Posts

The Gut Microbiome

/in ,

8 tips for whole-body health

One of the most complex systems supporting your health isn’t your brain, heart, or even your immune system – it’s your gut microbiome.

Nutritional therapist Paula Sharp finds out why this internal ecosystem, composed of trillions of microorganisms, is hailed by scientists as key to health research.

We hope you enjoy this free article from OrganicNZ.  Join us to access more, exclusive member-only content

Your gut microbiome is the diverse community of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microbes residing primarily in your large intestine.

They are microscopic, but have an enormous collective impact. They have essential roles in digesting food, modulating inflammation, and influencing brain health.

The microbiome also builds and regulates most of our immune function.

Image: DataBase Center for Life Science, Wikimedia Commons

What is the gut microbiome?

Imagine a rainforest inside your body, teeming with life. Like any ecosystem, the gut microbiome thrives on diversity and balance. This community of microorganisms works together to help you break down fibre, extract nutrients, synthesise vitamins (such as B12 and K), and produce beneficial short-chain fatty acids.

While we tend to think of bacteria as harmful, the majority living in your gut are either beneficial or neutral. These microbes co-evolved with us and perform tasks we cannot do on our own—such as fermenting non-digestible carbohydrates or keeping pathogenic (harmful) bacteria in check.

It’s estimated that the human gut contains between 300 to 1000 different species of bacteria, with every individual having a unique microbiome signature, influenced by genetics, diet, environment, and lifestyle.

The microbiome’s role in the body

Research over the past decade has dramatically changed our understanding of the gut microbiome. Once considered a passive system, it’s now seen as an active organ in its own right, interacting with nearly every physiological process.

1. Digestion and nutrient absorption

Gut microbes help break down complex carbohydrates, such as dietary fibre, that we can’t digest on our own. The fermentation of fibre by certain bacterial strains produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) like acetate, propionate, and butyrate. These SCFAs are anti-inflammatory and nourish the cells lining the colon.

2. Immune system regulation

About 70% of your immune cells reside in the gut lining. A healthy microbiome helps maintain the balance between immune tolerance (not reacting to harmless substances) and defence (attacking pathogens). An imbalanced microbiome may contribute to autoimmune conditions – in which the body mistakenly attacks its own healthy cells – and chronic inflammation.

3. Gut–brain axis

The gut-brain axis describes the two-way communication between the gut and the central nervous system. Through neural, hormonal, and immunological pathways, the gut influences mental health.

Certain strains of bacteria, particularly lactobacillus and bifidobacterium produce neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA, these improve mood and cognitive function.

Image: Jill Wellington / Pexels

However, some bacteria mimic and interfere with these neurotransmitters. E-coli, campylobacter and clostridium are some of the bacterial culprits which release inflammation causing compounds (or toxins) causing mood to dip, anxiety to increase and sleep to be compromised.

Emerging evidence even links gut health to neurodevelopmental conditions like autism spectrum disorder and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.

What disrupts the microbiome?

Despite its resilience, the gut microbiome is highly sensitive to changes in our environment and behaviour. Modern lifestyles, particularly in industrialised nations, are often hostile to microbial diversity.

1. Dietary factors

Diets high in ultra-processed foods, added sugars, and low fibre reduce beneficial species and encourage the overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria, which are otherwise not a problem when the microbiome is balanced.

Excessive alcohol consumption and low intake of plant-based foods limit microbial diversity.

Image: Foodie Factor / Pexels

2. Medications

Antibiotics, while lifesaving, can wipe out both good and bad bacteria, potentially leading to long-term imbalance.

Medications that reduce stomach acids, NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications), and artificial sweeteners all negatively alter the gut microbiome.

3. Lifestyle stressors

Chronic stress or cortisol poisoning is felt in the gut.  The stress-hormone response increases intestinal permeability (leaky gut) and impairs microbial balance. This can show up as stress diarrhoea, nervous urination, nausea and ‘tummy ache’ in the lower abdomen. Is it just butterflies in your tummy, or compromised gut health?

