Community Gardens
Oruawharo Community Garden
Oruawharo garden was established in 2008 and is located in Medlands/Oruawharo, beside St John’s Church and Opp Shop.
It is a hub of activities where volunteers contribute their time in the garden in exchange for good fresh organic vegetables and great company.
On a Friday morning, you will generally find regular volunteers tenderly caring for the plants and undertaking overall garden maintenance.
Anyone is welcome!
If you are unable to volunteer in exchange for produce, that is okay, there is a koha box by the back shed where you can make a donation.
COMMUNITY PANTRY
If you have any surplus food/produce there is a community pantry located out the front of the community garden.
WASTE MINIMISATION
Bring your kitchen waste to be made into compost and used in the gardens. All food scraps except meat and fish. Please do not put non-biodegradable products such as plastic or household weeds or lawn clippings in the compost.
“I think community gardens are important as it gives a opportunity to inspire others to grow food in gardens and see how satisfying it is to have some healthy homegrown produce on a daily basis. It’s a place to connect with others, share ideas, seeds and cuttings, recipes and friendships.
“It is a great place to come to if your own place is unfit for growing or if it takes too much manipulation and is better left in its natural state. The garden here at Oruawharo also makes a central point for people to drop off their unwanted kitchen waste that we use to make compost, this reduces resources going to landfill. It is an amazing place for the kids to browse and connect with vege growing.”
- Saskia Missaar, Oruawharo Garden Coordinator
Kaitoke School Garden
After years of planning, fundraisers, donations and working bees, the re-vamped Kaitoke school garden was brought to life in 2023.
A 10m tunnel house was kindly funded by St Johns Op shop and Roose Butcher Builders Ltd.
Meanwhile the four raised beds were funded by Bunnings, CCTech, through selling cakes and lemonade at the Growers and Makers market, and thanks to donations by students.
There was a working bee, where the raised beds were assembled.
There are also various fruit trees on the school grounds, which the students help look after.
Kaitoke School recently joined the national Garden to Table programme, where students grow, cook and eat vegetables at school.
Nell (Kaitoke School Garden Coordinator), works with Year 4 students, growing and cooking food that the junior class gets to try.
It has been a huge success, getting kids involved in the full food cycle with the added bonus of trying out new foods.
Kaitoke School has plans for more garden beds, and the garden-to-table lunches will only get better!
Mulberry Grove School Garden
Mulberry Grove School’s raised and fenced gardens were completed in 2020 after the school re-opened afterlockdown, as a way for the community to gather together in a positive way.
The school operates a garden-to-table program where produce from the gardens is used for school lunches. Surplus is made into preserves, shared with families, or donated to the community pantry to share with the wider community.
The school children are involved in all areas of the garden, from testing soil quality, seed collecting, and seed raising, to weeding, planting, mulching, harvesting, cooking, and preserving.
The school also operates a community composting system, where you are welcome to drop off your food scraps - just no meat or fish.
The most recent addition to the garden has been the new trellis pergolas and fence, sponsored by Bunnings, who covered the cost of building materials, gardening tools and wheelbarrows. The next stage for the gardens is going to be re-using their old water tanks to create a self-irrigating system.
Mulberry Grove School is part of the Enviroschools Programme and is working towards Green Gold accreditation.
Orama Community Kitchen Garden
Most people on Aotea know of Orama, the Christian Community up in Karaka Bay in the North of the motu. Orama has a team of around 20-25 onsite residents – both staff and volunteers- as well as visiting groups of up to 100 people.
Access to fresh greens, herbs and produce for the health and well-being of the resident community has been facilitated by the establishment in 2022 of a small (but very productive) kitchen garden. This was achieved with the support of Food Resilience Coordinator Caity Endt. There was complete commitment to the project by the Orama community and as a result, the garden has been continuously providing food for almost two years now.
Lots of lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, spring onions and tomatoes. Key to the garden’s success, is the fact it’s a manageable size which fits with the community’s capacity for continuous replanting, weeding, mulching, watering, and so on.
