Pasifika wahine is connecting back with her ancestral roots by planting food for thought

Candace Weir and her children pottering in the garden. Photo / Supplied

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A Pasifika wahine environmentalist says teaching tamariki the value of gardening and cooking helps her connect to her cultures.

"Whether it's to get your hands dirty, learn where kai comes from or have a beautiful space to unwind, I think it's really important for children to have access to this," Candace Weir, of Tongan, Niuean, Fijian and European descent, said.

Weir is a Regional Coordinator at the Garden to Table Trust, which supports schools in running their programmes that enable New Zealand kura to deliver impactful food education programmes.

It's also a relevant initiative during Matariki celebrations because one of the main themes of the Māori New Year is that the star constellations are related and this impacts the food growing in the ground.

The students work together with Garden to Table, and Kitchen Specialists supported by whānau and community volunteers to grow, harvest, prepare and share kai.

Weir supports 28 East and South Auckland schools. She said the Garden to Table programme encourages a "non-prescriptive approach" to reflect the community's local environment.

"For example, growing what your community likes to eat, so I love going into schools and seeing taro patches. Some schools even have rongoā (Māori medicine) and native gardens," she said.

They also include language weeks that are "celebrated Garden to Table style in schools."

"Students learn about different cultures through food and gardening."

For example, for Samoan language week, Weir said that "panipopo and sapa sui are popular recipes" that Garden to Table schools cook.

She's always been a "keen gardener."

"It's a way that I can connect [to Pacific culture] because I don't have the language. I can learn about the culture now through gardening, my passion," Weir said.

She has visited Vava'u Tonga, where her mother's family came from.

"I just loved seeing the lush landscape and all the fresh produce at the markets.. I'm trying to bring some of that into my garden, that lush green landscape that I experienced in Vava'u Tonga," Weir said.