Grow Food Aotea “startered” off the first of the 2024 series of Food Resilience Workshops with a wonderful gathering of islanders at Okiwi Passion on 9 March for a skill share.
It was a full-on day of learning, tasting, eating and sharing. Tim Higham, Jo Leary, Sue Reusser and Caity Endt eloquently demonstrated making everything from kombucha to water kefir and milk kefir, yoghurt and yoghurt cheese, to vinegar, sauerkraut and naturally pickled onions.
Left to Right: Jo Leary, Tim Higham, Sue Reusser
We all followed suit, chopping, stirring, pounding and finally stuffing endless repurposed jars with ferments and starters to take home, even some cabbage seedlings to grow our next batch of sauerkraut!
One of the heart-warming outcomes of the day was the connections that were formed between all who attended. We had individuals from our community who have lived on Aotea 50 years and whakapapa back even further than that, through to those who have been here a matter of weeks, all listening, speaking, making and eating together. And isn’t food such a connector!
Please contact Caity (0212127153) if you would like to attend another fermentation workshop in spring
Next Grow Food Aotea Workshops
Throughout 2024, Grow Food Aotea is offering a wide range of workshops and skill shares aimed at helping Aotea residents to increase their ability to use and grow some (or more) of their own food – or get even better at it!
We will cover plant propagation from seed sowing and cuttings to budding and grafting, various approaches to making garden beds, caring for the soil (crossing fingers for a BioChar workshop), seasonal planning and planting, pruning fruit trees, planning an orchard, and even keeping chooks! The focus will be on organics and waste minimisation.
We would love to hear from you if you have a food/gardening topic that you would like to learn more about/ or teach!
Next Saturday’s Instant Gardens workshop at Anamata (16th March) is almost full at time of writing. This will be a useful workshop for folks who have poor soil but want to start growing something now! We will cover the pros and cons of raised beds , planting into small containers right up to full hügelkultur raised beds, making a hay bale garden and ways to feed and water them. If you are keen and the workshop is full, we can run a second one in spring.
Contact Caity Endt for bookings and view all workshop details below or at the Grow Food Aotea Facebook Page
Article and Workshops provided by Caity Endt, local growing expert and Food Resilience Coordinator
