As food systems grew and developed over the past couple of generations, most communities have moved away from a direct relationship with their lands and lost the ability to nourish themselves.
We aim to re-establish the connections through Community Gardening Classes:
To food: step by step, starting small. Where does it come from, how does it grow, when do you plant it, when do you harvest it? Beginning to live in tune with the seasons and in abundance, rather than scarcity. Rather than just eating anonymous fruits and veges, we begin questioning where they come from and how they serve us.
To land: getting our hands in the dirt, and learning how to work with it, and more importantly how to replenish it, encouraging diversity both in the soil and above. Land provides a source of place and identity, and a spiritual connection which is all extremely grounding for wellbeing.
To community: contribute to whānau and community through growing and sharing fresh and nutritious food. Shifting away from an individualistic focus, we can use this space to positively work together towards common goals, with shared satisfaction.
The continuing Food Rising costs are making basic fruit and vegetables out of reach for many kiwis. Most houses in NZ cities, especially the East Coast have sufficient space to grow at least some produce, and the climate here is great. The key message we want to give our people is that there is something we can all do, we can start growing our own food, and work towards food resiliency, and it’s not that hard to get started.
Growing your own food has so many outcomes beyond the food that you get. Studies within community Māra’s illustrated a range of benefits: improving nutrition, promoting outdoor physical activity, encouraging wayward youth, engaging whole whānau and promoting good health and wellbeing in a holistic way. Māra were identified by some as an activity that is most able to address multiple community empowerment aspirations.
Tui Keenan, School Wellbeing Team
“Growing your own food is an ever-evolving journey. You never stop learning and the best thing is that it isn’t that hard to get started.”