Poor sleep quality disrupts the circadian rhythm of gut microbes. Sedentary behaviour has also been associated with reduced microbial diversity.

Eight ways to nurture your gut microbiome

Restoring and maintaining a healthy gut doesn’t require drastic changes. Simple, evidence-based strategies such as the following can support your microbiome’s resilience and diversity:

1. Eat a diverse range of whole foods

A variety of fibre-rich foods feeds different bacterial strains. Aim for 30+ plant types per week, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, herbs, and whole grains.

Image: Oksana S / iStock

2. Prioritise prebiotics and probiotics

Prebiotics are non-digestible fibres that act as food for beneficial bacteria. Sources include garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus and bananas.

Probiotics are live bacteria found in fermented foods like yoghurt, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, and miso. These can help restore microbial balance, especially after antibiotic use.

3. Minimise ultra processed foods

Artificial additives, emulsifiers, and preservatives in highly processed foods harm microbial communities and contribute to metabolic dysregulation.

Ultra processed foods look like this: instant noodles, snack chips, sugary cereals, frozen chicken nuggets, processed cheese slices, fizzy drinks and snack bars.

Many of them contain MSG (monosodium glutamate), thickeners, and phosphoric acid as additives. Taste has been enhanced with lab-produced flavourings such as ‘cheese flavour’, ‘strawberry flavour’, ‘honey flavour’. And the preservatives of choice are sulphates, sodium and/or sorbates. Food labels can feel like a minefield, but if you don’t recognise what’s on the label, it can be considered ultra processed food. 

4. Stay hydrated

Water is essential for maintaining a healthy gut lining and aiding fibre fermentation.

5. Move your body

Regular exercise has been linked to increased diversity and abundance of health-promoting bacterial strains.

6. Manage your stress

Mind-body techniques such as meditation, breathwork, or gentle movement like yoga can regulate the gut-brain axis and reduce inflammation.

Yoga on the beach (image: LucidSurf/istock)

7. Sleep consistently

A regular sleep schedule supports the natural circadian rhythms of your gut bacteria, which influence digestion and hormone production.

8. Consider supplementation carefully

While probiotic and prebiotic supplements can be helpful, they’re not one-size-fits-all. It’s best to consult a qualified health professional to tailor recommendations to your needs.

The microbiome and the future of health

We’re just scratching the surface of microbiome science. With emerging links to conditions as diverse as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, allergies, skin conditions, and even cancer, researchers believe the microbiome may soon be a central focus for personalised and preventive medicine.

Microbiome testing and interventions may one day guide us in choosing the best foods, therapies, or even medications based on our internal microbial profile.

The gut microbiome represents a new lens through which we can understand health, illness, and healing. It’s not about striving for perfection—but rather cultivating balance.

By eating real food, managing stress, staying hydrated, and treating your gut with respect, you can positively influence not just your digestion, but your immunity, energy levels, mood, and long-term vitality.

AUTHOR BIO: Paula Sharp is a nutritional therapist working one-to-one via Zoom to support women’s health, restore gut health and digestion, hormonal balance, skin and hair, sleep, shifting weight and health pre- and post-surgery. www.paulasharpnutrition.com
She is also a guest speaker, giving talks to companies on nutrition and mindset. In London she worked in the organic fruit and vegetable industry, and now she is based in Whakatāne, growing her own extensive spray-free garden.

Azadirachta indica - the neem tree

Neem: Nature’s healing gift to humanity

/in , ,

Book review by Katherine Smith

We hope you enjoy this free article from OrganicNZ.  Join us to access more, exclusive member-only content

It’s appropriate that the cover of this book features its author, Klaus Ferlow, standing beside a neem tree, his left arm reaching around to embrace its trunk in a fraternal greeting. That’s because Ferlow (originally from Germany) helped to introduce people in North America to the healing properties of the neem tree, after emigrating to Canada in 1975 and founding Ferlow Botanicals approximately 20 years later.

