Lionel Hotene can be seen most Sunday mornings at the Grey Lynn Farmers Market selling produce from the organic gardens of Papatuanuku Kokiri Marae located in Mangere.
What is your iwi? I’m from Whakatane. I’m Ngati Awa.
And what about this marae? This is an urban marae rather than an ancestral mana whenua marae. It was started in the mid 80s by Nanny Mere and some aunties who were part of the Wai 262 flora and fauna claim to the Waitangi Tribunal.
What was their kaupapa for starting the marae?
Kumara – it was all about the kumara. They started off with seven strands of kumara that they were trying to preserve and now the garden grows so much more than just kumara.
What happens to the wonderful vegetables that you grow?
Mainly we give then away to the community – there are a lot of hungry whanau who we provide with nutritious fresh food. They give us a koha if they can.
I hear that it’s not just vegetables that you give away?
Yes – we also run the Kai Ika project. It was set up when we were approached by LegaSea and the Outdoor Boating Club when they were looking at how to manage fish heads that their members thought of as waste. We don’t see waste, we see excellent kai. Moana Pacific is currently our biggest contributor. We have a specially built processing station refitted from a container (donated by Royal Wolf). The fishy water from cleaning the processing station feeds our gardens – there is no waste.
We let our community know that we have fish and they come and collect it, along with fresh vegetables.
And that’s not all you do for your community?
We love being a part of this community – there’s such a wide range of cultures in our neighbourhood. We’ve had about 7000 school children from local schools including the Medina Muslim school for girls. And, twice a week, we run te reo courses.
What are you planning for this year?
Something very exciting – in October or November we’ll have a Fire Festival with music, food, fun and, of course, fire. This will be something new for us and the community. Hopefully, it will raise some funds to run the marae and bring people together.
And we are developing a website thanks to an Auckland Council digital funding grant.
What a lot of work! How do you cope?
We love this mahi so it doesn’t always feel like work. But we also get Woofers* in to help. They are hard workers who are wanting to learn not just organic farming skills but also learn about our indigenous culture. They love the range of experiences they get here, including visiting Grey Lynn Farmers Market with us.
*Woofers are Workers on Organic Farms
How is all your good work funded?
We rely on the generosity of sponsors, funding grants and, of course, shoppers at the Grey Lynn Farmers Market. Recently, we also set up a Give-a-little page – every bit of support helps.
How come you have a presence in Grey Lynn?
One of the market regulars from Grey Lynn came to a horticulture course and persuaded me to give it a go. I was doubtful about it at first, but I have been surprised at how enthusiastic Grey Lynn is about our produce. We quickly developed a loyal following and we love the sense of community there.
www.givealittle.co.nz/org/papatuanuku-kokiri-marae