The focus of this group is achieving greater food resilience on Aotea. It is a place for members of the community  to contribute, and get ideas, tips, knowledge, and experience around growing/producing/eating local food. Food includes animal and plant foods.

Questions and constructive discussions are wonderful! This group can also be used to promote relevant events.

Sharing all to do with growing, finding, preparing, and eating healthy kai for greater local food resilience on Aotea. New posts on the FRA journal will be shared here.

by Geoff Bryant

An easy to use book on plant propagation. It has very handy charts listing plants by how to propagate them, but the plants are all listed by their Latin name!

-Caity

by John Jeavons

The very first serious book I ever bought on organic gardening. It is an American book first published in 1974. My copy is the 5th edition and there is now a 9th edition released in 2017. John Jeavons calls his method the “French Bio-Intensive Method”.

He is a great proponent of unframed permanent raised beds and Double Digging. The book has awesome four-year growing plans for a simple one-person mini-garden. This is the system that Kay Baxter of Koanga Gardens switched to back in the 90’s – her apprentice at the time was Jodi Roebuck who completed an internship with Kay back in the day!! Jodi now has a very successful market garden in Taranaki, as well as being a proponent of regenerative farming with sheep. He featured on Country Calendar last year.

-Caity

A gem of a book written and released in 2020 by Niva and Yotam Kay of Pakaraka Permaculture in the Coromandel.

We know Niva and Yotam personally – they are very astute, hard workers from Israel, who have built up an amazing, intensive, highly productive small-scale market garden in just a few years. They are excellent communicators and if there was one book to buy as a serious home gardening book this would be the one I would recommend. The information given is generous and there are loads of useful charts and great illustrations. You can order it directly from them Pakaraka Farm

-Caity

by Eliot Coleman

I bought my first copy in 2000. The last edition was released in 2018. Eliot writes with a deep understanding of the art of growing but also the business of growing and the value of efficiency.

He has been instrumental in developing many new tools for small-scale growers.

Although written with commercial growers in mind, I still think this book is very approachable for anyone with a serious interest in growing organic food, even if it is just for the family.

-Caity

by Hartmann and Kester

The Bible of propagation! A large thick book with detailed info on almost everything about propogation of plants.

-Caity

This website is a haven for all things tree growing in Aotearoa.

Tree crop growing information database; growing calendars, events, news, nursery directory and so much more!

NZ Gardening calendar by Tui Garden, including Auckland Gardener's Diary: planting, harvesting and maintenance specific to the Auckland climate, including a free, printable gardening poster.