Fighting system for healthy, affordable food
In eight years, a patch of grass in a Woolston park has been transformed into a food source, a pollinators’ paradise and a money saver for the city council.
Since the Roimata Food Commons project began in 2017, more than 100 heritage fruit and nut trees, over 1000 native plants, herbs, berries, vegetables, flowers and perennials have been planted in landscaped food forest areas, fruit gardens, native plant clusters, and a community garden.
As an added bonus, the project – in Radley Park – saves the council money, both on mowing and pesticides.
Founder Michael Reynolds convinced the council a few years back to not use any weedkillers – organic or not – in the park.
“There’s a perception that people want parks to be managed the same way people manage their back yards, but there’s actually room for some parks to be a lot more natural,” he said.
But the venture is not without its difficulties. The community garden at Roimata’s centre started off strongly, but Covid-19 saw the number of people getting involved dropping off, with Reynolds struggling to manage the project hands on.
Funding is sometimes difficult to come by and Reynolds needed to work on other projects, including his not-for-profit vegetable box scheme, Toha Kai.
In his more than a decade in the not-forprofit food resilience space, Reynolds has faced many hurdles. “There’s less support for projects designed around long term food sovereignty and food security, while a lot more funding goes into band aid responses like food banks and food rescue organisations.”
In a bittersweet move, Reynolds will have more time to spend at Roimata, as the Trust that runs the Toha Kai veggie box scheme he co-founded – that expanded to incorporate land on the outskirts of the city – has made the decision to wind up.
He’s hopeful there might still be a chance to save the farm if he can attract funding.
Reynolds said in today’s climate a not-forprofit food project like Toha Kai could not get enough support to be viable in the long term.
A key difference at Roimata was the move away from the traditional “sweat equity” model - that most community gardens use to having produce available 24/7 to anyone.
“People who may not have access to enough food, may not have enough time or energy to volunteer in a community garden.”
But admitting you can’t put food on the table and turning up to the food bank still had an element of shame attached for some, while heading to the local park to pick apples was “nourishing” on multiple levels, he said.
Reynolds’ heartfelt efforts have been made into a short film, The City Food Commons.
Producer Antoinette Wilson said as soon as she met him, she knew his was a story that needed to be told. There were countless benefits to projects like Roimata, she said.
But it’s not all abundant harvests and happy neighbours – the film-makers also saw hard times and hurdles, and wanted to explore the ‘why’ behind Reynolds’ dedication. Wilson said people who propelled such projects were driven by a combination of obstinance and profound passion.
“Unfortunately, you don’t often see those people able to continue beyond a few years because they just don’t get that financial support. It’s a perfectly replicable model if councils would get on board. We’d love to see it in parks all over the world.” Wilson’s documentary premiered at the WEA yesterday and, from next Friday, can be viewed for free on Youtube.