GARDEN PROVIDES, EDUCATES
A community garden in Waitara is about to spring into life again after lying dormant for more than five years. Sonja Slinger meets the people behind the initiative.
The revamp of the community garden in Waitara will provide more than food to people in need.
It will educate young people through partnering with the local high school on how to grow and harvest food, provide work opportunities and cooking skills to those interested in getting involved.
Tracey Bryant, the general manager of Wise Better Homes, the charitable trust behind the garden revamp, is very upbeat.
An accountant and business woman, she’s fairly new to the charity organisation having only been in the job for seven months but she’s had a strong drive to lead one since starting work and completing university.
Charity and giving was always part of growing up for Tracey. Living in Ha¯ wera, she was involved in community groups and helping others. Her mum Elaine Gulbransen was readily involved in local Guides which Tracey got involved in from a young age and her grandmother Esmay ran the church op shop. Her family were givers.
‘‘Giving back for me is a natural thing. I’ve worked in business 20 years now and have always wanted to lead a charitable organisation. It’s a very humbling exercise and it teaches our team to be humble and to appreciate what we have,’’ she says.
Wise is based in Waitara, and will provide the land for the community garden (the site where it used to run until five years ago) and will also help manage it and ensure the food and produce goes to those who will benefit.
However, it will be summer before any food is ready for harvest. Just now the land is being prepared and two local horticulture classes have been using the ground to set up garden beds planted out in vegetable seedlings and establish a food forest with fruit trees and berries.
Dee Turner, a New Plymouth horticulture teacher who specialises in organic and permaculture growing, is guiding the project.
A large section is under grass but will be converted soon to beds which will be planted in staple vegetables such as potatoes, kumara, pumpkin, silverbeet, spinach, carrots and cabbage then summer crops will go in.
‘‘The garden used to be open to people to just come in and help themselves but it won’t be run like that any longer,’’ Tracey says, adding the property was fully fenced and secure.
‘‘We will engage with some community groups that we know can distribute the food to those in need plus Waitara High school, which is our partner in this project, will also take half the produce to give out to families in need there.’’
Gus Bergham, the agriculture and science teacher involved in the venture, says it’s a great opportunity for students to learn about growing and food. Currently
"I’ve worked in business 20 years now and have always wanted to lead a charitable organisation.’’ Tracey Bryant
there were about six senior girls already signed up to start and he hoped others would get involved as the project got going.
‘‘The kids will also learn from the start how to plan the garden and what crops to plant, what seasonal crops will grow so there’s a bit of groundwork to be done,’’ he says.
Most of the crops will be grown from seed. One of the other Waitara High School teachers involved is in a local seed saving group and has some market garden knowledge.
Wise, which provides three scholarships to year 13 students at the school each year, also hopes others businesses will help sponsor or support the initiative through donations of plants or any other help.
‘‘We had a cook off here last month where each team of 10 people had $20 of mystery groceries to cook three dishes in one hour. The proceeds went to Kai Kitchen in Hawera which provides free school lunches and food parcels to families. It would be great to do that again with our own garden produce and sell the meals to fundraise for it. A hangi would be another way to get the community involved,’’ Tracey says.
Wise (Waitara Initiatives Supporting Employment) Trust was established about 20 years ago to create employment opportunities in Taranaki and more recently, the Bay of Plenty.
It has grown to provide insulation retrofits, insulating low income homes, and ground maintenance work for business. Its main aim though is to employ people who would find gaining employment difficult or challenging.