KEY POINTS:
The Green Party conference is probably the only one where a complete stranger laden with lumpen green vegetables will ask if you "might have any use of a choko".
It comes as a relief to discover the Greens' more ... let's say quaint ... side lives on despite
the slick audio visual presentations and punchy marketing at the annual conference over Queen's Birthday weekend.
Since the great Morris Dancing debacle of the party's early years, conferences have largely been stripped of such colourful events in the Greens' attempt to paint themselves as technology savvy and politically smart, with a wide range of appeal.
This conference at Auckland University's marae is a critical one. It is an election year and there are meaty issues to battle with.
The Green Party has the power of a Roman emperor's thumb over the future of the Government's flagship emissions trading scheme. Then there are food and petrol price rises to contend with and the ritualistic flogging of the major parties for their failures to even feed the world, let alone save it.
So behind closed doors, there may still be choruses of Kumbaya translated into te reo, but in general such behaviour is frowned upon.
Nonetheless, as Nandor Tanczos fondly pointed out in his farewell speech to the party faithful: "We've got some quirky, difficult and unusual people in the Green Party, and that's why it feels so much like going to a family gathering."
So there are some fanciful moments from the mix of organic-farmer types, environmental activists, protesters, one accountant, and the new-age urban hippies.
The korowai weaver from last year's conference is back, this time working on a pukeko cloak, the feathers for which she cheerily admits are sustainably harvested from road kill.
There is a preponderance of lentils, bean sprouts and quinoa - and a dearth of gluten and meat.
The conference's beginning was also ominous, with a candle on a table and convener Roland Sapsford announcing the return of the party's old "bringing into the flame" ceremony.
The MPs looked suspiciously at it and began to twitch, knowing full well images of Green supporters calling various spirits into the flame will be on that night's news.
But even the co-leaders are not averse to raising up a bit of nostalgia when it suits their purposes.
Jeanette Fitzsimons talks about "the smell of freshly baked bread, digging potatoes on a frosty morning, finding wild berries on a walk and planning a pie for the night".
Whether anyone actually enjoys digging their fingers into rock-hard frozen ground to hunt for a potato is beside the point. It sounds good.
But this is election year, folks, so by and large it's hard work and pragmatism for the attendees.
The six non-MP candidates on the list go through a form of boot camp, with meet-the-media sessions followed by yesterday's mock "meet the candidates" meeting.
There are many sessions on campaigning, and because this is the Greens, party campaigners are given the sexier title of "activists" rather than "volunteers". They learn about things ranging from using databases to the "how to put up a hoarding". There are no courses on how to hold a "bringing into the flame" ceremony.