Klaus Ferlow credits his (now late) wife Rose with introducing him to neem by urging him to watch a TV programme called ‘What’s in a Neem’, narrated by David Suzuki. Inspired by the documentary, Ferlow obtained some neem extract and applied a neem cream to the psoriasis on his scalp and elbow and got relief from this condition in just three weeks. Having previously trained as a herbalist, he decided to set up a business to bring the benefits of neem to the North American market. Ferlow Botanicals is now rum by the Ferlows’ sons, Peter and Harald, and Ruth (Peter’s wife).

Klaus Ferlow has maintained his interest in neem and founded the organisation Neem Research “to promote neem for human, animal and environmental health”. His new book, Neem: Nature’s healing gift to humanity, includes profiles of neem researchers and entrepreneurs. He gives special credit to the late Professor Dr. Heinrich Schmutterer as ‘the father of modern neem’. It was his observation that neem trees had survived a plague of locusts that swept through Sudan when he was on a field trip there in 1959 that caused him to wonder if a natural insect repellent could be present that led to his work researching neem and writing the definitive textbook on neem, The Neem Tree (1995, 893 pages).

From the home of the neem tree in India, knowledge about the tree has spread to North and South America, the Caribbean, Africa and Australia.

Among the examples described in the book is Abaco Neem, a farm in the Bahamas that includes neem trees intercropped with fruit trees. (In all, 120 varieties of fruiting and flowering trees are grown on the farm.) Spiders and beneficial insects like butterflies and bees have thrived in this environment and hives on the farm allow neem honey to be produced as well as other neem-based health and personal care products. Some of these products incorporate beeswax from the hives. Among the products produced by Abaco Neem is a neem-based insect repellent.

ABOVE: Collection of neem seeds for the preparation of seed balls. Photo: Paryavarana Margadarsi Vaisakhi via Wikimedia Commons

The farm has organic certification and the fruit from the neem trees also has the benefit of providing food for birds; a visiting intern from France identified almost 40 different bird species on a single day.

In addition to being used to promote human health when used as a supplement or medicine, neem has the potential to boost food production. Neem extracts can be used as insecticides and ‘neem cake’ made from defatted neem seeds can be used as a fertiliser that also helps to protect plants from nematodes. The book also reports that a constituent of neem (azadirachtin) is being developed as a food additive for farmed salmon in Scotland to treat sea lice infestation of the fish.

In India, a company called Nisarga Biotech has been producing supercritical extracts of neem (using CO2 to extract constituents from the plant) which may be used as botanical pesticides, or in cosmetics or personal or medicinal products. Their product line includes a neem toothpaste and mouthwash – a modern iteration of the tradition in Indian villages of using neem twigs as a toothbrush. The company has also ‘secured a patent for the manufacture of neem leaf CO2 extract for use in treating oral and colon cancer’.

Neem: Nature’s Healing Gift to Humanity is a testament to the hard work and vision of its author and all the individuals whose businesses feature in its pages.

• Published by Neem Research, 2016, 258 pages, ISBN 9780993727504

• Available via local booksellers or from Neem Research.

About the reviewer: Katherine Smith is the co-editor of The NZ Journal of Natural Medicine, which first published this review in issue 54 (February 2025).

Photo at top: Azadirachta indica – the neem tree. Photograph by Kwameghana (Bright Kwame Ayisi) via Wikimedia Commons

Healthy weight loss

/in

Diana Noonan discovered a surprising bonus while following a plant-based whole food eating plan – and shares her recipes for wholefood bliss balls and whole grain crackers.

The following is from personal experience, and is not intended as professional dietary advice. This article was first published in Organic NZ Jan/Feb 2021.

Fluctuating weight

When friends I haven’t met for a while fail to recognise me, I try to cover their embarrassment with a joke.

“I should have become a spy,” I laugh. “I have a very unmemorable face!”

