Community garden at Kimi Ora School thrilled at new equipment

Wharariki Trust chief executive Ana Apatu and Kimi Ora Community School teacher Liz Beattie, with children from Te Whare Aroha O Nga Mokopuna Early Childhood Centre at the Kimi Ora Community School garden. Photo / Duncan Brown

A community garden project hoping to help improve children's health and reduce family food bills in Flaxmere is celebrating a new funding boost.

Following a $6000 grant provided by the Hawke's Bay Foundation, a community garden project being run by Kimi Ora Community School and Wharariki Trust (formerly U-Turn Trust) can now go to the next level.

Wharariki Trust chief executive Ana Apatu said the grant would go toward new equipment to further the project, which would re-establish a community garden at Kimi Ora School.

Ms Apatu said the project also aimed to teach students how to grow from seed.

"Recently, the principal has also incorporated breakfast and lunches for the students, and the school has noticed a behaviour change from that," she said.

"Our trust is now supporting the establishment of this community garden - and it's quite wide-ranging, it's not just encouraging the children to have more fresh vegetables in their diet, we are actually trying to reach the families through the students."

"The plan is we will look at a 'gardener of the week' competition, and the prize will be a raised bed of compost and seedlings and then child can then take that home to their family."

While there had been gardens in schools before, this would work more intensively with the school.

"It will also include natives, we are going to help them propagate native trees. We have a number of partners and funders helping us with the development of this garden. "

It was also thought that by teaching children and the wider community about growing, there would also be less vandalism in the area.

The project was still in its first year but Kimi Ora Community School teacher Liz Beattie said pupils had already taken well to it.

"There's certainly been a whole lot of involvement. The kids are really keen to do the planting - and the weeding.

"We've used some of our produce in a meal for Christmas for the kids and cooked up a Chinese meal. The idea is to get them using the produce, getting meals that they can prepare at home as well."

Miss Beattie added that by learning to grow and propagate, pupils could also keep food costs down for their families at home.

"They are all really keen, they love it."