Growing kai, making change
Katie Doyle meets the Ma¯ori growers taking charge of their own food production.
Adrian Sutherland’s friends in Western Australia thought he had gone crazy.
The mine security guard from Te Aitangaa-Hauiti and Nga¯ ti Porou had just told them he would be leaving the desert to pursue a career in gardening just out of Tolaga Bay, near Gisborne.
‘‘They all kind of looked at me like I was a bit weird because the income levels between Australia and New Zealand – there’s quite a big difference.’’
But the sparse desert where little grew and flies swarmed had worn Sutherland down, and he yearned to be around greenery again.
That was about seven years ago and it is safe to say his risk-taking paid off.
Sutherland has made a home with his wife and daughter on the East Coast, and his garden is a feast of fresh produce.
He has even become a bit of a social media star with his One Minute Gardening with Adrian Sutherland Facebook page racking up 18,000 followers.
The list of herbs and vegetables which populate his backyard is long and includes things like carrots, broccoli, tomatoes and basil.
‘‘Gardening is just a big part of not only my life, but my wife’s . . . and also my daughter’s.’’
Sharing his love of gardening with his 2-year old, Lily Melody, means the world to Sutherland, and she loves it too.
The family are out in the garden every chance they get, Sutherland says.
‘‘I just want it to be, for Lily, just as normal as taking a shower or having breakfast. You garden and, my darling, you grow your own kai.’’
Sutherland also works hard to implement ma¯ tauranga Ma¯ ori practices into his garden, caring for Papatu¯a¯nuku.
One way he does this is by planting in line with the maramataka or the Ma¯ ori lunar calendar.
That isn’t always easy though, Sutherland explains, as he has not been able to find one single comprehensive guide on how to do it.
So he’s picked up bits of knowledge here and there, weaving them together to create something that works for him.
It has helped Sutherland connect with his
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heritage, although he is mindful that many other indigenous cultures have their own beliefs about the Moon and its impacts on land.
Certain stages of the lunar cycle tend to work better for germination and growth, says Sutherland, and he will often take this into account alongside factors like seasonal weather.
‘‘For example, a tomato plant is growing well now during the warmer season, but it won’t grow nearly as well, or maybe not even at all, if planted in the middle of winter.
‘‘The combination of growing during the appropriate lunar phase combined with the appropriate season, I’ve found helps in the garden.’’
However, Sutherland also reckons nature has a way of figuring things out by itself and can thrive even when things aren’t planted at a precise time.
The other aspect of ma¯ tauranga Ma¯ ori he applies centres around the idea that all life comes from Papatu¯a¯nuku, or Mother Earth. For Sutherland, that means acknowledging the importance of soil and caring for it as best he can.
He views soil as its own living universe full of microbes, bacteria and organisms. Proper care will see the universe support the growth of plants, says Sutherland.
‘‘So for me, that’s probably the biggest thing that my Ma¯ ori culture represents to me is Papatu¯a¯nuku and how life stems from the earth.’’
With hot summer months approaching, Sutherland is now thinking about how he can keep the soil in his vege garden as healthy as possible.
Protecting your soil is no different to protecting your skin from the sun, says Sutherland. He’ll be throwing down some mulch to act as a sunscreen of sorts.
There is also the question of sustainability which can be front of mind for many people at Christmas when consumerism is rampant.
Sutherland’s answer to that is simple: Grow a lot and share what you grow with others.
‘‘We have a lot of people come over to our home and walk out with armfuls of kai, which we love doing. We love sharing, there’s always enough to go around.’’
Cutting out synthetic fertilisers using hua parakore
Further down the country in the Kaitoke Valley, near Upper Hutt, is the Papa whakaritori tow ha¯ nau food farm, home to Dr Jessica Hutchings.
She hails from Nga¯ i Tahu, Nga¯ ti Huirapa and Gujarat – meaning she is manuhiri on this land, which sits within the rohe of Te A¯ ti Awa.
Acknowledging this is extremely important for Hutchings, who is well known in the hua parakore movement, Te Waka Kai Ora.
‘‘The hua parakore is a Ma¯ ori organic approach to growing kai. It is also a Ma¯ ori organic verification and validation system
‘‘We don’t separate mothers and babies and the mainstream organic doesn’t allow us to talk about that.’’
for producers. It provides a kaupapa Ma¯ ori pathway to be able to tell a kaupapa Ma¯ ori story about hua parakore quality food production.’’
There are four other organic certification standards in Aotearoa but none are based on ma¯ tauranga Ma¯ ori, says Hutchings.
Hua parakore was developed in 2007 through hui with rongoa¯ (traditional Ma¯ori medicine) practitioners, Ma¯ ori organic food growers, hapu¯, wha¯nau and others, says Hutchings.
Their thoughts were boiled down to six governing kaupapa which include whakapapa, mana (status), wairua, ma¯ ramatanga (enlightenment), mauri (life force), and Te Ao Tu¯ roa (natural order).
‘‘They map to the New Zealand organic standards, and they actually provide an indigenous framework to ask and answer all the questions that a producer would be asked in an organic farm management certification process.’’
To be hua parakore-certified, the grower must use no synthetic or nitrogen-based fertilisers, says Hutchings. They should avoid chemicals and work to enhance the processes of nature.
A major part of Hutchings’ work in this space has been to write books and journal articles validating hua parakore and bringing it to life.
‘‘So often with indigenous knowledge, it’s marginalised, seen as lesser, not scientific . . . I just used the academic pathway that I was once trained in to help to uplift ma¯ tauranga Ma¯ ori as being valid.’’