But that’s not quite true. The reason they don’t recognise me is that my weight has been forever on the move. And we’re not just talking by a few hundred grams. For as long as I can remember, and despite being vegetarian since I was a teen, latterly a vegan, and having at least 30 minutes of exercise daily, I’ve struggled to keep within a healthy body mass index (BMI) as prescribed by the New Zealand Ministry of Health.

Instead, as someone who found it impossible to stop at just ‘one’ of anything sweet or refined, I’ve been either collecting the kilos, or in the throes of a restrictive diet. From Weight Watchers to Dukan, and the Mediterranean to the raw-food diet, I’ve tried them all. What’s more, they’ve almost always worked. But then, as soon as goal weight was reached, and everyday eating cut back in, I was back to square one.

The plant-based whole food pantry – let the eating begin! Photos: Diana Noonan

The following content is only available to logged-in members. Join us to gain access to a wide range of content.

Diana Noonan is a Catlins-based writer and organic gardener who enjoys eating what she grows.

Sheryl Stivens: Organic Pioneer

/in , , , ,

Sheryl Stivens grew up on a mixed farm in Winchmore, Ashburton. Her family were fourth generation New Zealand farmers growing a variety of crops as well as breeding stud sheep. An experience when she was a young adult set her firmly on the organic path. 

Mercedes Walkham traces the life of this Soil & Health member who embodies the motto of ‘healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people’. 

Hunting and gathering

When Sheryl Stivens was 19 years old she moved to Australia, and met her husband Hal several years later in the Northern Territory. 

“In those days we were young hunters and gatherers catching abundant fish and game in the Australian outback and sleeping under the stars,” Sheryl recalls. 

“It was when we moved to Wagga Wagga (New South Wales) that Hal and I bought 30 acres of land, discovered the joys of growing your own food started to garden,” said Sheryl.

A turning point came for them with the realisation that there were no freshwater yabbies or other creatures in the billabongs on their land, due to the chemical fertilisers used to grow grain on the surrounding farms. They had both grown up with families using superphosphate and like many thought it was a “bird-poo type of product that came from Nauru Island” and never considered it to be toxic.

This realisation made them re-evaluate all their belief systems and from that moment on they vowed that they would not use anything that would poison the soil. “It became an unwritten law in our lives,” Sheryl says.

  ABOVE: Hal and Sheryl Stivens

The following content is only available to logged-in members. Join us to gain access to a wide range of content.

Author:  Mercedes Walkham is part of a collective organic garden based in Ashburton. She is pictured here with Sheryl.

Sri Lankan pulled jackfruit curry

/in ,

By Kelsi Boocock 

I tried jackfruit for the first time when I was in Sri Lanka a few years ago and it got me completely hooked. This is a deliciously unique curry and if you haven’t cooked with jackfruit before, this is probably one of the easiest ways to start. The green beans work perfectly to add a little freshness and crunch to the dish.

Images and text from Healthy Kelsi by Kelsi Boocock, Bateman Books, $39.99

We hope you enjoy this free article from OrganicNZ.  Join us to access more, exclusive member-only content

Ingredients 

Serves 4  

60 minutes

Jackfruit curry

  • 1 tsp             ground coriander
  • 1 tsp             ground cumin
  • 1 tsp             homemade curry powder (recipe also in the book Healthy Kelsi)
  • 1                   red chilli, halved and deseeded, plus extra to serve
  • 1                   shallot, finely chopped
  • 20                 curry leaves
  • 1                   cinnamon stick
  • ½ tsp            ground paprika
  • ½ tsp            ground turmeric
  • 400 g can     jackfruit
  • 400 ml can   coconut milk
  • 3 T                coconut yoghurt

Sweet and spicy beans

  • 2 Tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 cm piece fresh ginger, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 400 g green beans
  • 1 Tbsp coconut sugar
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • ½ cup roasted almonds, roughly chopped

To serve

  • 2 cups brown rice
  • Large handful of fresh coriander

Method

To make the jackfruit curry

  1. Dry roast the coriander, cumin and curry powder in a frying pan and stir until they turn dark brown.
  2. Add chilli, shallot, curry leaves, cinnamon stick, paprika, turmeric and jackfruit to pan, making sure everything is covered in the spices. Add coconut milk and simmer for 15 minutes.
  3. Add coconut yoghurt and continue simmering over a low heat until jackfruit is tender (should take around 20 minutes).
  4. While the jackfruit is softening, cook the brown rice.

