Tahatai Kai Growers, Term 3, 2025

This term the gardens at Tahatai Coast School have been alive with action, learning, and plenty of good kai. Students, teachers, and helpers have all rolled up their sleeves to build, plant, taste, and discover the many ways our gardens can feed both our stomachs and our imaginations.

One of our big projects this term was starting a brand-new compost system. Using nothing but reclaimed materials, we designed a two-bay compost bin made from old pallets tied together with bike inner tubes. It may not be fancy, but it is strong, practical, and a perfect way to recycle garden waste. We started by layering clippings, weeds, wood ash and char, coffee husks and used grinds (from our local roastery) and then shredded newspapers before dousing the lot with water. Now all we need is patience and time, and we should soon have a constant supply of rich organic compost to top up our garden beds. Every time we tip in clippings, weeds, or food scraps, we’re not only reducing goes to the skip but also creating rich compost to feed our soil for years to come.

The orchard has been pruned heavily, which should help to keep the fruit trees healthy and productive. We have two new plum trees on the way and have also planted two cherry guavas — one red, one yellow — which we’re already looking forward to tasting in seasons to come. The lemon trees have been generous, and we put their fruit to good use by making fresh lemonade. We added some fizz from a sodastream, which was a highlight for many of the tamariki — a great way to get an immunity boost during the winter season.

Our worm farms are absolutely thriving. Every time we open the bins to feed them, the bins are wriggling with healthy tiger worms breaking down scraps into rich castings and liquid fertiliser. Our young gardeners have learned that far from being disgusting, the worm bins provide an amazingly efficient way to get rid of our stinky food scraps and they are very grateful to the worms. The “worm wees,” along with our homemade seaweed plant tonic, are being poured onto the beds and giving everything a real boost. We’ve also been brewing up “banana tea” — a natural plant food made from banana skins steeped in water. Between worms, seaweed, and banana tea, our plants are getting a varied and nourishing diet!

The rhubarb is looking especially happy — and we made sure to celebrate with some rhubarb and custard in the garden. It was sweet proof that what we put into the soil really does come back to us in delicious ways.

The strawberry patch has been given some love and care. Runners were sorted, replanted into raised rows, and tucked under wool mulch, to keep them watered, cosy and protected from snails. Some of our excess strawberry plants went out on the kai cart for our local community to take home and plant, and our gardeners made plans to pop them around the bases of trees and in garden beds at home.

Some large organic kumara have been cut and are sitting in a saucer of water, while we wait for tipu (shoots) to grow, while potatoes are sprouting happily in egg cartons in the garden shed. We hope to have them planted in the garden beds before the holidays, so that we can harvest some in time for Christmas.

We’ve made a fun discovery too — potatoes wrapped in wool mulch sprout faster than those in egg cartons, especially if they’re kept in a warm spot. Every experiment teaches us something new about how to care for our veggies.

Our kai growers have been busy harvesting and sharing produce with the school community. Bags of silverbeet, spinach, limes, lemons, and herbs (including catnip for pets at home) have gone out the gate. At the same time, students have been enjoying garden-fresh snacks like cauliflower florets and purple sprouting broccoli straight from the beds. There’s something about food eaten right where it’s grown that makes it extra special. The popping corn was a hit too, with lots of gardeners taking kernels home to plant in their own gardens, having tried it at school.

The gardens aren’t just about food — they’re about creativity too. Our Year 6 students designed and decorated a beautiful new sign for the gardens, making the space even more welcoming.

Our youngest learners, the new entrants, have also had great fun exploring the orchard. They’ve been discovering edible herbs and flowers, and digging through our mulch pile to find bugs and fungus, learning that gardens are full of surprises if we look a little more closely.

In our classrooms, sunflower seeds are germinating. These giant flowers will soon be planted in the gardens - let’s see whose grows the tallest!! Some will even be taken home by students to care for with their whānau. Watching something so small grow into something so tall is always a reminder of the magic of gardening.