Māra Kai - Food Gardens
Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Tupoho - Castlecliff, Whanganui, New Zealand
Ngā Māra kai (food gardens) grow confidence in tamariki and rangatahi (children and young adults) to raise, care for, and harvest their own kai.
These gardens provide a resource to kura wharekai (kitchen) and to kura whānau (family) to educate, and contribute to local food security.
No herbicides or pesticides are used in our māra kai (food gardens) instead, we build the health of the plants and soil by maintaining a diversity of plantings , flowers and companion plantings. This also attracts beneficial insects/predators and bees for pollination. We use mulch to reduce evaporation and to keep soil temperatures more even through the seasons.
Initial works removed kikuyu grass runners which had swamped the area. We cover soil in cardboard, then tree mulch, to suppress weeds, encouraging worms and other soil activity. We cycle our food waste in compost bins and worm farms. The finished nutrient goes back into the beds, feeding our soil and plants.
Summer is the most abundant season but also the most challenging as most people are away so the māra kai has few visitors. For this reason we allow vegetables to go to seed, providing habitat for insects and bees, and to ensure abundant supply of seed for future planting. With diversity of plant life (and roots) the health of the soil is maintained with shade from plants cooling the soil.