Shona Ua-Marsh helping children with planting and watering seedlings at Giggles Early Learning Centre.
Shona Ua-Marsh helping children with planting and watering seedlings at Giggles Early Learning Centre.
There is both nurturing and nutrition at Giggles Early Learning Centre in Te Puke.
The centre has an extensive outdoor area that, in recent years, has increasingly become both a valuable learning tool and a source fresh produce for the centre’s families and the wider community.
“A few years ago we were just noticing that there was a bit of strain on families in regards to the lunchboxes,” says centre owner Shona Ua-Marsh.
“It was cheaper to get packaged food than it was to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.”
With a focus on healthy eating, it seemed obvious to take that a step further.
“We thought, ‘if we can create a garden to teach children about healthy eating, but not only the children, their families as well, we can show them that it’s actually cheaper’.
One of the raised gardens at Giggles Early Learning Centre.
“A lot of our families didn’t have the resources, knowledge or space so we thought we’d just do it.”
It began with two kiwifruit bins, supplied by Poutiri Trust, that were set up to grow fresh vegetables. However, it soon became clear that was not going to be enough.
“We thought we can’t grow all the vegetables we are exploring with children, with some of them thinking that peas or corn actually come from the freezer at New World - so the vision got bigger.
“We could only do two or three types of vegetables because that’s all the bins were able to accommodate, so it went from that to we’ve got a bit of space in our playground, why don’t we grow all our vegetables here.”
Shona knew she wanted to not only teach children about growing, but also hold workshops and teach parents how to grow and to be able to send the produce home.
“But I also knew I wasn’t an expert and none of the teachers were experts so I went to The Hub and said ‘I’ve got this great idea, but I need help in regard to expertise’.”
Haimona at kūmara harvest time.
Almost by accident, she had found herself at a food resilience meeting.
“There was another group from Tauranga and some horticultural experts in the room as well so when I pitched the idea of what I wanted to do and needing support, then hands went up, people were happy to help.
“COLAB came on board and [co-ordinator] Chris Johnstone said ‘if there’s anything we can do or help the community we would love to be involved’ and Ngāpeke, a permaculture group, said ‘we are happy to help’.”
Now about a quarter of the centre’s playground is given over to producing food.
“We’ve had workshops down here for the community on how to grow gardens, how to make raised gardens, how to fertilise your gardens.”
As well as supplying produce to families, Giggles has sent food to Te Puke foodbank and regularly stocks pātaka kai locally.
The teaching side of the garden ties in with both te ao Māori and Te Whāriki curriculum.
“It’s fully educational, how we connect with Papatūānuku and Ranginui and then bringing in te ao Māori elements,” says Shona.
The centre’s multicultural nature has also had an influence on the gardens.
One of the many workshops that have taken place at Giggles Early Learning Centre.
“We’ve got traditional Indian vegetables too. Our Indian whānau come in and they plant things, our Pasifika whānau have planted a banana tree, taro, sugar cane. And I’ve found that when they have planted things that are meaningful to them, they come in and help us and teach us.”
The garden has no formal layout and vegetables aren’t planted in neat rows.
“They are wherever the children want to plant them, and there’s often a sense of surprise when something pops up and that’s part of the fun of it.
“It’s normalised now, that it’s their play space. They think it’s play, but it’s actually learning. And they really care about their plants.”
Most recently, Shona has been working on bringing rest home residents to enjoy the garden and share their knowledge.
“How powerful it is to have our elderly and our children together, and how powerful is that knowledge sharing?
“The whole idea of this garden is an outdoor classroom to teach our children about being kaitiaki [guardians], about looking after the land, how to be sustainable and looking after our bodies, but also providing manaakitanga, which is sharing what we produce with our families and our community.
“These values of te ao Māori are embedded in something fun and enjoyable and sustainable.”
Giggles is the venue for a Wild Weeds workshop on Saturday that will cover foraging for superfoods that grow wild. Visit the COLAB Facebook page for more information.