To make the beans

  1. Heat sesame oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add ginger and garlic and stir-fry for 1–2 minutes.
  2. Add beans, coconut sugar and lemon juice and cook for 3–4 minutes, until beans are tender but still slightly crunchy. Add almonds and cook for 1 minute more.
  3. Serve curry and beans with brown rice and fresh coriander.

Hot tip: Add any vegetables you have on hand. Broccoli or cauliflower work beautifully.

Easy peri chicken dish

Easy peri peri chicken

/in ,

By Scott Gooding and Matilda Brown 

This recipe gets rolled out a lot in our house. The little kids haven’t taken to it just yet, but they will in time … and while we wait, there’s more for Til, Tashi and me. We also sell this as a ready-to-use marinade at The Good Farm Shop – it’s just so versatile.

Images and text from The Good Farm Cookbook by Scott Gooding and Matilda Brown, photography by Cath Muscat. Murdoch Books RRP $45.00

We hope you enjoy this free article from OrganicNZ.  Join us to access more, exclusive member-only content

Easy peri chicken dish

Ingredients 

SERVES 4

  • 1/3 cup (80 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2–3 cm (3/4 – 1 1/4 inch) piece ginger, peeled and grated
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • juice of 1 lemon, plus extra for drizzling
  • 800 g (1 lb 12 oz) boneless, skin-on chicken thighs charred
  • lemon halves, broccolini and radicchio wedges, to serve

Method

  1. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the chicken, lemon halves, broccolini and radicchio.
  2. Mix thoroughly. Add the chicken thighs and mix to ensure they are well coated with the sauce.
  3. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Heat a large ovenproof frying pan over medium heat and add the chicken.
  4. Cook the fillets for 3–4 minutes, or until the chicken is caramelised, before turning over and cooking for another 3–4 minutes on the other side.
  5. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 5–7 minutes until cooked through.
  6. Transfer the chicken to a chopping board. Allow to rest for 3–4 minutes before roughly chopping.
  7. Drizzle with some lemon juice, season and serve with charred lemon halves, broccolini and radicchio wedges.
Belinda Clark with her granddaughter Isla

My journey to healthier skin

/in ,

Diet and the skin-sugar connection

For most of her life Belinda Clark has enjoyed good health, despite a tendency to do too much, but her skin has often shown when something’s amiss. Here she shares her story.

Fortunately my mother started learning about healthy food when my sisters and I were young, and my parents eventually converted their citrus orchard to being organic and biodynamic.

Our mother’s research into wellbeing strongly influenced my own choices with holistic health later. These helped me stay generally well through student and overseas years and teaching in a New Zealand Steiner school, mostly while raising three children.

I sometimes enjoyed sweet food, concerned only for my teeth and very occasional candida outbreaks, although I knew of naturopaths who advised clients to avoid it. Dr Rudolf Steiner had recommended it for some, I’d heard, and most people ate it, so I took little notice.

Twenty-two years ago, my daughters, our pets and I moved to a lifestyle block near Napier. It was lovely and brought many benefits but also new pressures, especially when I accepted a herd of angora goats.

  ABOVE: Belinda Clark with granddaughter Isla and Caspian the cat, by a raised vege bed.

The following content is only available to logged-in members. Join us to gain access to a wide range of content.

Belinda Clark is a Soil & Health member who lives near a daughter and granddaughter at Birdsong Nature Sanctuary.

She enjoys learning from and supporting Nature, writing poems and short stories for her ‘Unusual Encounters’ book, being part of an International Peace Group and singing in Napier Community Choir.

