A new māra kai initiative at the Kāingaroa Forest Village Community Centre is bringing whānau together to strengthen food security, share mātauranga and build a more resilient future for the whole community.
Residents gathered over the weekend to build growing tunnels, raised planter boxes and prepare the site, marking one of the first steps in bringing the community garden to life. Resident EI Hunt is among those backing the project, seeing it as a sustainable approach to community wellbeing.
“The whole holistic thing around growing, aye, from the seeds to the tipu.”
The māra kai is being established by Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Manawa with Community-Led Development funding from the Department of Internal Affairs. Project supporter Anahera Boynton said the aim was to reconnect the community through locally grown food.
“Get the community involved, get together, have some organic food, we know how it’s grown.”
That vision is already drawing whānau of all ages into the project. Resident Sharyessa Haumako took her son along to learn practical skills and contribute to the community.
“My reason for coming today was just to come here with my son and get him involved with what’s going on in the community, helping do the garden boxes for the old people,” she said.
“It’s important, I think, for all of us, like it’s a kai source for our whānau - heaps of nourishment for our tinana.”
The first stage of the project has centred on building the infrastructure needed to support the māra, including grow tunnels and planter boxes. From there, organisers hope more whānau will become involved in planting, harvesting and sharing the produce throughout the community.
Panapa Rangiaho believes the māra would complement the kai many whānau already source locally. “To go with all the meat they catch here in the forest - to help support with silverbeet, cabbage and a lot of the healthy kai from the māra.”
Most residents have to travel about 50 kilometres to Rotorua to do their shopping. With rising fuel and grocery costs continuing to place pressure on households, residents say the ability to grow food locally will help improve both affordability and access. Producing kai within the community also meant families knew exactly where their food came from and what was in it.
“Heaps of benefits because just out there in the Kāingaroa forest we have a lot of kai out there, good kai, but we don’t have access to it. We gotta go to the store in town and get that kai that’s got all those additives,” Hunt said.
“That’s why it’s very important that we do all of this mahi here so that we know that our mokopuna are gonna be nice and healthy.”
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Manawa chair Kani Edwards said communities were strongest when they worked together for the collective good. “That’s what a community should always be doing you know, it’s looking after each other and doing the best for the people and for that community.”
For Hunt, the māra kai initiative reflects a broader vision for the future of Kāingaroa.
“You know, hopes and aspirations for our mokopuna, our tamariki, our community and I know in my own heart that what we do here will benefit [the community]. That’s why I’m here, to put my hand to the soil, and my mokopuna help till the soil, all of that.
“Mātauranga Māori, reo will all come out of this, all of that will come with the kai, like I said, from the tipu to the puku.”
As the gardens begin to take shape, residents see the space becoming a place where mātauranga and kai grow together, helping Kāingaroa build a healthier, more self-sufficient future.
