Marcus Agnew: How good would it be if we all had produce to share

Marcus Agnew thinks it would be great if we all grew produce in our gardens and shared the surplus with neighbours. Photo / File

With all the downtime and change of lifestyle under Covid, it has been interesting to see an increased willingness to share and help each other, and what that has started to look like – even in our contactless communities.

Going for walks it has been great to see people leaving surplus items at their front gates, free for anyone.

Only a few here and there, but the longer this lockdown has gone on, the better it has become, progressing from the dangling plastic bag, to well-signed carboard boxes offering a free selection of fruit and vegetables.

And the more the lockdown continues, the more it makes you think – why don't we do this all the time? What if?

I haven't heard any instructions promoting it, unlike the great Bear Hunt, but imagine if we had a big push for it.

The other day while out for a walk with my daughter I had the best apple in my life. At first I was going to walk right past it, sitting there in a box on the sidewalk, sitting there with a selection of fruit and vegetables someone had kindly left out.

I guess I was a bit embarrassed, like a typical kiwi I was just going to walk by, but then on second thoughts I went back and took up the offer, helping myself to what turned out to a delicious apple, fresh off the tree.

Continuing on my walk, munching on the apple, I couldn't help thinking how cool it was for someone to take the time to leave surplus produce out.

And like many other people I am sure, who have taken up the offer, or the people who took the time to leave produce out, I started wondering how awesome it would be if more of us did this.

And all of a sudden, it seems like a "no-brainer" - like the plastic bag thing. For years we all used plastic bags, couldn't live without them, then all of a sudden, we all bought into it and got rid of them: using plastic bags is madness, ruining our planet, gone.

The plastic bag phenomenon makes you wonder - how many other no-brainers are out there that need to be actioned, staring us in the face, waiting.

So surely, the more you chew on that apple you realise, surely we should all have a garden? A few fruit trees at least?

Marcus Agnew

In the old days we all had to do it, a garden was part of life. But in this modern world of convenience food, coupled with a commercial world where keeping up with the Joneses is more important, means we are more worried about how our garden looks than how our garden functions.

And now during this Covid lockdown, as we have experienced valuing the simple things in life, what if going forward we all grew a bit more produce and shared a little more?

Growing produce and sharing is a big part of life in the Pacific Islands, and perhaps our Pasifika leaders here in NZ could show us how it is done.

It becomes more than just about the fruit, it becomes a way to connect with others in our community in a real way. Sure, we all live in the same neighbourhood, but it can be more than just living next to each other, more like a real village.

It seems like a no-brainer, especially for those communities seriously struggling with finances and food. It is amazing to see the support rallied to get food packs to the needy; it used to be quite normal to grow produce, but somehow we don't do that anymore. We just have a waste-of-space grass verge.

How can we make it more normal again here in New Zealand, to do what they do in many Pacific Islands?

Seeing all the people line up for junk food has been a bit of a laugh – but it's madness, isn't it? It's sad. How did we get here?

What if?

What if everyone had a small garden and a few fruit trees? What if it became normal; we all had a sharing box at the end of the drive, next to the letter box.

If we can get rid of plastic bags, then why not?

• Marcus Agnew is the health and sport development manager at Hawke's Bay Community Fitness Centre Trust and a lecturer in sports science at EIT.