Member Spotlight - The Organic College Market Garden

Fergus, Jamie, and Lydia in the newly established BHU market garden with their trusty chook crew members.

Canterbury-based BHU Organic College Market Garden is a space for growing, learning and connecting with community. This model small-scale market garden has been recently established to teach organic, agroecological farming methods via experiential education and they have recently taken on two interns. We caught up with head farmer, Jamie Tucker, and interns Lydia and Fergus.

How did you (Jamie) get into growing?

After a few too many episodes of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, I was inspired to become a vegetable farmer! Without much direction, I ended up studying viticulture (grape growing) and enology (winemaking) in the Finger Lakes, NY, USA. After almost a decade working in the wine industry in several countries, I decided it was finally time to return to the original dream, and left winemaking to pursue a Diploma in Organic Agri-crop Production, jointly delivered by the BHU & Lincoln University. I haven’t left the BHU since then!

What's your current favorite plant/fruit/vegetable/flower etc to grow?

I love growing tomatoes- the season long commitment to pruning & trellising reminds me of my days working among the vines, and the cyclical/seasonal nature of the care and nurturing they require.

What do you like most about growing food for your community?

Whanaungatanga / The relationships we form with community members. We sell the majority of our veggies via subscription boxes, and I do most of the delivering, allowing the transaction to evolve into a relationship.

Can you tell us a bit about your new internship programme?

The Organic College Market Garden is a pilot project which aims to teach organic, agroecological farming methods via experiential education on a model small-scale market garden; participate in on-farm research to further promote organic, regenerative farming; and contribute to a thriving peer to peer agricultural extension network. The (paid) internship program was the main driver in establishing the OCMG - we wanted to provide an opportunity to bridge the gap between tertiary offerings, like the certificates The Organic College offers, and decision-making roles on farms. The role encapsulates lots of your typical farm-hand tasks like weeding and transplanting, but also includes plans for lessons in [real world] financial acumen and budgeting, crop planning, and marketing, etc.

This year we have two interns who are splitting the FTE role: Lydia and Fergus. Both are current students at The Organic College, and will join full time in December when classes are over. So far, they have been tasked with adopting thier own bed and deciding what to plant and why, when to plant it, and plans for irrigation, pest control, and harvest.

For the current interns, can you share why you were interested in this opportunity and what you hope to get from the experience?

Lydia - “Because it is an incredible one! The chance to continue learning with Jamie is pretty special. She is incredibly generous with her knowledge and time - I grabbed the chance to absorb all I can! I was also pretty keen to prolong my time at the BHU They've been an  inspiration for so many for 40+ years - I'm not ready to leave yet!

I hope to gain hands on experience in Agroecology, Regen Ag, sustainable human scale farming and minimal-till. Surely, this is the way forward! I hope to gain knowledge of the whole system (not just the parts I've been privy to as a Harvest Assistant on a large organic farm. OCMG has just begun - we're extra fortune to be part of the whole lifecycle of the farm, right from the very beginning.  I am also hoping for clarity. I'm new to this farming world - where do I fit in?”

Fergus - “Kia ora! I'm Fergus. I've been interested in growing food for a long while, but as a perennnial renter I haven't had the security to invest in a garden of my own. So for all the theory I've accumulated over the years, I've had very little practical experience -- the BHU provides both in spades.
The new internship in particular lets us novices be across all areas throughout the whole growing season -- this applies to the business and planning side of things as much as it involves getting hands dirty. Jamie is an incredible mentor, whose patience is matched by her enthusiasm, knowledge and tirelessness. And with the wider access to the expertise and resources at the BHU, there would be few similar opportunities to learn so much on the job. I'm just hoping my body and mind can keep up to take it all in!

Blue skies”

Are there ways that other people can get involved with what you're doing?

We offer weekly working bees, which currently run Thursdays from 12-3. 

With our limited resources, we also welcome community members with specific skills to donate time/skills i.e. marketing specialists, plumbers, professional grant writers, etc.
Another way to support our mahi is to share our work with the world!

Do you have a seasonal recipe you can share?

I do absolutely zero recipe development myself, though I’m an avid cookbook reader/tester and food blog follower. This past year my go-to cookbook was Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden, and my most frequently visited online food spot was The Guardian Food section.

Here's a link to a recipe I'm sharing with our veggie box subscribers this week: https://cookieandkate.com/spring-carrot-radish-and-quinoa-salad-with-herbed-avocado/

Member Spotlight - Waewae Permaculture

Fiona and Lian of Waewae Permaculture are our second member spotlight. They live and grow food in Osborne, just outside of Dunedin where they are cultivating a huge variety of vegetables, some fruit, herbs, and keep a wee herd of alpaca to manage what grass hasn’t been turned into garden beds.

You can find Waewae’s produce seasonally at the Otago Farmers Market, through their vege box scheme, and now at a roadside stall at the Holy Cow, just outside of Port Chalmers. Find out more about all they offer in their directory and CSA listings.

