For the past 20 years, a whānau kai garden has been providing kai for Ngāti Whakaue Rotorua and has been operating on the smell of an oily rag.
The gardens have also been used to educate children and families on how to grow their kai to combat the high costs of kai especially during this pandemic.
Rotorua Bunnings saw the good being done by this initiative and has come on board, donating materials, volunteers and resources to support the education project, Maraeroa Mahinga Kai.
Lani Kereopa of Ngāti Whakaue has been leading Maraeroa Mahinga Kai on her tupuna whenua along with whānau and many volunteers and is appreciative of the support from Bunnings Rotorua, “We really appreciate what they are doing so much because we are a whānau-led initiative with limited resources” Kereopa said.
The whānau reached out to Bunnings in Rotorua for support for the community garden, and today the company said it was “ privileged to support a great cause”.
Bunnings' day out
Bunnings’ Tom Stephenson focused on completing tasks today: “some seating, some storage, and some irrigation.
“We are also providing and donating a whole heap of materials to bring the upgrades to life,” Stephenson said.
Brody Rangitawaa’s sons connect to the land and people of these gardens, which made today extra special as she and her Bunnings work colleagues helped out building a garden shed and preparing gardens for planting.
“It was really good to get involved with the beautiful things they are doing here, teaching our tamariki in our local areas - it’s an awesome feeling,” Rangitawaa said.
Ngāti Whakaue ‘s Chuslar Mary Pace has spent many years sharing her expertise at the māra kai. Now, with the new shed, she is happy to start bringing in more tools. “We can go and buy a wheelbarrow and tools and now we have got somewhere we can keep it and it won’t get stolen. And at the moment the back of my car is the shed”, he laughed.
Scaling up food production
According to Statistics New Zealand, food prices rose 2.7 per cent this January, their largest increase in five years.
Kereopa knows the challenges ahead for her people, with Covid and rising prices of fruit and vegetables, which have a huge impact.
“We really want to start using our māra kai to encourage food sharing and food growing, which has always been our kaupapa but we really want to scale it up. And now that we have got a cool shed, cool space and shelving, we will be able to do those sorts of things.”
With today’s donations, preparing for this year’s planting will be a lot easier for these Ngāti Whakaue gardeners, who will be able to bulk=supply fresh vegetables to the community in the near future.