June Valley Voice - our vision and Lillian's perspective

Kia ora Aro Valley,

Winter's arrived (my mum

blames my birthday for the

arrival of winter every year!). We've planted broadbeans and lupins to feed our soil, pruned

the fruit trees so they'll prosper next spring, and we've harvested

lots of cauliflowers and

coriander.

In our potluck before last, we had a visioning session which

was inspiring for the group and led us to ask, what do we like about the Kai o Te Aro community gardens? Why are

we each involved? And what's our vision for the future?

So I thought I would share with you my very own personal perspective on why Kai o Te Aro (and community gardens in general) are so phenomenal.

I grew up in Auckland and my parents have always grown fruit trees, but we only ever had a short stint with vegetables when I was young. The taste of my first home-grown fresh peas direct from the garden still lingers in my memory. After leaving home, I travelled and was blessed to WWOOF on a few farms in France and Argentina, for a few weeks each (that is, "Willing Workers on Organic Farms"). I was amazed at how easy and fulfil

ling it was to grow my own food and eat each meal according the seasons and whatever was growing in the backyard (I also learnt to milk goats but that's another story!). Coming back to New Zealand, I wanted to make sure that this new-found love of growing food became part of my everyday life.

So I made veggie plots in my back garden. But being a renter meant that I was moving flats often, leaving behind pumpkins that would be ready in a month, green tomatoes and soil I'd carefully composted. Community gardens were the answer!

Kai o te Aro sprung up three years ago and I heard how it was going through a few friends of friends. So I braved it one Sunday, and joined in at a working bee. What I found was an easy going bunch of people, lots of laughter and people all learning from each other. If I don't know if a little sprout is a weed or a vegetable, I ask and someone will know. If someone has a great idea, we all listen, chip in and run with it. We're a collaborative group that is non-hierarchical which is pretty amazing to see in action.

And aside from the pure joy of watching food grow on trees and appear out of the ground,

we garden organic so I know there's no nasties when I eat it. Eating local food means not eating so much oil - no transport over roads or across oceans. I haven't done the sums, but it feels good to know I'm part of something that is a tiny wee baby step towards reducing climate change.

Anyway, I'm sure there's more or different things others in the group would say, but that's my personal story of why I keep coming back each month or fortnight to the working bees and potluck planning meetings (did I mention that there are some incredible cooks in the group...?).

We welcome new gardeners and passionate Aro Valleyites to join in our monthly w

orking bees. We meet at 10am outside the Aro Valley Community Centre, 48 Aro St, on the first and third Sunday of the month. Just show up to join in! To get on our contact list or find out more about this project please email us at arogardener@gmail.com. You can also find us on our ooooby page www.ooooby.ning.com/group/kai_o_te_aro

Have a good one,

Lillian.

PS. Here's a before and after shot of The Orchard after a recent working bee (and I'm holding a proud potato!)

December Valley Voice

Hello Aro Valleyites

Kai o Te Aro keeps on getting stronger and we're loving the food that is appearing before our eyes. The three garden sites each have something exciting happening.

The corn planted at the Steps site is coming along well, along with lots of other edibles and some sunflowers. The Secret Garden is overflowing with greens - a lot of which appears to be self-seeded (or perhaps it's the elves?). The Orchard now is complete with all its trees, with an apricot and a macadamia being the last two that were planted.

Although it was absolutely heartbreaking to do, our baby pears and apples that were growing on our one-year-old trees at the Secret Garden had to be removed. We've heard that for new fruit trees, it's best to remove the first signs of tiny fruit, so that the tree can focus on making good strong roots and strong branches in its first year. Apparently it will produce much better fruit in later years after doing this, so the heartbreak will be worth it.

A kind person has generously given us some special kumara that is ready to plant. It is from an ancient kumara growing site on the coast near Martinborough where biologists have been working to look at the kumara's biological history. We're hoping this lot will like their new home in Aro Valley! Next year we'll be awaiting the kumara to be included in a Kai o Te Aro feast.

A big thanks to Fiskars who have just given us three new heavy duty spades. We're planning on doing a "double dig" garden at the Orchard this weekend, so they will be well used and appreciated as we attempt to break ground.

We've just had our last planning and potluck meeting for the year, including eating some of our community grown produce! We also figured out the watering roster for the next month. It's been an incredible year of growth for Kai o Te Aro - physically and as a group - and we're all super excited about 2011. Everyone is welcome to join in, and January/February would be a great time to join in if you're interested (we're particularly keen on encouraging those of you at the top end of Aro Valley so there's people who are close to the Orchard and the Steps sites).

For our monthly working bees, we meet at 12pm outside the Aro Valley Community Centre, 48 Aro St, on the third Sunday of the month. To get on our contact list or find out more about this project email us atarogardener@gmail.com. You can also find us on our ooooby page www.ooooby.ning.com/group/kai_o_te_aro

Have a fab summer and we look forward to seeing some new faces and a bunch of familiar friendly ones in the New Year.

Nga mihi nui, na Lillian and the Kai o Te Aro 9th December potluck and planning meeting crew.