Besides answering some questions about themselves to help us all get to know them better, Lian and Fiona have recently hosted our market Southland Market Garden Training Programme participants during a field trip to Dunedin, and Lian led a zoom workshop for that as well. We really appreciate their willingness to share their time and expertise!

How did you get into growing?

We were both home and community gardeners with only basic growing skills but Fiona wanted to grow on a small commercial scale. Fiona started working for John McCafferty, a local organic grower who encouraged her to develop her own gardens. Lian got on board after 1 year as the challenge needed 2 people!

What's your current favorite plant/fruit/vegetable/flower etc to grow?

Broccoli! We tried a new variety with great success, Summer Green F1 from Kings seeds. We planted it in Feb, and it produced great heads but since then has regrown large side shoots over and over all winter long and is still going strong. Nigel from Oamaru organics also gave us some advice on large brassica, that they do like to spread large roots and some cultivation is required if the soil is not perfect, so we planted it where we previously had dug potatoes for some nice loose soil.

What do you like most about growing food for your community?

It helps us connect with the community in a rural area, as well as the wider community of growers and food lovers.

Do you have offerings besides vegetables that you want to share?

We run gardening workshops in spring, and also sell a few seeds we grow ourselves. We have 2 workshops for different skill levels this spring, you can take a look at https://openfoodnetwork.org.nz/waewae-permaculture/shop

Do you have a seasonal recipe you can share?

Pan Pak Choi from The Otago Farmers Market Recipe Catalogue

Recipe by Amy Dougherty

Method

Wash and cut length ways the pak choi and cut red onions into quarters with the end left on halves, so they keep together. Heat garlic oil in a large fry and cook red onion first, then batches of pak choi. Place on a board.  To toast the sunflower seeds, use the same pan (just wipe out with a paper towel) add the sunflower seeds and then the olive salt. Toss over the heat until they start to turn golden, then sprinkle the seeds over the pak choi. 

Serve on a wooden board as a side or as a main. Grate over the fresh radish to garnish.  

 Ingredients

2 heads of pak choi 

2-3 Tbsp garlic infused olive oil or use plain

2 small red onions 

2-3 radishes 

1/4 cup sunflower seeds 

1 tsp olive salt or use plain

Member Spotlight - Tomtit Farm

Our first member spotlight is Tomtit Farm. The Tomtits, Brit and James, are located in Matangi, Hamilton and they are growing a beautiful array of produce, flowers, and healthy, happy soil! You can find out more about their offerings and how to support their work in their directory listing. They are also part of the Earthworkers programme and have recently been featured on a Farmers in the Field Episode where they talk about no-till techniques and cover cropping. Watch that here!

Tomtit Farm offers their produce through a CSA as well as a 24/7 road side fridge at the Front Paddock Cafe and they even offer delivery! Their CSA offerings include seasonal veges as well as add ons such as fresh baked bread, local eggs, and Last Jar preserves which features Tomtit Farm’s vegetables. It is so great to see the way they are connecting with and supporting other local food business, this is what building local food systems is all about!

Thanks Tomtits for supporting our work here at Village Agrarians, we love what you are doing up north and can’t wait to see what you get up to this season! We are very excited to have you as part of our community!

The Tomtits answered some questions from us about themselves, and shared with us a warming winter recipe featuring cauliflower! Learn more about them below:

How did you get into growing?

Hmmm good question, well I am a massive foodie and love anything that has to do with cooking and eating so I guess growing food is a nice compliment to this passion of mine. The growing journey started from finishing my studies in human nutrition and falling down a rabbit hole of academia where I was hungry for more impact at the community level where the idea of growing organic food came about. I quit my job and started volunteering at community gardens and wwoofing around NZ when the opportunity arose to have a go ourselves in the Waikato a few years ago now.

What's your current favorite plant/fruit/vegetable/flower etc to grow?

There are too many to choose from... coming into spring it would be rude not to mention the happiness dahlias and zinnias bring to our garden. Though this winter I have really enjoyed growing radicchio, the patterns and brightness they bring to the winter garden is amazing.

What do you like most about growing food for your community?

How we can inspire and provide the tools for our community to learn about seasonal produce that grow well for us here in the Waikato, we provide access to a huge variety of produce and exhibit climate mitigation focused growing. The kindness and joy we receive from our customers makes my day and the turn out we get at our community gardening workshops always blows me away.

Do you have offerings besides vegetables that you want to share?

We are just about to start our Spring Seasonal Harvest CSA in September, this is more than vegetables, this is a community between us the farmers, our members who enjoy our produce and the land that we grow the food on. We love offering the chance for our customers to stick with us for a whole season because we really get to know each other really well over this time and can really demonstrate seasonal produce and how it's produced. Our Seasonal Harvest Members become part of the Tomtit Farmily.

We are also growing flowers again this season and are bringing back the Tomtit Farm PYO flowers days.

Do you have a seasonal recipe you can share?

Yes this is one of my absolute winter favourites and it's so easy to whip up.

Whole roasted cauliflower with sesame flat bread, recipe below.

(you can find more amazing recipes from Tomtit Farm on their website)