Friday 19 April
The next day we travelled to Kaitaia staying overnight at the backpackers we visited Oturu school on the Friday. It was the last day of term but the Principal Fraser welcomed us warmly. The school is a riot of colour and nature lessons with insects painted over the playground shelter and murals and sculptures and food gardens everywhere you look. The ethos of the school appears at every turn . and the different initiatives to do with bees and their products, propolis, beeswax and honey are experimented with; creams with added kawakawa extract being produced from the olive oil and beeswax. This was such an inspirational school with so much food being produced, fruit, veg, honey and eggs were used in their registered kitchen to make preserves and other foods both for the children on a daily basis and their fund raising events. Their beautiful fairy like mosaic sculptures were produced by the kids with the help of Clinton Scott who also made the pizza oven at Rhode St School.
The next day we travelled to Kaitaia staying overnight at the backpackers we visited Oturu school on the Friday. It was the last day of term but the Principal Fraser welcomed us warmly. The school is a riot of colour and nature lessons with insects painted over the playground shelter and murals and sculptures and food gardens everywhere you look. The ethos of the school appears at every turn . and the different initiatives to do with bees and their products, propolis, beeswax and honey are experimented with; creams with added kawakawa extract being produced from the olive oil and beeswax. This was such an inspirational school with so much food being produced, fruit, veg, honey and eggs were used in their registered kitchen to make preserves and other foods both for the children on a daily basis and their fund raising events. Their beautiful fairy like mosaic sculptures were produced by the kids with the help of Clinton Scott who also made the pizza oven at Rhode St School.
Dick and Morehu Motu and Cari welcomed us on to the Te Rarawa Marae with a traditional welcome and powhiri. This beautiful marae is surrounded by their ancestral lands now most of which is leased but previously would have been home to many small farms growing and producing a variety of food, traditionally each family would have had a garden with kumara, potatoes, pumpkins and corn being the most popular plants grown and livestock, chickens and other fowl, cows and pigs would have commonly been kept. The lake now drained supported eels and these and other food gathered from the coast and hunted in the forest supplemented the gardens. Those who are left are sad this way of life has been overtaken by more modern ways and that the whanau have mostly gone to Aussie to work leaving few to work on growing good kai for their community. In the evening we viewed the footage we have shot of Maori initiatives around the country. We gifted heritage varieties of potato, kumara and corn supporting the continuity of food growing in this area
The next morning we started early at Kaitaia market, starting at 7 until 11; it hosts a wide variety of sellers, from those selling piglets and wood from their trucks to the fish, German meats, organic macadamias, fruit and veg. We were lucky to meet Kris from the far north organic group who sells macadamias, honey and Maori potatoes and Brent selling veg; who both brought us up to date with filming opportunities in the area. We also talked with Wendy whose stall boasted delicious figs, Maori potatoes, a huge squash from which she was selling seed and rabbits, chickens and ducks she was selling. Her main reason for going organic and growing her own food was that her kids were gluten intolerant and she has never regretted it.
Coming back to the marae at 9 we were met by Dick and Morae who took us to visit George Austin at Austin's Exotic Garden. He took us around indoor and outdoor plantations, where he has created a range of different microclimates, which included ponds which George had dug himself to grow lilies and breed fish. Around another pond there was a warm tropical microclimate where a range of unusual plants were growing. There was also a banana plantation sheltered by bamboo. He had a huge range of different sub-tropical and tropical plants and does a lot of propagation. He breeds guinea fowl to control pests and guinea pigs to clean up after them. He educational tours to share his knowledge with the community. The extent of the gardens was phenomenal for just one person to manage but the eventual aim is a self sustaining system of growing.