Healthy eating project supplies fresh vegetables for Marton Māori

A vegetable garden, a worm farm and cookery lessons are all part of an initiative to encourage Māori in Marton to eat more healthily. The project – which is supported by funding from the HSC – has provided an abundance of fresh, organic vegetables for families, children, the elderly and even students at the local Rangitikei College.

The initiative began with a quarter-acre garden on Hauiti marae that local farmers helped dig over with their tractors and hoes. Members of Te Runanga o Ngati Apa and volunteers from the local community planted seeds for corn, lettuce, cabbage, silverbeet, spring onion, pumpkin, potato, kamo kamo, tomato, beetroot and courgette.

The Chief Executive of Te Runanga o Ngati Apa, Joe Huwyler, says the idea was two-fold. “We wanted to help our people by providing them with tasty, fresh vegetables but we also wanted to strengthen the community by bringing people together doing something positive. Both goals have been achieved in more ways than we could have imagined.”

Getting kids involved
The next step was to start a worm farm and last December Nick Roskruge from Massey University gave a demonstration on how to set one up. Despite a very dry summer, most of the vegetables thrived and 40 families benefited with bags full of delicious vegetables.

There was such a wealth of produce that children attending the Rangitikei College summer camp were also given vegetables. But they had to come and dig them up first!

Social worker for Te Runanga o Ngati Apa, John Abraham, says for some this was a new experience. “The kids came to dig up potatoes and couldn’t believe they grew underground. Some of them thought they grew on top of the ground as this was the first time they had seen potatoes in their natural state.”

Once the vegetables had been harvested it was time to turn the garden over to the marae to manage. In the meantime, four more projects were planned, one in Marton and three in Kauangaroa, Whangaehu and Turakina maraes, with planting of the Marton garden being completed recently. With a $5000 grant from Feeding our Futures, Te Runanga o Ngati Apa bought tools, seeds, a wheelbarrow and a rotary hoe to use in all the gardens.

The students from Rangitikei College came and turned the new gardens over by hand, mentored by older members of the community. The community spirit was growing. This time winter vegetables were planted including silverbeet, carrots, spinach, onions, kale, broccoli, cabbage and radishes.

Joe says, “As well as giving vegetables to families, we also gave them to the volunteers. If they help in the garden, they get to reap the rewards of their labour. It doesn’t take long before you have a committed team that is ready to take over the management of the garden.”

Fostering community spirit
Te Runanga o Ngati Apa’s community health worker, Hayley Millar, says the project has helped create a positive community spirit. “It was good before, but it’s even better now. Everyone is coming together, they are talking about the gardens, people are meeting each other at the gardens and they have something positive to talk about.”

The next step for Joe Huwyler is to apply for funding to hold cookery classes. “After all, with all those delicious, fresh vegetables, a few healthy recipes would help people become more creative in their cooking,” he says.

Joe is currently applying for funding to pay for the hire of a venue to hold the classes. In the meantime, there is more gardening to be done, more seeds to be planted and more crops to be harvested.

“The project has been a huge success. People have all commented on the taste of these organic vegetables and the gardens have really brought the community together.”

Tips from Joe and Hayley

• Filling out the application for funding was easy and two weeks later we were told we had it. But make sure you plan the budget and the costings, and are clear about the target group and the resource group before you try to fill out the form. “If you are interested in running a project, don’t let the form put you off! These projects are very worthwhile.”
• Hayley dealt with media despite having limited experience. She rang the community newspapers and encouraged a journalist to cover the worm workshop. The journalist spent a day with them and wrote about the whole garden project. “It’s key to know what your message is before contacting the media so make sure you decide amongst yourselves what your philosophy and goals are before you talk to journalists.”
• Talk to the community and make sure there is an interest in the project before you start planning. Make sure what you are planning is widely known so that others buy-in to the project, and understand that it will benefit the community. “Without buy-in from the community, this project would have died. We needed the community to take ownership of the gardens so that they could take over the running of the project,” says Joe.
• Always communicate and keep people in the loop. Community members were informed throughout of planting times and meeting times.
• Encourage the community to do more and take over the running of the project as soon as possible.