Kaumatua Hakopa Newton (left) and Charlie Maikuku at the opening of the garden.
WAIKERIA Prison has celebrated the opening of the country’s first traditional Maori garden to be established by prisoners.
In early August, local Tainui kaumatua unveiled and blessed four pou carved by prisoners to guard the garden. Te Arawa kaumatua travelled from Rotorua to offer their support.
At least 10 minimum security prisoners will be assigned to dig up and tend the garden at any one time. While modern tools will initially be used to break the soil, it is envisioned that prisoners will research and make tools used by their ancestors, and that manuka will be harvested for this purpose.
The brainchild of Waikeria Prison Unit Manager Errol Baker, the garden will see prisoners learning how to prepare soil; make and use compost; plant, harvest and rotate crops.
However, it is the extraction and storage of seeds that will be the first priority over the next 12 months.
“It’s important that the gardens become sustainable and that will only happen if we have a good source of seeds to draw on,” Mr Baker says.
“My hope is that the kumara, kamokamo, Maori potato and Maori corn that once nourished Maori tribes living off the land will soon be nourishing foodbank and Women’s Refuge clients struggling to make ends meet in today’s urban society.”
Maori potato, corn and gourd seeds have been donated by a local community group. The kamokamo (small pumpkin eaten whole) and kumara seedlings will be purchased by Mr Baker.
Maori potato is a small potato that doesn’t require peeling. Unlike the yellow corn that most people eat, Maori corn is purple and traditionally eaten after being left to soak in a river for three days. In years gone by, the corn was also ground to make bread. Both vegetables have survived thanks to rural Maori families’ determination to grow and harvest traditional Maori vegetables.
Mr Baker says a long-term benefit of the programme is that prisoners will gain the confidence to produce food for their families when released from prison.
“It takes effort and discipline but the rewards are very pleasing,” he says.
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