Community-based food growing and garden initiative Grow Wānaka has had a jam-packed second year, with a flourishing garden, lots of community involvement and a raft of educational initiatives. 

Committee member Emberley Wetherall told the Wānaka App that Grow Wānaka aims to enhance community resilience, food security and support a local food food movement both “through the community garden project and the many fantastic collaborations that are currently underway”.

Formed shortly after the first Covid-19 lockdown, the nascent group quickly created its community garden near the Outlet and formed a range of partnerships in the community.

The group, which recently celebrated its second birthday, has also partnered with Community Networks/LINK to roll out the ‘Community Kitchen’, a free event where community members can come together to prepare and share a meal. It has taken place fortnightly at the Wānaka Community Hub.

“We will aim to run the Community Kitchen event at the Grow Wānaka [community garden] once a month starting in November when we can harvest fresh produce from the garden to prepare and share on site,” Emberley said.

The group has also teamed up with Wānaka Primary School to help facilitate its ‘Garden to Table’ programme, which gets students involved in growing food and composting.

“This education provides the students with the knowledge to grow and enjoy nutrient dense foods they produce, and then turn their food scraps into compost for their gardens.”

Another collaboration was Grow Wānaka’s role with the Upper Clutha Food Security Network, which aims to increase food security in the Upper Clutha.

As well as its outreach work, things are also in full swing at the community garden, which is located on land donated by Calum Urquhart.

Last year the land was rabbit-fenced and garden beds were installed ahead of the growing season, while this year Grow Wānaka has been focusing on installing infrastructure to maximise efficiency and vertical growing capacity, which will increase what it can donate to the community.

“During the growing season [late October to April] at each working bee we do a collective harvest with our volunteer team and any additional produce that’s ready gets harvested and delivered to the food bank, one of our many produce pantries or Food for Love,” Emberley said.

“Last season we were delivering two large boxes full of produce back to our community per week plus 37 pumpkins in autumn to complete the growing season.”

Grow Wānaka is going full steam ahead but, like many grassroots organisations, its main limitation is funding.

“Funding is the only real ongoing challenge,” Emberley said. “We are fortunate for the many donations of time, materials and energy, along with local funding opportunities, which has provided us with the support we’ve needed to carry the momentum of our project forward.”

Emberley said the Grow Wānaka was enjoying the opportunities that had arisen so far and said there was no fixed plan about what comes next.

“This allows the garden to evolve naturally and we can just go along on the journey facilitating and stewarding the land for greater abundance, diversity, community, learning, collaboration and so much more.”

Anyone who wants to get involved with Grow Wānaka is encouraged to 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].