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October 8th, 2007
Kohatu Toa Eco-village and Koanga Gardens
I am truly Blessed in my life, I left one paradise only to arrive at another!
I departed the Land’s farm (St. Francis Farm) two days ago on the feast of St. Francis, hoping one day to return. I am now at Kohatu-toa ecovillage. Most people know this place as Koanga Gardens, home to one of the largest living seed banks in the southern hemisphere.
My connection with this place goes back four years to the Seed Carriers Hikoi (walk). The Hikoi was born out of a heartfelt need to find a way to protect our heritage seeds. Seeds, whose genetic integrity was being threatened by the New Zealand government lifting the ban on GE food crops being grown outside of the laboratory. We walked 1500 kms through the top half of the north island, Te Ika a Maui, presenting the story of the seeds to schools and communities along our path.
Kay Baxter, one of the people who envisioned the Hikoi, is also the founder of Koanga Gardens and Koanga Institute. She saw the importance of saving and continuing on the heritage varieties of fruit trees, vegetables, and animals. I read an article in the paper the other day that said, “14 animal species account for 90% of all livestock production, and 30 crops dominate global agriculture, providing an estimated 90% of the world’s calories.” (source: Britain’s The Times). That is not a whole lot of biodiversity. This information makes it all to clear that place like Koanga are important. Koanga is playing a huge role in New Zealand’s present and future food security. They have growers all over N.Z. (including the Land’s) who keep the seed varieties growing and strong.
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Part of Gail and John's Food wonderland! |
A few years back the land at Koanga was opened up to form the Kohatu-toa ecovillage. I am staying here with my friends from the Hikoi, Gail and John and their children. They have a beautiful spot up on the hillside, with abundant gardens, orchards, chickens, and a few ducks. In fact Gail and John’s garden is so nice that Gail has won the N.Z. Gardener of the year award for her region (there are 15 regions throughout N.Z.). A large percentage of their food is grown here, and as they become more established on the land, this percentage continues to go up. One day in the not so far of future, they hope to have little dependence on outside food sources.
Gail and John are both lovely people who strive to make positive change in the world. They have been political and environmental activist for many years now. Much of their activism was focused in Scotland were they used to live. Now, that they are based in near Kaiwaka, the closest town to the ecovillage. Here, they are part of an energy decent group that is discussing, and will eventually implement, community based strategies for dealing with Peak Oil.
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A view of the Mother Seed Garden |
Yesterday was a great day for me to be here at the ecovillage, it was the community work day and dinner. All if the 6 households on the property have gardens, in addition to these, there are also two big community gardens that they work on together. One of the community gardens, has a lot of the low maintenance staples growing in it, like spuds and garlic, the other is known as the mother seed garden (it used to grow seeds for Koanga), has smaller garden beds, and more varieties of food growing . This is the garden the community focused on yesterday. The 10 of us, including 2 children, who were on snail patrol, as well as keeping us entertained, worked about 3 ½ hours and accomplished a lot. We prepared 3 beds, all of which were weeded and composted, 2 of which were u-barred, mulched, and then planted with Amaranth (one of the grains eaten in this community). The third bed was planted with climbing beans.
Almost all of the 23 residents of the ecovillage turned up for the community potluck dinner. They are a wonderful bunch of people, working in all walks of life, caring about the health of the earth, their families, and the community at large.
I have a few more days here to enjoy the beautiful surroundings, the company of friends, and getting my hands in the soil of yet another oasis along the journey.
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One of the seed saving beds at Koanga Gardens |