Dark chocolate crunch bars (aka ‘healthy’ protein bars)

/in ,

By Dr Linia Patel 

Many shop-bought protein bars hit your protein numbers, but they come with so many other sweeteners and additives that aren’t great for you to be eating habitually. With this recipe I tried to create a protein bar that was healthy.

Images and text from Food for Menopause by Dr Linia Patel, photography by Clare Winfield. Murdoch Books RRP $45.00

We hope you enjoy this free article from OrganicNZ.  Join us to access more, exclusive member-only content

Clients (especially those who are on the go a lot) are always asking me to recommend a protein bar. To be honest, there isn’t one that I would recommend for regular consumption! They’re okay as an occasional get-out-of-jail card, but not for regular consumption.

Many shop-bought protein bars hit your protein numbers, but they come with so many other sweeteners and additives that aren’t great for you to be eating habitually.

With this recipe, I tried to create a protein bar (without using protein powder) that was healthy. One that I would be happy to recommend my clients eat regularly. Each bar gives you about 5 grams of protein – perfect for a snack. They are high in healthy fats, so, as yummy as they taste, keep it to one per snack!

Makes 10-12 bars

Ready in 20 minutes, plus chilling

Vegan

Gluten free

Ingredients 

  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 4 tbsp almond or peanut butter
  • 60g (scant ½ cup) dark (70%) chocolate chips
  • 200g (7oz) cooked quinoa
  • 70g (½ cup) whole unpeeled almonds, chopped
  • 30g (1oz) whole linseeds or flaxseeds

Method

  1. Line a small loaf, baking or cake tin with parchment paper.
  2. Either in the microwave or in a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, melt the tahini, nut butter and chocolate together until smooth.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
  4. Tip into the prepared tin and chill for at least 1 hour, then cut into 10–12 small bars.

Tips

These will keep in the fridge for up to 10 days. If you like, you can drizzle with extra melted chocolate before slicing (as per the photo).

Differently wired brains

/in ,

By Mary Allan

“Neurodiversity describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not viewed as deficits”.  This is the introductory sentence on the Harvard Education blog “What is neurodiversity?”

However, unless we dig a little bit deeper that catch-all term doesn’t explain the glaringly obvious struggles some people live with or the subtle, hardly noticed nuances that make life very difficult for others.

While I applaud inclusive language and thinking, my experience as a specialist in the management of autism spectrum in schools tells me that despite changing the terminology every 30 years or so, we are still very short on understanding how to help neurodiverse people survive and even thrive in our society that caters to the less diverse majority.

Understanding what is going on for people – especially children – is the only way to inform strategies and systems to help them cope with life.

The shape of walnuts is similar to the human brain

  

The following content is only available to logged-in members. Join us to gain access to a wide range of content.

Mary Allan is a retired special needs educator who still maintains a focus on managing ASD and severe behaviour. She is a keen gardener, spurred on by the limited range of organic and GE-free foods in the supermarkets, and the need to provide gluten-free and dairy-free food for her family.

Spring into Kōanga!

/in , , ,

By Tanya Batt

Tanya Batt shares the story of Spring into Kōanga, a seasonal celebration on Waiheke Island. It’s one of the Kai for Community projects run by the Once Upon an Island Charitable Trust These projects focus on reconnecting with true seasonal celebrations and the stories and traditions around growing, harvesting and sharing food in the Waiheke community.  

We hope you enjoy this free article from OrganicNZ.  Join us to access more, exclusive member-only content

Egg time! 

It’s egg time. Many people often fail to make the connection between eggs, Easter and spring – kōanga. Probably because we celebrate Easter (a northern spring festival) in Australia and New Zealand in autumn.

However if you are lucky enough to have the company of a few chickens, that connection will come as no surprise to you. At this time of year you can be sure of an egg for breakfast. But for many of us, eggs (if you eat them) come from shops and shops always have eggs regardless of the season.

