Outdoor class helps students to grow
Chill-out space offers a different ice cream flavour every week
With an outdoor classroom surrounded by tropical fruits, native spices and microgreens with tree stumps for seats, O¯ taki College’s Aho Aho Adventures is an opportunity to connect students with nature.
Working with students who struggle to sit still in class, local forager Mike King has created an outdoor classroom, which stimulates the senses in all the right ways and provides chill-out space.
Revamping the school’s garden, which has sat overgrown after five years ¯of neglect, Mike has worked with Otaki College learning support coordinator Kate Lindsay to create a safe, natural space for students who struggle in class.
After meeting at a food hui run by Ka¯piti Coast District Council, the two worked together to create a plan to reinvigorate the space and get funding to support the students.
Securing 20 hours a week of funding for 27 weeks from the New Zealand Community Trust, along with $15,000 from the council, has enabled Mike to clear the area of weeds and overgrown bushes then create infrastructure and a market garden.
The funding pays his wages with him dropping down to 10 hours a week during the school holidays to maintain the lawns, weed the garden beds and do plantings while the
students were away.
“I was invited to the food hui and didn’t really know what I was doing there but I met Kate who had recently discovered the space at O¯ taki College and wanted to rekindle it.
“I jumped on the opportunity. “Kate is like a social worker and she filters the kids out who could benefit from working with me. At the beginning, I was working one-on-one with students but now there are often two students at a time.”
Working mostly with boys aged 10-13 who struggle to sit still in class, Mike said the outdoors environment immediately stimulates their senses.
“Outside is a really good environment for the boys as there are so many things to look at and stimulate them.
“There’s always movement around them along with smells and noises so they can feel more comfortable sitting still in this environment.”
Taking them through the garden and getting them to touch and smell the produce on their first visit, Mike shows them around then gets them doing jobs in the greenhouse classroom if it’s not too hot.
Learning what vegetables are ready for harvesting, watering plants and even experimenting with different ice cream flavours has gradually got the students coming back to this welcoming space.
“I’m not a teacher or social worker, but I feel like I can relate to the students as I was a bit like they were when I was in class.
“My personal goal is to spark an interest in nature in others because I found it very beneficial for me.”
Trialling ways to use the produce, the students have made produce boxes and sold them to teachers, and have also partnered with Elishka Graham, from Ma¯oriland, who also grows produce to distribute around the community.
“By selling the produce to the teachers, it gets them more involved and interested.
“They have to come out to the garden to collect it which means they see what we’re doing, we create that connection then have more support.
“People have suggested the kids have it and we’ve tried a number of ways of them taking the vegetables but have found them just randomly picking vegetables doesn’t always work — they need to learn when they’re ripe and we need a connection with the teachers, to get their support.”
The school now has horticulture classes that will make use of the gardens, along with the home economics classes.
The space is available to the students whenever Mike is there, which is signified by the gates to the garden being open.
“With them having to wear masks now, more of them are keen to get outside.
“I’ve slowly been building relationships and now have groups of kids who come to hang out here at lunchtime.”
With a background as an arborist and landscaper, Mike juggles his time between growing vegetables, building and maintaining infrastructure such as chopping trees, building a sink in the packing shed and working with students.
When students come, they join
Mike with what he is doing or are given tasks they can complete while he works.
Popular with the students are Mike’s ice cream creations.
Previously foraging for restaurants and gin distilleries, Mike’s current project includes making ice cream from his finds.
“I wanted to try to incorporate my ice cream and foraging with the college somehow.
“Gin distilleries are all about finding new native botanicals to make new flavours of gin.
“Somewhere along the way, I realised ice cream and sorbet was a nice way to show flavours.
“When foraging I realised there was a real opportunity for New Zealand to expand on their native spice range.
“I’ve used kauri resin, pohutukawa flowers, karaka berries, lemonwood resin, harakeke seeds and kawakawa flowers. When you dehydrate a lot of them, the flavour intensifies.”
Now working out of the packing shed at O¯ taki College, with the students, Mike creates at least one new flavour of ice cream or sorbet a week.
“We have to use at least one ingredient we have grown from Aho Aho and then I serve it to anyone who wants one.”
With students wandering down each week to see what the newest ice cream flavour is, Mike is now making around 50 tasters a week.
Flavours have included basil and apple sorbet with the next flavour idea being to use the mint which has been growing and make a mint chocolate chip ice cream.
With funding from the NZCT almost up, Mike is relying on a new lot of funding coming through in March but is hoping they can keep the garden and student support going until it is confirmed.
“There was a feeling when I first started that I would be gone within
a month because a number of groups have tried to reinvigorate the garden over the years, but now we’re here to stay.
“I’ve been working with the students for about four months and the relationships are growing, they’re getting to know me better.
“There are lots more opportunities for students to take up, including creating a gardening club, setting up social enterprises selling microgreens and hosting events in the space.”