As far as Hutchings is aware, hua parakore is the first and only indigenous organic verification system in the world.
And its reach isn’t just limited to Aotearoa. People have signed up in Taiwan, Rarotonga and even Hawai’i.
In Aotearoa, Hutchings says there are more than 50 Ma¯ ori collectives coming into the system, which has reopened online only in the past 18 months.
‘‘I see the hua parakore as a revolution, a kaupapa Ma¯ ori-based revolution for food and farming in Aotearoa to restore our food systems again, back into the loving hands of the community.’’
Hutchings is often asked about success measurements when it comes to hua parakore – how much can you produce? How much can you export?
But she says that misses one of the fundamental purposes of hua parakore, which is food sovereignty. Feeding ourselves first and foremost.
‘‘I think the politics of what we’re doing has to be that we have to be able to feed our wha¯ nau wha¯ nui and those people who are right around us first, because that’s who we are as Ma¯ ori.
‘‘You know, it’s about manaakitanga . . . and at the heart of that is looking after Papatu¯a¯nuku and Hineahuone.
‘‘Looking after our soils, reconnecting back to those divine relationships with our beautiful deity that can help us awaken to a different way of being and asking from the whenua that doesn’t cause harm . . .’’
The business of BioFarm
Another key figure in the hua parakore movement is Cathy Tait-Jamieson (Nga¯ ti Tukorehe) from BioFarm Yoghurt in Palmerston North. She started farming with her husband in 1977, initially to produce milk for export markets.
But as their young family grew, they started to consider the implications of their land use and the need to produce healthy kai for their wha¯nau.
‘‘We started growing vegetables . . . and about the same time we realised that we actually didn’t want to put sprays on our farm.’’
CATHY TAIT-JAMIESON
Tait-Jamieson and her husband later bought the farm, considering how they could add value.
‘‘We decided to culture our milk into yoghurt. So that’s how the yoghurt came about. Based on that we were able to secure a mortgage, and we carried on.’’
At the same time Tait-Jamieson was working to get the farm certified organic, but was also realising that the process lacked something important.
The system didn’t allow them to discuss why they were doing certain things or why it was important to them, she says.
Hua parakore was a natural solution, providing Tait-Jamieson with an avenue to explain the ‘‘why’’ as much as the ‘‘how’’.
At BioFarm, the values of hua parakore extend to more than just vegetables. They also influence decisions about animals.
‘‘We don’t separate mothers and babies and the mainstream organic doesn’t allow us to talk about that,’’ she explains.
‘‘That’s really important for us, and it’s really important for our customers who want to know that we really do walk the talk and say that our animal welfare standards are really high.’’
Soil welfare is also extremely important at BioFarm. Healthy soil means healthy animals and natural produce.
When it comes to keeping sustainable at Christmas, Tait-Jamieson says knowing
where your food comes from is essential.
‘‘If you can whakapapa what you put in your mouth back to the producer, back to the whenua from where it came, you’re being sustainable because you’re supporting the whakapapa of that kai all the way back to the whenua.’’
Feeding the community
Knowing where your food comes from is also front of mind at Papatu¯a¯nuku Ko¯kiri Marae, which sits along a busy suburban road in Ma¯ ngere, South Auckland.
From the outside it looks fairly nondescript, but inside lies a veritable community food basket in the form of a huge ma¯ ra kai (vegetable garden).
It is here that you can find the kaiwhakahaere, Lionel Hotene (Nga¯ ti Awa, Whakatane, Poroporo).
‘‘There are a few things that we’re trying to achieve here in the garden, that’s supporting families and those who want to grow good kai and sharing our resources,’’ he says.
‘‘Sharing our kaupapa around hua parakore, the values and the principles that encompass Kai Atua, food of the gods.’’
The marae produces roughly 400 food boxes per week for families in need, says Hotene, alongside its other project, Kai Ika, which provides fish heads, frames and offal.
‘‘So we think, you know, going back to the ma¯ra [garden], it’s a good way to get people in to interact and connect with the people providing these boxes for people that are in isolation.
‘‘Kauma¯ tua and kuia that are sitting in isolation . . . it’s important to get them the kai that they need and also the hygiene stuff, toiletries . . .’’
Ma¯ tauranga Ma¯ ori sits at the heart of this garden, influencing the way kai is viewed and experienced.
A key part of that is moving away from food like McDonald’s and Burger King
towards healthy alternatives.
Hotene describes it as an ambulance-at-thetop-of-the-cliff approach, creating deeper connections with Papatu¯a¯nuku and exercising mana motuhake (selfdetermination).
Gardeners here follow the maramataka and, like all good growers, keep a close eye on the weather conditions.
For Hotene, one of the most important aspects of this garden is empowering people through kai.
The values of hua parakore play a huge role, as does teaching the next generation of gardeners, so they can continue harvesting kai into the future, he says.
It’s not surprising that life at Papatu¯a¯nuku Ko¯ kiri Marae is always pretty busy.
There is a lot of need here and sometimes the line of cars waiting for food can stretch down the road.
Christmas is likely to exacerbate that, with extra consumption often encouraged at this time of year.
‘‘I think that there is a bit of pressure on our wha¯ nau to be able to keep up with the Joneses,’’ says Hotene.
‘‘But also it’s a struggle to be able to provide good food to our people at this time of the season.’’
Hotene says he is grateful for partners like KiwiHarvest and LegaSea who support the kaupapa here.
And with that, he waves goodbye and returns to the garden to care for Papatu¯a¯nuku and prepare for the season ahead.
This role is Public Interest Journalism funded by New Zealand On Air.