Funding boost for community food garden

A series of successful grant applications and generous local support has delivered a major boost to Te Hōnonga a Iwi’s community food garden, accelerating development of the mara kai and strengthening its long-term impact.

Project Co-ordinator Nicky Shave says the funding and in-kind investment reflects growing recognition of the garden as a model for community-led environmental and food resilience initiatives.

“From accessible infrastructure to rich compost and irrigation, every aspect of the garden is being strengthened thanks to this incredible wave of support,” says Nicky. “It’s enabling us to build a space that supports health, learning and connection for our diverse community — now and into the future.”

Recent successful grants include:

• $8,000 from Auckland Council for water tanks and part of their installation

• $7,000 from NZ Landcare Trust to install an irrigation system across the entire garden, including completion of plumbing to harvest rainwater from the Harbour Hockey shed roof

• $7,500 from Auckland Council Park Ranger for a wheelchair-accessible shade house

• $19,500 from Foundation North for a wheelchair-accessible glasshouse

• $10,000 from SkyCity to establish a syntropic food forest, supply seeds, and build a rat-proof vermicompost system

• $3,000 in restoration equipment from Auckland Council

  
  

Around $20,000 worth of volunteer labour has also gone into the project, contributed on the Phase Two construction day, with thanks to Dingle Foundation, Westminster School and Te Hōnonga a Iwi, and through our regular working bees.

Another $26,000 worth of support has been provided through in-kind contributions from local SMEs, including morning teas, journalism, graphic design, signage, mulch, organic coir byproduct, crushed concrete, machine and truck hire, cultivation tools, wooden sleepers, a shed, gazebo, traps, benches, water supply and composting biomass.

North Harbour Hockey continues to play a leading role in the project. Alongside their transition support as Te Hōnonga a Iwi moves towards becoming an incorporated society, they’re also driving behaviour change across their 8,000-strong membership — diverting seven tonnes of organic waste annually from landfill to composting. Excess compost is shared with the mara kai, increasing soil health across the site. The hockey shed provides water for irrigation, while spray drift from the turf’s sprinklers naturally waters the garden’s raised beds. Hockey players and staff also lend their time regularly to help with planting and maintenance.

Local businesses Grow My Greens and A1 Landscapes continue to invest heavily, enabling the production of high-quality compost and ongoing development of access pathways through the garden.