Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Nursery Development at Pourewa

On Wednesday 31 March 2021 the Eastern Bays Network was invited to visit the Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei nursery development at Pourewa, on Kepa Road, Ōrākei. Dane Tumahai welcomed network members and guided a tour of the gardens.

The new nursery development at Pourewa was completed in June 2020. The activities on-site will continue to develop and offer an ongoing legacy in terms of the protection and development of the Tāmaki plant collection, as well as the development of a seed bank of Tāmaki species. These collections will help support Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei in their role as a key educator (in a joint programme with AUT), carrier and guardian of knowledge and leader for research around kaitiakitanga, traditional use and practices.

The gardens and nursery are all organic and include corn, beans and squash (the three sisters), kumara, Māori potatoes, silverbeet, tomatoes, puha, and native mushrooms. Every week vegetables are harvested from the iwi’s māra kai at Pourewa to distribute to whānau. Vegetables are also given to the City Mission.

Future development of māra kai and māra rongoā (healing) plantings will form a garden which interfaces with the public, including a pond to grow watercress, an orchard, and a forest of native trees. These developments will be part of the Tāmaki plant collection and as a physical site for hands-on education and research. Aligned with this, there will be a dedicated space for rongoā preparation.

Read more on the Ōrākei Visual Framework.

CDB iwi revives its farming past