Wao Green Drinks: Growing Local Food Networks

Green Drinks: growing local food networks 

Wednesday 17 June 2026 | 6pm to 8pm | Armstrong Room, Lake Wānaka Centre
$5 entry | Registration essential

Join us for a special Green Drinks evening exploring how we can grow stronger local food networks and build food resilience across the Upper Clutha.

The evening will introduce three community-led initiatives helping reconnect people with local food systems:

• Kai Connect — small, decentralised food networks connecting people already producing food in different ways;

• Carb Club — collaborative local growing of staple carbohydrate crops;

• and the Seedling Cooperative — community coordination of seedling growing and sharing. The Seedling Cooperative will be introduced by Nita Smith, who will share her experience of setting up the initiative in Bannockburn and what she and her group have learned so far.

Following the presentations, participants will take part in structured rapid connection rounds designed to help people discover shared interests, skills, values, and opportunities for collaboration.

Whether you grow vegetables, keep chickens, hunt, fish, forage, preserve food, or simply want to feel more connected to local food systems, you are warmly welcome.

Meet your speakers:

Monique Kelly, Executive Manager at Wao Aotearoa, will open the evening by sharing Wao’s mission, with a focus on Wao’s Resilience Response.

Babu Blatt is Programme Manager at Wao Aotearoa and facilitator of the Southern Lakes Kai Collective, a 45-member network working to build a resilient, connected local food system that supports food sovereignty and cooperation across the region.

Babu will host this Green Drinks event and present a range of localised food network initiatives, including Carb Club and Kai Connect. She will also help foster connections among participants to support the development of small, community based food networks.

Loran Verpillot is a Queensberry based herbalist and founder of Herbal Culture. Since 2018, she has been leading workshops on edible weeds, foraging and herbal remedies, helping people reconnect with the health benefits of local plants.

Loran will share how foraging in our region can boost nutrient intake, supplement household diets, and help save money while building a deeper connection to the natural environment.

Mac Heemi is a local hunter and fisherman who enjoys spending time in nature and sharing that experience with others, including taking people out hunting. He also values filling his freezer to feed his family and occasionally shares his venison and fish with friends and neighbours.

Hear from Mac, who will also explain why you cannot barter or exchange meat or fish in New Zealand, but you are welcome to gift it if you wish.

Nita Smith is based in Bannockburn and works in conservation (QEII National Trust). Outside of work, she is a keen gardener with a strong interest in food resilience and is a mum to two primary school aged children. She is actively involved in building community connections in Bannockburn. Nita has helped establish a Seedling Cooperative with a small group of like minded people and will share a brief overview of how the concept works and what they are learning so far.

This event is part of the broader Southern Lakes Kai Collective roadmap of initiatives to strengthen our local food system and community food resilience.