Walking the Talk - Garden Trails

Walking the Talk

The Motueka Greens Local Matters team  have organised a garden trail to eight local properties showcasing solutions for carbon reduction. There are three exciting tours to choose from.

Tour One: Motueka area -  Saturday 26 September 10 am – 3 pm

This tour includes four properties in the Motueka area. The tour starts at Atamai Community in the Motueka Valley. We will first visit Joanna and Jack Santa Barbara. Joanna and Jack are well known climate activists.  They will explain about their passive solar house and show their organic, terraced orchard and beautiful vegetable garden. They eat a plant-rich diet, preserve a lot of their harvest and store it in a purposely built outdoor earth building.   

We will then visit Patsy, also at Atamai Community. Patsy, with her green vision and green fingers has transformed a steep section into an amazing orchard and vegetable garden. Patsy is a fermented food specialist and will share some of her knowledge.

We will head back to Motueka for a lunch break (BYO or buy in town) after which we will visit two urban gardens. The first garden shows a transformation from a common lawn and concrete section into an amazing productive fruit and vegetable garden. At the second property we will hear all about solar energy and the family have two goats which they milk. They also have chickens and an organic vegetable garden.  Both families live within easy biking distance of the town centre. Our hosts bike everywhere and they will share some great tips about this, e.g. carrying kids and dogs in specially designed trolleys. 

Tour Two: Motueka Valley area - Sunday 27 September 10 am – 1 pm

This tour features two rural properties. We will meet at the Ngatimoti Community Centre and visit the properties of Mechthild and Peter and Lesley and Paul. Mechthild's and Peter's garden is amazing and they are nearly completely self-sufficient. They have farm animals and grow an abundance of fruit and vegetables . Their house is energy-efficient, they have rooftop solar and many other features such as a composting toilet, a food cellar and much much more.

Lesley and Paul have solar panels, organic gardens and a range of forest restoration projects. We will take a walk through their forest and see and hear how they control pests and weeds to enable regeneration. 

Coffee and tea will be available after the tour and you can eat your BYO lunch at the Community Centre or have a picnic in the grounds.

Tour Three: Tasman area - Saturday 10 October 10.30 am – 3 pm

Jester House is so much more than a local icon and award winning cafe.  Owners Judy and Steve Richards have lived in Tasman since 1991 and have transformed six acres of bare land into a small paradise. They have built a rammed earth family home and planted over 10,000 trees, including a food forest.  There are also extensive organic herb and vegetables gardens.

The tour starts at 10.30 am and there is the option to stay for lunch. Following the tour there will be a delicious vegan soup served with the famous Jester House sourdough bread. The cost for lunch is separate to your ticket price and you can pay on the day. There is no need to book for lunch.

In the afternoon we visit the large lifestyle farm of the Cave Family in Upper Moutere. They grow organic vegetables for their extended family. They have an orchard, farm animals and use manure and composting systems for their garden. Ian has built a flameless  combustion stove and creates biochar from waste wood. Kumi preserves and ferments a wide range of foods.