Fiona Naismith reflects on last weekend’s Toru Trail event, at Mangaroa Farms, where we experienced how working in harmony with the soil microbiome can foster abundant growth and biodiversity. She also shares Mangaroa farmer Cam Dixon’s top tips for soil health and his secrets to nutrient dense food.
Last weekend’s Toru Trail was an immersive experience of the heart of organic and regenerative gardening practices at a regenerative farm, nestled amidst rolling hills and lush greenery. The day was an invitation to connect with Papatuānuku and deepen our relationship with natural cycles and living systems.
Brian Monahan, one of the stewards who helped seed the vision of Mangaroa Farms (https://mangaroa.org) joined us at the beginning to share the farm’s vision and origin story.
The Monahan family moved to the valley in 2010 and since then have been on an ecological restoration mission, purchasing 250 HA of degraded farmland and 300HA of pine forest. Mangaroa Farms was established through a gift from the Monahan family in 2018. Much of the land has now transitioned to regenerative sheep and beef farming and 0.8HA has been converted into a thriving market garden.
When the land was purchased, it was a degraded dairy farm, having been overused and oversprayed for decades. Since then, the focus has been on reversing this long history of depletion, bringing diversity and vitality back to the soil.
For Brian and the other stewards, Mangaroa Farms is all about “imagining a new story”, one that doesn’t rely on extraction, exploitation and degradation. We all know the old story doesn’t work and, as Brian said, “that which is not sustainable will not be sustained”. Their hope is that the farm can be one voice and node in the great web of change, that will bring about a sustainable and regenerative future for farming.
After learning about how it all began, we set off on a tour of the market garden, guided by gardener lead Cam Dixon, who is one of three farmers caring for the market garden. The 0.8HA area has been divided into 25 beds, which were all in different stages of growth. Bringing vitality back to the soil, which had previously been sprayed with DDT, has been their priority. Now the garden provides abundant kai for their on-site Farm Shop and they are working towards organic certification.
Cam explained how they have focused on developing habitat spaces for insects around the beds through planting native grasses, flowers and hedgerows. With no tractors or machinery on site, they use a simple method to address ‘weeds’, which as someone shared, “are just an opinion”. Cover crops are grown, cut and dropped on the beds, and then covered in woven weed mats, that let in air and moisture: “The soil needs to be able to breathe”. Once the weeds have died, the farmers plant right into them. They aim not to till the soil, ensuring its structure is maintained and the different microbes that like to live at different levels are not disturbed.
For Cam, assessing the nutritiousness of the vegetables is all about tasting and smelling as they grow!
Cam’s tips to check your soil’s health
Take a spade and dig down approximately 200ml on 3 sides of a square
Lift up the soil and study the 4th side that the spade didn’t slice through
Study the makeup of the soil. Is there topsoil? Are there creatures like slugs and worms deep down? If there are, it means there is oxygen in your soil, which is good. Are there holes in the soil, like Swiss cheese? The more holes the better!
Most importantly, how does the soil smell? If it’s smells sweet, that’s good, it means lots of microbes are at play, if it smells bad – it's likely anerobic which you don’t want.
How to prepare your soil for planting
After checking your soil health using the spade method above, decide whether you need to take action or can leave it as it is
If it is compacted, use a broad fork. The broad fork keeps the soil structure, which is important, but reduces compaction. Place the broad fork in the soil every 100-150ml and gently lever forward to bring back some oxygen into the soil.
Before dropping your seeds, gently till the top layer of soil – only the first couple of inches, to ensure good seed soil contact.
After getting our hands in the soil, helping plant out a freshly prepared bed, we visited the beautiful farm shop. For a small space it packs in an amazing array of kai grown on the farm and a range of products from aligned growers, makers and bakers.
Next it was time to head down the road, to enjoy a delicious and nutritious lunch under the shade of the trees. We finished off the day with a circle, reflecting on how we had witnessed the different permaculture principles in action at the market garden and key takeaways from the day. Sure enough everyone found examples of how each of the principles were thriving there, through the path of co-creation of nature that the team are taking, as humble stewards of the land.
Fiona Naismith
All photos courtesy of Bob Zuur
Also we are so excited to share some wonderful feedback we received after this event from one of the participants:
"My name is Wafaa (a Kaiako from Petone Kindergarten) and I would just like to thank you and everyone else for the amazing Mangaroa Farms tour. Shruti and I have learnt so much from lead gardener Cam and are busy implementing what we have learnt. It is not very often that commercial farms open themselves up and share their amazing mahi and knowledge to the public.
So from the bottom of both mine and Shruti's heart, we would like to say a big thank you as you all. I also wanted to share that our tamariki have also been talking very kindly to our new seedlings."
Thank you Wafaa!
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