Good day Tuesday starting with delivery of chickens to *Sengxay. A chat revealed they own a Thai restaurant in Papakura and have had a tough time through covid. Family of ten live there, including Mum who is about 60. He was pretty excited and said his sister was especially excited to be getting hens and once these guys are settled is keen to add another couple to the mix. Sister had set up the fencing which wasn’t high enough, but he said they would fix that and def didn’t want the hens escaping.
Their house backs onto the river and he said they get pretty big rats coming up. Arghhhhh. We discussed only feeding as much as they will eat and using bowls that can be washed as opposed to throwing kai onto the ground, which may encourage rats to come up. Also talked about restaurant surplus use for feeding. The hens settled in nicely and one had laid an egg ready for him to collect in my carry case which was fun! I added it to the nest for the children to find. I gave and explained fridge bags.
Next visit was a revisit to Verity who has the garden beds that she carried up from down the road and she talked about how much they’ve enjoyed this journey and how invested her husband is. They are looking to add a bed for Taro. The hens are very happy. We talked again about the rooster. She said he crows every morning but no one’s ever complained, though they ran out of food and the hens stopped consistent laying so they’ll sort getting some more layer pellets.
Maraea wasn’t home, but I didn’t check my texts so I went anyway. I was super keen to see her bed as one of the first we set up but she puts me off every week. Her son, whom I’ve met before, was shirtless in the shed. I thought he was cleaning out the shed but realised later more likely to be doing a workout. Duhhhh. I called out and when he said she wasn’t home I asked if it was OK to check out the garden. He seemed happy and I knew it was just there over the fence so not like we were going too far in or anything. I couldn’t see her bokashi bin so will hopefully see that on my next visit.
Haare seemed a bit reluctant to go up there and hung behind me. We checked the garden. Took a pic and I waved goodbye as we left. Haare said she hoped she was as brave as me at my age. I said she needed to be vigilant, but most people are just getting on with life. He was smiling and didn’t seem unhappy and we weren’t threatening, so watching for cues and giving good vibes was sensible. I also know she can lift 280 kgs, so she could pick me up and run down the drive with me if we needed to get out of there quickly. Just kidding I’d be gone before she could blink!
Kiani is in her parents house up a very steep drive…something I didn’t realise from our zoom assessment, so WW gave her tubs. I couldn’t fit all the seedlings I had for her in the tubs and had extra from last visits, but she had another large square bed, so we were able to utilise all the spaces and she got all the remaining seedlings, which was awesome. She had two little ones and is just due with her third RIGHT NOW…hence her husband home as they prep for a home birth, though she wasn’t actually in labour and was looking amazing. She is home schooling and her children, Riley is about 5-6 and Knox about 3 were fully involved in the planting. We talked about making her whole back yard a veg patch. They are vegan so very excited about any veg they can get started. I will love seeing this progress and will add some extra seedlings from my stash when I can.
She had a bokashi bin already and remembered loving the idea, but was unsure how to use it, so a refresher was in order. Also gave her fridge bags. She had never seen them before.
Michelle didn’t answer the door, though I had heard voices when we first knocked. I knocked several times and called out. I called Jo and asked her to call her. She had dogs in the back yard and asked if possible to put garden out the front and showed me where she had dug a space and planted some flower seeds someone gave her. This was tidy and we’re placing the bed alongside this. She has one moko by the sound of it and some grown up children living with her and keen to get some veg started. Nice easy access for WW.
Finished for the day and Haare asked me to look at an indigenous / Pacifica garden getting started in GI on the corner of Pt England and Dalton Rds. It looks amazing and Haare is pretty excited about it . She said she will update me on its progress and we can visit it together when open, which I will love for sure! Looks like we are friends for life…
Haare talked about people not answering the door when she can see it’s us. A whaea and her, so not threatening and why would people not come to the door. I talked about not being judgemental. We don’t know their journey, or their past. It’s not for us to decide where people should be. We are just a ‘blip’ in their day, or their life. We can only offer what we have and if the time is right and they take that opportunity, that’s their decision, not ours to say what they should or shouldn’t do.
We also talked about whether what we do is ‘successful’ or worthwhile and I said to remember Makamae’s garden last week, which was burgeoning with lush growth. Everything she had was going to be successful as we had provided her with what she needed for success.She had really done nothing! If we compare that with what we saw at Verity’s, which was poor quality soil and plants, some might call that a failure, yet to me Verity’s is a great success. She is planning her next garden despite all her challenges. She’s invested effort, money and overcome shame, collecting the troughs and boxes from down the road to plant in. She showed us how her son had got a plant from somewhere and transplanted it in and it had lived. How her husband had ‘transplanted’ a broccoli but it had gone to seed, so I explained why that had happened and why the sons had flourished. This whanau are learning so much. We need to be aware how we judge success. It’s not always what we see at face value.
Rākau Tautoko 