Ōtara Eco-Neighbourhood: Young Gardeners of Tupu
23 September 2024
The Tupu Youth Garden Club is an Ōtara-Papatoetoe Eco-Neighbourhood group that started up in mid May 2024 when Librarian Anitha Pattery took initiative and approached our EN Project Lead, Caragh Doherty, whilst Caragh was advertising EN at the Tupu Youth Library. Anitha was after guidance and funding support as she wasn’t a gardener herself but she had a love for engaging with kids and saw potential for growth in both the kids and their unused garden.
Seeing the drive for youth engagement, Caragh branched out to PVA’s Cultivator and gardener Ana, who was ecstatic to support Anitha to feel more confident in initiating a plan for Tupu’s māra kai and tamariki to thrive, hence Tupu Youth Garden club was born.
This meeting sparked a partnership that has brought new life to their existing garden space and has since been popular with young students aged between 5 and 11, who hang at the library after school and in the weekends.
“There was an initial fear that the kids wouldn’t actually harvest and eat the vegetables, but surprisingly, they’ve been harvesting heaps already with one mama who is involved in the māra saying “the Silverbeet we harvested and cooked in our boil up for dinner taste better than the ones from the supermarket.”
The eager youth have shown keen interest in helping to grow and harvest the vegetables, particularly when they recognise the vegetables as ingredients in their favorite meals at home. “One of the Tongan girls harvested lots of spring onions because she knows her mum loves to cook with them, and it’s an must-have ingredient in one of her favorite meals.”.
This highlights the importance of understanding the cultural preferences of local whānau. Ana says, “Knowing who you’re growing for and making sure they are growing what they will actually eat at home is key. This maximises the youth’s input and minimises waste.”.
This approach has been vital to keeping the children excited about ultimately using their harvests in meals and interested in trying new things.
The garden club is now doing a regular harvest since learning that harvesting keeps the garden producing and the veges healthy, with all excess harvest put out to the rest of the library, free.
Beyond veges, Tupu garden club requested funding for fruit trees. A garden staple that when planted once and planted right, will feed for generations with the added perk of being low maintenance. Ōtara-Papatoetoe EN and PVA feel so humbled to have provided the assistance needed to get their mini orchard in the ground. The youth will be enjoying the fruits of fresh blueberries, chilean guavas, raspberries and peaches straight from their local māra at the library in just a few short years. Ana has also helped Anitha with incorporating companion planting, sharing that every plant including flowers have a use beyond looking pretty and the benefits of using ground covers, planting with the seasons and growing with the maramataka.
Having a māra kai to tend to has shifted the children’s focus away from iPads and towards more interactive activities when they are at the library. “The library has been working on pulling them away from iPads thinking, how can we enrich their minds? The support from Eco-Neighbourhoods to start up this garden has really helped the kids be part of something so much more meaningful.” The children now look forward to their time in the garden, working together with their peers and taking pride in the crops they grow.
The māra kai has not only provided the children with a sense of responsibility but has also brought families closer together. “It’s so cool to have a Garden Club for these young kids to be a part of—it gives them a sense of responsibility and guardianship over this space and also to learn about how food can be grown easily with a bit of love, hard work and patience.”. This Eco-neighbourhood group is fostering a youth community where fresh food brings them together, learning valuable life skills that extend beyond the garden.
-Amanda Hunter & Ana Ung
We are looking to support initiatives in Papatoetoe!! If you have good you’d like to do in your hood or know someone in Papatoetoe that might, reach out to Caragh our project lead >> 274econeighbourhoods@gmail.com