Our Reflection on 2022
As the year draws to a close, we’ve been reflecting on all that 2022 has held for Garden to Table.
This year, over 24,000 tamariki around the motu have learnt how they can grow and cook environmentally sustainable food through Garden to Table’s food education programme.
But, we couldn’t have done it without you. Join us, as we celebrate a few of the things that we have achieved together throughout the year.
Napier Central Primary School and Broadfield School students in the garden and kitchen
We began 2022 by gifting each Garden to Table school our first-ever ‘Great Big Garden to Table Calendar’. Featuring seasonal activities in the māra kai (garden) and kīhini (kitchen), this calendar helped schools plan events, harvests, and planting.
Throughout the year, we distributed a number of educational resources, including:
Rapua Ngā Tae - Find the Colours (helping tamariki practice their kupu Māori while exploring the garden, released for Te Wiki o te reo Māori)
T&G Grower Resource (helping students make connections between their Garden to Table harvest and New Zealand's commercial growing industry, released with support from T&G).
He Kūmara Reka - Sweet Kūmara (hands-on activities for exploring the technology and stories of how early Māori grew kūmara for Matariki, released in partnership with Te Reo Club for Matariki)
Te Haenga - Pollination (encouraging tamariki to explore the vital role bees and other pollinators play in our food chain and biodiversity, released with support from Manuka Doctor)
Kumara grown by Garden to Table students and our Positive Pollen activity for World Bee Day
An early highlight came for us in March, when Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Dame Cindy Kiro, GNZM, QSO, Governor-General of New Zealand visited Papatoetoe West School. During her visit, Dame Cindy helped spread seeds in the garden and shell broad beans in the kitchen, before enjoying a meal with the students.
Shortly after, she accepted our invitation to become Garden to Table’s Patron. Her guiding principles of kaitiakitanga, oranga and manaakitanga align closely with our kaupapa, and her endorsement spoke wonderfully to the importance of our programme for children in schools throughout Aotearoa.
This year, we were also thrilled to see Matariki officially celebrated with a national holiday this year - and seeing how Garden to Table schools embraced this was another highlight of our year.
Matariki resonates strongly with Garden to Table's kaupapa. We were inspired to see ākonga (students) incorporate Matariki into their Garden to Table sessions, with some trying new recipes like hua whenua (vegetable soup), and others learning how to use the maramataka (Māori lunar calendar).
Matipo Primary School’s Matariki breakfast (left) and Forrest Hill School’s Matariki Market (right)
This year, to help schools raise funds for their Garden to Table programme, we launched our inaugural Garden to Table Bake Sale, with support from Westgold. Over 50 schools hosted their own Bake Sales, and some even raised over $1,000! True to our values, we put a Garden to Table twist on this classic fundraiser activity, and challenged them to use fresh produce in their baking.
We also hosted our annual Spring Seedling Sale. Garden to Table tamariki planted, carefully tended to, and then sold seeds and seedlings to their communities. This provided tamariki with a rich opportunity for developing financial literacy, while fundraising for their school’s programme.
As a Trust, we have focused on supporting Garden to Table schools to deliver, embed and sustain impactful food education programmes.
Throughout the year, we have:
piloted a new professional development training, and revised our introductory training, to help those involved in programme delivery gain hands-on experience in the garden and kitchen and understand the wide range of learning that happens within a Garden to Table session
hosted our annual Spring Appeal, raising $21,000 to help us deliver this training to educators
facilitated national and regional hui, supporting schools to connect, share stories, and learn from each other
established new networks of rural schools, special needs schools, model schools, and year 7/8 schools for mutual support
Towards the end of the year, we gathered some of Garden to Table’s closest friends for a panel event, where Nadia Lim, Catherine Bell, Niki Bezzant, Toni Street, and other special guests explored how gardening and cooking at school could revolutionise the future of Aotearoa. They agreed that something as simple as gardening and cooking can positively shape our nation.
Our sustainability panelists (top left), educational panelists (top right) and health panelists (bottom).
To close out the year, we have been engaging with school Principals to understand how their programme has gone this year. Here is a beautiful quote that epitomises what we stand for:
“Garden to Table allows our students to care for our environment, be true kaitiaki, experience a wide range of skills which are then taken into the home and for future. It is sustainable and future-focused, it also supports the bi-cultural and multi-cultural diversity of our school whānau. It builds connections across the community & brings joy for all who are involved from students to teachers to grandparents”
Ngā mihi nui - thank you for your kind support and making this all possible. We’re so grateful for all that 2022 has had to offer, and can’t wait to empower more tamariki to grow, harvest, prepare and share great kai next year.
Here’s to 2023!
Help even more tamariki learn to grow, harvest, prepare and share at school in 2024 and beyond when you donate and support this mahi!
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