Community spirit flourishes in Owhiro gardens

People in Wellington’s Owhiro Bay, including families in emergency housing, are now growing their own potatoes, carrots and sweetcorn in a flourishing community garden, thanks to a collaboration between Mokai Kainga Māori Trust, Wellington City Council, Corrections and many other community members and groups including Friends of Owhiro Stream and the ‘Dirt Doctor’.

As well as vegetables, the gardens boast a wetland conservation area which doubles as an irrigation system and a small olive and fruit orchard.

In July 2009, the now verdant garden – dubbed ‘The Garden of Eden’ by offenders – was one-and-a-half acres of waste ground, covered in gorse, blackberry brambles and weeds.

But Mokai Kainga’s CEO Robert Te Whare, as part of his overall vision to provide social services and education, saw the area could become a garden providing fresh vegetables to nearby homes, including the Trust’s three emergency houses for families in need.

He called on Corrections who brought in offenders serving community work sentences to clear the land and prepare it for gardens.

Robert says the garden already helps to feed 13 local families, but now that so many members of the local community have come on board, their vision for the garden’s evolution doesn’t end there.

“We also plan to put in 500 native plants to be donated by the Council to provide rongoā (traditional Māori  medicines).
Owhiro School will have an area for a seedhouse and we have plans to build a workshop too,” he says.

Community Work Supervisor Tupu says the project is a special one for Corrections because it has expanded so far beyond the original brief of ‘slash and burn’ to be truly embraced by the local community.

“This project has so much to offer. It isn’t just about offenders giving something back to the community; they also gain valuable skills from working here, not least because we treat this place as a marae where we teach and educate. Robert and his fellow Trust members, and I teach Māori cultural concepts as we go about our work,” he says.

Matthew Dadley, the ‘Dirt Doctor’, who has given his time to advise about composting and soil care in the gardens, says it’s been a rewarding experience to watch the transformation of the waste ground.

“I have on every occasion felt welcomed by the men working on the project and have enjoyed the mix of Pakeha and Māori  perspectives on how to create the garden. I cannot help but think that a gardening project of this nature, where ownership is present, could be a model for the rehabilitation of men under Correction’s supervision,” he says.

The Owhiro Community Garden acknowledges the generous support of Friends of Owhiro Stream, wetland advocate George, horticulturalist Allan Brown, ‘Dirt Doctor’ Matthew Dadley, the Wellington City Council and all the other members of the community who have donated their time, expertise and resources to make the project possible.