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In a once weed-ridden and forgotten corner of Māngere, something remarkable is flourishing. On the unused land of a former Kāinga Ora housing site, the Māngere Community Enviro Hub is now sprouting with fresh produce to feed the community.
The hub, on the corner of Elmdon St and Watchfield Close, often echoes with the chatter of school kids gathered around the raised beds learning about growing kai, and on special occasions, the smoke from the hāngī pit signals a community gathering. At the Auckland Council-funded Māngere Community Enviro Hub, the community isn’t just watching things grow – they’re growing together.
1. Growing kai for the community
In just one year, the Kāinga Ora land leased to community development organisation I AM Māngere has gone from bare earth to a thriving community garden. The driving force of this transformation is software developer turned horticulturist Rata Taiwhanga, from the Etū Rākau Charitable Trust.
In the māra kai (food garden), several garden beds are growing seasonal kai. The beds are designed in a tiered pyramid shape to create airflow. There’s also a section dedicated to Pacific and international produce such as taro, pawpaw and bananas.
Even in cooler weather, the garden is thriving with rainbow silverbeet and winter greens. There’s a garden bed set aside for locals who can use the garden to grow vegetables for their whānau. Other produce is sold at markets for an affordable price.
The pyramid design of the garden beds at Māngere Community Enviro Hub is designed to create airflow around the whenua (land).
Auckland Council has supported the Māngere Community Enviro Hub through the Climate Grant, the Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund and support through the Recovery Office. Installing a greenhouse is the next big project on the horizon which will allow the garden to extend the growing season on some crops – part of a bigger project around sustainability and climate resilience.
“It is important for Auckland Council to support Etū Rākau and the Māngere Enviro Hub,” says Frances Hayton, Low Carbon Specialist for the Council.
“Māngere is one of the three priority communities identified as needing support to be able to lead their own recovery following the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and adapt to the changing environment.
“The Māngere Enviro Hub sits alongside other Council programmes that aim to build on the understanding within the Māngere community of a changing climate to future hazards such as floods, drought, cyclones and rising sea levels.”
2. Composting waste and creating a circular economy
Council funding has helped provide carbon cycle composting bins for the site. Each bin can process 750kg of food waste a week, and the compost produced is used to replenish the garden. The composting system is part of the Enviro Hub’s circular economy and the group charges local businesses, such as cafes, $30 a week to collect their food scraps. The green waste is then used to grow microgreens, which are sold back to the cafe.
Local student Jackson has learnt how to compost Māngere Community Enviro Hub’s carbon cycle composting bins. The Council-funded bins have the capacity to compost 750kg of food scraps a week.
Another local business supplies the Enviro Hub with mulch and brown vegetation for the garden. If the compost bins can generate excess compost, Rata hopes to sell bags at local markets.
“The idea is to create a micro store that’s accessible for the local community as there’s no hardware store or plant store in Māngere,” says Rata. “By charging a small fee for things like plants, food or compost, it covers costs but it also shows there’s a value to what we’re creating.”
3. Growing great minds
The Enviro Hub works with several schools – including Māngere College, which helped build the foundations of the garden – and community groups, such as Ngāti Tamaoho, to run workshops and teach tamariki and rangitahi (children and teenagers) sustainable living skills like how to grow their own kai. From these practical skills and new-found knowledge of the environment comes personal growth, says Rata.
“Some of these kids have a 501 gang background and what we’re trying to do here is to equip them for life,” says Rata. “I see a lot of rangatahi and they’re afraid of being Māori. They think they need to speak the reo (language) to understand the history and know their whakapapa to be Māori.
“One thing I say to these kids is if you want to understand your culture, understand your first mother, Papatūānuku (Mother Earth). Once you learn how to look after the garden and the planet and all that, everything else will just come naturally.”
4. Replenishing the whenua (land)
In his workshops, Rata teaches his students how to rejuvenate the soil in the garden with compost and organic matter which brings microorganisms to the soil. He also talks to his students about carbon sequestration (the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the soil) and mycelium in the soil (the rootlike network of fungus) – the Enviro Hub even has a mushroom hut!
“The way I explain the soil is like a waka,” Rata explains. “When some people first see a waka they think the ingenuity is in the sail, but it’s actually underneath the boat which creates air bubbles that make the boat go fast – it’s the same with soil and the garden.”
Rata also leads the community on litter clean-up days and the restoration of Te Ararata Creek. This Matariki, the Enviro Hub plans to plant 500 native trees on the waterway.
5. Feeding the community
As well as feeding locals with fresh produce, Rata and the Enviro Hub team have worked together with the Tūpuna Maunga Authority to create community hāngī days. Earlier this year, the Māngere Community Enviro Hub and Te Pane o Mataoho / Te Ara Pueru / Māngere Mountain collaborated to feed the community with delicious hāngī.
The hāngī pit at Māngere Community Enviro Hub is used for special events. The carbon left over from the feast is used to replenish the soil.
The food was prepped by a kapa haka group from Māngere College and was cooked by Māori chef Kia Kanuta. The meat served was halal to cater to Māngere’s growing Muslim community.
“For some that attended it was their first experience of hāngī and that part of Māori culture. It was important to us to make it inclusive for everyone,” says Rata. “As humans, food is our first language and it’s a common shared experience for every culture. The good thing about hāngī is it sweetens the soil and we can use the carbon back in the garden – it’s all cyclical.”