These past few months have been spent rebuilding our maara kai and giving it a new life.
We have got a new planter box which was built by one of our dads and the pallets were donated by the mother of one of our kaiako. The tamariki played a huge part in remodelling our maara kai.
They supported me to pack in the planter box with recycled cardboard from our Christmas parade float, and even poured the soil in. During this process, we talked a lot about the safety and hygiene of our maara kai as the soil and potting mix can carry a lot of bugs and germs so we had to wear gloves and wash our hands after.
Having the tamariki involved in the planting process has also supported them to understand the importance of allowing the produce to grow rather than picking it all the time and because of this our maara kai has flourished.
We have made some amazing kai from our maara, including pizzas and scones. Being involved in the process has also supported the tamariki to try the vegetables in front of them at afternoon tea time as they know where it has come from. We have loved watching our maara kai grow and we are excited to see what winter vegetables we can start growing.