When we lose the connection between our seasons and celebrations, a vacuum is created and celebrations become superficial. Instead of connecting us to our environment, they become focused on what we can buy and how things look, and reverence is often diminished or lost. Upcoming spring Halloween celebrations demonstrate this perfectly.

ABOVE: Laying the tāpapa beds, Piritahi Marae, Waiheke Island, September 2024

September: Laying the tāpapa beds 

Here on Waiheke, we’re seasonally celebrating with Spring into Kōanga – a story in two parts.

The first part took place during September with the return of the pīpīwharauroa (shining cuckoo), in the māra of the Island’s Piritahi Marae, with the laying of the tāpapa beds from which will grow the tipu of the kūmara. These tipu (shoots or slips) will then be sown later in October or early November.

The September event was led by whaea Maikara Ropata, and kaumatua Eugene Behan-Kitto, a master kūmara grower who learnt his growing skills from the late Kato Kauwhata (Ngāpuhi), kaumata and inaugural chairperson of Piritahi Marae. The hope is to grow enough tipu this kōanga, for both the marae māra and other community garden groups, and activate island wide uptake of growing kūmara.

Growing stories and kākano (seed) for the hue (gourd) were also shared in an informal kōrero about this treasured plant – another early arrival bought by the tipuna of tangata Māori. When young, the fruit of this plant can be eaten but as a dried mature fruit it was used a storage vessel, musical instrument and taonga. The day finished with a kōrero given by Mike Smith, a climate activist who has recently won the right to take several large companies in New Zealand to court for failure to curtail their carbon emissions.

Kūmara was the first cultivated crop grown in Aotearoa. Its legacy as a primary food source of the people of this country stretches back several hundred years. The māra kūmara falls under the domain of Rongo-mā-Tāne, the atua of cultivated food and of peace.

October: Pumpkins, corn, tomatoes and more 

Our second event was held on the grounds of another of our community gardens – the Surfdale food forest – on 20 October. The programme included a talk about growing tomatoes with one of our green-fingered gurus, Eddie Welsh, seasonal kai ideas from the Waiheke Home Grown Trust, a spring posy competition, egg decorating and plant giveaways for the summer garden.

The focus was on two plants in particular: pumpkins and corn. Both plants originate from the Americas, their cultivation extending back thousands of years.

There are lots of traditions and stories associated with corn. In Europe, a ‘corn mother’ or ‘the old woman’ or ‘corn dolly’ was made out of corn (though corn was a generic word used for grain). The corn dollies were kept in the barn to protect the crops during winter, and then ploughed into the ground come spring to ensure a good harvest.

This tradition resonates strongly with another story of corn, which is told by a number of North American First Nations people from the eastern and south-western areas, where from the first mother’s body grew the first maize plants.

Attendees were given free pumpkin seedlings and corn seed, accompanied by a story and a song and were encouraged to bring their harvests to the Autumn Kai for Community Waiheke Food Festival in April 2025. The pumpkin seedlings were germinated by the students of the Waiheke Primary School’s Garden to Table programme. This programme was also the source of the pink popping corn seed that will be distributed for growing over summer, again culminating in a island-wide ‘pop-a-thon’ in autumn.

A primary focus of the Kai for Community programme is to excite and support families to grow food at home, fostering the green hearts and fingers of young children. Both Spring into Kōanga events have been generously supported by the Waiheke Local Board and are part of the Waiheke Island Climate Action plan.

The relationship we have with the land we live on, the food we grow and eat and each other are the cornerstones of wellbeing. Celebrating our seasons brings these three important things together and helps create healthy and happy hapori (communities).

Hollie Pierson with a Kai for Community tea towel
Opening ceremony, Kai for Community Harvest festival in April

Tanya Batt is a word warbler and seed sower living on Waiheke Island. Her two passions – storytelling and gardening – have found a happy union in the work she does as a storytelling gardener at a local school and through her role as creative director of the Once Upon an Island Charitable Trust’s Kai for Community (KFC) projects.

www.imagined-worlds.net

ABOVE: Tanya Batt with Chinese cabbage