Community-based food growing and garden initiative Grow Wānaka is running two workshops in February as part of its education and skills development programme.

Grow Wānaka project coordinator Emberly Wetherall said the workshops are designed to educate and highlight the benefits of growing your own food.

“We want to give a little bit of scope to what’s possible and all the benefits that come with it; so that’s biodiversity, food security, and reducing the footprint of where your food comes from,” she said.

“We want to use the [community] garden as an educational hub to get people engaged and connect community members and provide education and skills building.”

The first workshop is tomorrow (Saturday February 11) and will focus on edible landscapes with special guest Ben Elms (Dr Compost) of Lush Living Landscapes.

Ben will share his knowledge of what grows well in our district, options for a diverse range of spaces and living situations, and the many benefits to enhancing edible landscapes.

The second workshop is on Saturday February 18 and will focus on tea making from both fresh and dried herbs grown and harvested locally.

Both workshops will be hosted at the Grow Wānaka Community Garden on Outlet Road.

“We feel this is a piece of the garden’s ethos and vision, sharing knowledge and sharing skills and allowing people to know what is possible in their living context, in regard to growing food, and regard to composting, and just health and wellbeing in general,” Emberly said.

Tomorrow’s workshop is free thanks to sponsorship by Queenstown Lakes District Council and the tea making workshop is a koha donation.

Emberly said volunteers are encouraged to get involved with Grow Wānaka and can attend one of the Saturday morning working bees at the community garden on Outlet Road or contact the team at its Facebook page or by email at [email protected].

PHOTO: Ray Tiddy Photography