Ana Apatu: Ideas dug up for garden's future

Ana Apatu

Our Fair for Life Gardening committee has its first meeting for the 15/16 financial year in the Bostocks boardroom. Heidi Steifel chairs the meeting in which the draft budget is circulated and forecast funding discussed.

Money from the Fair for Life funding arrives later in the year and is calculated on JB's Fair Trade organic apple sales to the US (Awe Sum Organics). Rex Graham describes how a few years ago "millionaire American hippies" were powhiri'd on to Te Aranga Marae. The outcome was we - U-Turn - learned we were eligible for funding under the social responsibility arm of Bostocks Fair Trade arrangement.

This means we are audited annually against standards. We discuss our audit feedback and make plans to improve our work this coming year. Recently, we bought tractor implements to plough our plots. Our tractor, a David Brown (perfect for what we need Kevin Bayley assured me and it is) was funded by Hawke's Bay Foundation.

Included in these implements is a potato mounder. We plan to grow Maori potatoes and kumara. How will we deter people from picking them too early? Bostocks will look into whether they may have an orchard space to grow them off site. We need to ask our local Maori potato and kumara expert Hanui Lawrence how to grow these plants. I have been told Maori potatoes have a low GI glycaemic index level.

A food's GI indicates the rate at which the carbohydrate in that food is broken down into glucose and absorbed from the gut into the blood. In high GI foods, this occurs quickly, causing your blood glucose (sugar) level to rise rapidly. In low GI foods, carbohydrate is digested slowly resulting in a more gradual rise in blood glucose levels. Better for those with a propensity towards diabetes or poor glycaemic control such as Maori and Pacific peoples.

Our budget includes our wish list for the garden, which includes a waharoa (gateway) to the Te Aranga community garden and a BBQ area for the summer time. We receive our gardener/contractor Gary Barclay's report. Gary has been planning our planting of seedlings throughout spring and summer with Jo Duff of Kahikatea Farms. Gary's report includes a section describing where people have been dumping rubbish in our garden.

Dean Reti, an employee of JB's, tells us rubbish bags have to be purchased for collection. Bags work out to be about $2 each - so a bundle is $14. In contrast, Napier residents can use any rubbish bags for collection. We regularly have to contact the council over rubbish discarded on the bare land surrounding Te Aranga Marae.

The other negative aspect of Gary's report is people tipping our bee hives over. Frustrating to say the least. But the garden generally is going well. We have planted more than 12,000 seedlings since January, twice that of last year.

Nathan Foote, our part-time contractor, is charged with planting gardens for JB's RSE workers and in homes. We struggle with the cost of macrocarpa or any appropriate wood to border our gardens. We have tried bins and pallet wood and "no wood" but we agree having a border is the most ideal.

It has been a busy time. Pam, Henare, Rebecca and I travelled to Hamilton to visit the Nawton Boxing Academy as we were on a mission to buy a boxing ring for our Flaxmere Boxing Academy. Their second-hand 5m by 5m ring is perfect and will be installed next weekend.

During our Hamilton travel, we discuss Phillip Rhodes, Pam and Henare's opera singer foster son's visit in October. Phillip is back for his opera tour in October and November. He has kindly offered us a week between his Wellington and Auckland concerts to perform here - a U-Turn and Te Aranga Marae fundraiser.

For those who crammed into the Mission Chapel last time - what an experience. But maybe this time - let's look at a venue that will hold more and has better acoustics. For those of you who are interested, grab some tissues and watch Phillip's story by googling Rhodes actor-singer on Maori TV. It's a gem.

-Ana Apatu is chief executive of the U-Turn Trust, based at Te Aranga Marae in Flaxmere.