It’s a still, sunny Saturday morning and Shanaya is pulling out the last rogue weeds from the zucchini bed while Matt measures 80cms between the seedling holes he is prepping.
Spring comes to Kelmarna Community FarmA typical spring day at Kelmarna Community Farm.
A Grey Lynn local, Shanaya started volunteering at Kelmarna in the market garden two summers ago. She stopped for a bit and has now come back. "I come for the nature fix and the passive learning. Today I’m learning about putting down hay to suppress weeds in a prepared bed."
Shanaya says she is curious about how our food is grown and has come to appreciate what hard work it is to get from seed to actual food. "This is my fifth week back so five weeks ago we planted seeds and put them in the soil and now they are sprouting. It’s so fulfilling to see progression like this."
But the best part of volunteering for Shanaya is chatting with the other volunteers. "It’s a great community and I really like the people who work here."
Matt has been a volunteer at Kelmarna for the past two years for all sorts of reasons. "I need somewhere to be in nature and I also try to learn about horticulture and how things are grown here. It’s also the workplace you can come to every week and just slot in. It’s a great place for socialising with the other people who work here."
"Kelmarna Community Farm is made possible by volunteers," says General Manager Sarah McFadden. "And everyone has something to contribute."
The farm works with around 400 volunteers each year helping out with lots of different aspects of farm operations, one of the main ones being gardening. All volunteers are trained in Kelmarna systems and methods and, over time, have the opportunity to learn hands-on all processes of organic food growing. This covers seed raising, sowing, planting, weed management, harvesting, composting and more.
Volunteers are not just learning about gardening and developing new skills, they are making new friends and connections and experiencing that indescribably great feeling of belonging. "Kelmarna volunteers tell us they feel they are part of something meaningful in their community." says Sarah.
Shared lunches with volunteers and staff are a welcome break in the middle of every day for connecting and socialising. Everyone gets to know each other over a plate of good food they have helped to grow, freshly harvested from the garden.
"We eat, we chat, we sit, we digest," says Sarah. "We believe this whole approach of sharing harvest and a cooked lunch together is vital to creating meaningful relationships both with each other and this land we farm.”
If you’d like to volunteer to support Kelmarna, visit the website and look under ‘Volunteer’. Volunteer opportunities include working in the garden, soil factory, education, retail shop, farm hands programme, as a handy person or bringing any other skills you have outside of gardening. Thursday and Saturday drop-in volunteering sessions require no long term commitment.
Kelmarna Community Farm, 12 Hukanui Crecent, T: 09 376 0472, www.kelmarna.co.nz
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