Gathering together despite the rain and creating ripples of inspiration, learning and local change.
On Sunday 18th August we gathered with 15 participants at Garry and Ali Fosters old country school house in the pouring rain. However, many of us who traveled there saw the magnificent rainbow that seemed to follow us for the day. A small community of 5 adults and 1 child live in the 2 houses and a tiny house on 2.4 acres. After being welcomed we made the most of a short dry patch with a bit of light trying to shine through the clouds, and went for a walk around the property first.
Soon we were standing in the ngahere (forest), a boundary shelter patch planted up with natives that were clearly thriving in each other's company, bringing the native birds to the whenua. We walked through a wide mowed garden path with 54 covered “crop circles” full of vegetables on either side of us
Each circle produces 3 crops a year and provides enough food for the 3 households. We were interested in why circles had been chosen. Garry’s answer: because it looks rather cool, breaks the straight lines and the circular chicken wire surrounding each circle provides a frame or structure useful to cover the veggies and protect them from birds, white butterflies, frost and excessive summer sun. It was impressive to see the winding pathways with edible shrubs and trees leading down to the river.
Back inside again, we each introduced ourselves and generally there was great interest from the group in planting up bare land. Garry covered a lot with practical advice, how the crop circles are made and maintained, what to do with bare land, no-dig gardening methods, types of mulch, hot compost making, striving to have proportions of 30 carbon to 1 nitrogen and heating it up to between 55 - 70 degree C.
All this information and learning made us feel rather hungry, a most delicious lunch was served, pumpkin soup, buckwheat bread and toppings.
After lunch we learnt about the actual permaculture design process that had and is being implemented at the Matahiwi Food Forest and what to look for including how to deal with prevailing winds and the idea of keeping the north side open to let the sunlight in, as well as identifying the permaculture zones and choosing the right plants and trees.
Garry showed us several plans he has designed for clients, and explained that after taking an initial look at the aerial map of the land the most important question to ask the client is: how do you live? What are your needs? What are the existing resources? What’s the dream? What are your likes and wishes?
What I gained from this insightful Toru event is that we are all different, there is not one way of gardening, but there is no end to feeling inspired by each other, by being open and receptive to changing our ways and to start to play with implementing some of these changes into our daily lives.
It’s exciting to think that by gathering like this we can set a ripple effect in motion that can stretch far and wide! Like the mycelium, we learned that in one tsp of compost there is 3 km of fungal thread! So let's have more gatherings and make more compost!
Thank you for the wonderful day of learning Garry and Ali,
Hella Coenen
Garry naming the natives in the ngahere
Deep learning despite the conditions.
The Crop Circles were a real point of interest and a great example of creative permaculture.
Gathering together to listen to more stories.
All Photos courtesy of Hella Coenen
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