Monday 8 April
On Monday we were privileged to visit to Kaiwhenua Organics, where Kaiwaka, his
partner and team work the land overlooking the sea at Raglan. Certified organic, they
grow organic kai for the whole region and Kaiwaka has plans to introduce a teaching
component and commercial kitchen. When Kaiwaka returned to his family land after
a long absence, everything fell into place and now he is a valued part of the whole
community, selling vegetables at the market and to many other outlets. The food he
grows is delicious as well as nutritious.
The Seed Bank at Whaingaroa Environment Centre is an interesting community
initiative that helps folk to buy the seed they want without buying whole packets of
seed that they may not use. The seeds are ordered in bulk from Kings and Koanga
and then sold singly; prices vary from 1cent to 10 cents per seed and customers
are recommended to get a few more than they need. Some seeds are saved locally
but the seed saving group is fairly selective that those people keeping seed for
distribution really know how to go about properly drying and preserving seeds to
ensure optimum viability. Other local initiatives to help provide more food such as
planting fruit trees in back gardens are being investigated. Bexie also showed us
their state of the art worm bins like a wheelie bin the scraps are placed in the top, the
worms are safely housed in the mid section and the bottom section allows a brickette
of usable compost to be delivered conveniently. A tray underneath catches worm
juice.
On Monday we were privileged to visit to Kaiwhenua Organics, where Kaiwaka, his
partner and team work the land overlooking the sea at Raglan. Certified organic, they
grow organic kai for the whole region and Kaiwaka has plans to introduce a teaching
component and commercial kitchen. When Kaiwaka returned to his family land after
a long absence, everything fell into place and now he is a valued part of the whole
community, selling vegetables at the market and to many other outlets. The food he
grows is delicious as well as nutritious.
The Seed Bank at Whaingaroa Environment Centre is an interesting community
initiative that helps folk to buy the seed they want without buying whole packets of
seed that they may not use. The seeds are ordered in bulk from Kings and Koanga
and then sold singly; prices vary from 1cent to 10 cents per seed and customers
are recommended to get a few more than they need. Some seeds are saved locally
but the seed saving group is fairly selective that those people keeping seed for
distribution really know how to go about properly drying and preserving seeds to
ensure optimum viability. Other local initiatives to help provide more food such as
planting fruit trees in back gardens are being investigated. Bexie also showed us
their state of the art worm bins like a wheelie bin the scraps are placed in the top, the
worms are safely housed in the mid section and the bottom section allows a brickette
of usable compost to be delivered conveniently. A tray underneath catches worm
juice.
Next to Rick and Liz's place. Rick and Liz grow vegetables at their 13 acre farm, One of the first permaculture
based farms in the Raglan area they have Light Sussex poultry, which they breed
for the table and for egg sales, ranging around the fruit tree areas. Also ranging
amongst the fruit trees are pigs which they also use for meat. The vegetable gardens
are extensive around 2 acres, and they use hay as mulch which they cut and bale
from the paddock below the gardens. They also make use of black plastic in areas
where they are not ready to plant and want to preserve moisture levels. When we
were there they had a fantastic crop of peppers and chiles the summer having been
excellent with the dry weather and heat to promote these crops.
based farms in the Raglan area they have Light Sussex poultry, which they breed
for the table and for egg sales, ranging around the fruit tree areas. Also ranging
amongst the fruit trees are pigs which they also use for meat. The vegetable gardens
are extensive around 2 acres, and they use hay as mulch which they cut and bale
from the paddock below the gardens. They also make use of black plastic in areas
where they are not ready to plant and want to preserve moisture levels. When we
were there they had a fantastic crop of peppers and chiles the summer having been
excellent with the dry weather and heat to promote these crops.
From here, we drove on to Hamilton for the next part of our tour.