4 hours Ago By Mangawhai Focus
Kaiwaka Food Bank coordinator Milly O’Leary hopes locals will be willing to get their hands dirty in exchange for free vegetables, as well as the opportunity to help others.After being unkempt and overgrown for nearly a year, Kaiwaka’s Community Garden has received another chance to sprout, grow and help struggling locals with healthy fresh greens. Located behind the town’s War Memorial Hall, the garden’s revival is due to some hard mahi by a crew serving community time through the Department of Corrections (DoC).
In the past, vegetables grown at the site were distributed to the community through Kaiwaka Food Bank (KFB) and people tending the plot were also welcome to take produce home. Community gardens are also a great way for locals to share knowledge and skills, encouraging people to grow their own vegetables at home.Unfortunately, the gardens were closed last year.
KFB coordinator Milly O’Leary says this was due to a lack of volunteers, and the site has gradually fallen into disrepair. Last month, she was contacted by a DoC representative who was scoping out possible community projects for groups to work on. “It was a real mess with junk everywhere,” O’Leary says.
“Once I showed the Corrections officer the garden, straight away she said, ‘We can take care of that’.”Over three recent Saturdays, a crew of two women and six men have reestablished the three raised garden beds and created another along the fence line, made a wooden compost, repainted the fence, and cleared out rubbish. A hothouse is also under construction.
Hakaru Transfer Station along Mangawhai-Kaiwaka Road took the rubbish at no cost and Wyatts Landscaping donated fresh soil.“We’re really grateful for the support,” O’Leary says.Volunteers are now needed for the more easy tasks of keeping the beds clear, the site clean, planting seedlings and nurturing their growth.
As well as food bank coordinator, O’Leary also manages the Kaiwaka Op Shop and says although she is willing to kickstart the organisation of volunteers and check in after her voluntary shop work to see if the plants require watering, she is not keen on being left to tend to the garden alone. “I might arrange a time on a Saturday to see if I can get a small group together, have a talk about the community garden and then they can work out a schedule,” she says. “It’s a community garden, if people don’t come, it will go back to how it was.
So now it’s up to the Kaiwaka community.”For more information or to sign up, contact Milly 022 564 3830 or 022 028 9156..
