The Waiuku Maara Kai Community Garden is a fantastic place to learn all about composting.

This special session has two parts - composting, and Harakeke (NZ Flax) maintenance.

9am: Part One: Composting

Katrina Wolff from Blue Borage will show a method using common herbs and flower to make a compost activator which is effective in minimising the odour of composting food scraps, while speeding up the process.

Miraculous!

Other advantages of learning to compost in Waiuku:

no need to worry about smelly food scrap buckets
no need to worry about food scraps going to landfill
no need to pay anyone to handle your rubbish
cancel your garden waste collections
stop buying soil in single use plastic at the garden centre
join the growing movement of people creating a 'closed loop' circular system in their gardens, making healthy soil to grow healthy food, thereby saving money at the supermarket.

It's a win-win-win-win sort of solution, and so easy to get started.

Thanks to Carbon Cycle Composting for sponsorship of this event. Participants at this workshop will get a coupon for the online course 'Closing the Loop: the Art of Composting'

What to bring:

- Please wear covered shoes or gumboots.

- We'll be outside, so please dress appropriately.

- We probably won't go ahead if there's heavy rain - I'll send an email and text on the morning if we need to postpone.

10am: Part Two: Harakeke (NZ Flax) planting, plant care & maintenance.

Special guest Angela Anstis will join us for the planting of four new Harakeke plants in the garden. Angela is the curator of the Paa Harakeke at the Auckland Botanic Gardens, and has arranged for four new plants to be gifted to the Waiuku Maara Kai.

Angela runs the inductions for harvesters at the Botanic gardens and can show how to care for and maintain Harakeke (NZ Flax).

Perfect for those who have a Harakeke plant in their garden or in their community that is in need of a tidy up.

Why to cut
When to cut
Where to cut
How to cut
All the tikanga (protocols) you need to know to feel confident keeping your Harakeke in good condition.

Extra special: one of the plants getting added to the Paa Harakeke in at the Maara Kai in Waiuku was originally gifted to the Auckland Botanic Gardens by Buckley Fyers, who established the Paa Harakeke in Tuakau with 23 varieties of Harakeke (NZ Flax) gathered from weavers around the North Island.