are enjoying a Native Pepper Whisky Sour (Native Pepper syrup made with leaves + water + sugar).

Emily is obsessing about Euphorbia, lamenting her plant tag organisation system, and is curious about how Dahlias just multiply.

Maddie bought her very first rose (an earth angel floribunda), and is obsessed with the old world shape.

We're also talking processing tomatoes, Emily's tomato relish, the best honey ever.

And then it's into our chat with Mindy. This is a cracker. Hope you love it!