Murihiku Maara is an initiative directed at establishing and expanding community gardens at education and community-based spaces in Invercargill and Bluff. A key driver has been to increase the number of community gardens in Southland and Invercargill and make them successful and sustainable by understanding local requirements, all while building community connectedness now and for the future.

“For our family what is important is that it is not just for us now, it’s for our daughter in the future as well. She can come back [to McQuarrie Park Orchard] in 20 years and be like ‘I was part of that.’ It’s also about learning how to plant and look after things like our own food, and also to feed our community. Having our daughter involved in that and just seeing how many people it can reach has been really important.” – Community member

“It’s great to spend time with [our daughter] and show her how to be part of a community and plant food, where it comes from. And it will be here for a long time to come hopefully.” – Community member

“It’s for the community, to bring them here to eat together. People are telling their friends about the taro and then they are coming next week to the church. It is very important to us. To have taro, one of our island delicacies, on the table at the church (all year round) is very nice.” - Garden project coordinator Tiare Pukeiti

Community feedback and insights gathered by Healthy Families Invercargill helped us to understand that many in our community struggle to access good, nutritious kai, lack understanding or skills around how to grow and cook nutritious food, and don’t really understand the role they can play in the creation of a connected and resilient food system.

As a result of the Murihiku Maara initiative more public land in Southland is being used to grow edibles and there is more foraging of council gardens. Also, we have seen an increase in understanding within the community around building a connected and resilient food system. Composting systems are being established to contribute to nutrient rich soil for kai production and educate the wider community on reducing food waste. We are sharing the Murihiku Maara narratives to further inspire other community groups that are not part of the initiative to contribute to the strengthening of local food systems.

We’ve found that community gardens are more sustainable when there is an existing ‘backbone’ organisation (like Healthy Families Invercargill) involved and local community are engaged from the start to create a sense of ownership and collaboration. Importantly there appears better engagement when the community have already identified a significant need for a community garden and come forward. We are still working alongside our local council on refining processes, that will make it easier for community groups to gain approval for using council-owned land for community gardens.

Developing a local sustainable community garden model involves careful planning, community engagement, and ongoing maintenance. Involving the community throughout the process, will add to the success of a model that not only provides fresh produce but also strengthens community connections and promotes environmentally friendly practices.

Article added: Friday 16 February 2024