Growing and Nurturing Child-Rich Communities.

With no local supermarket, no public transport, families struggling to provide food and minimal job security, longtime resident Honey Thrupp – affectionately called the Heart of the Community – saw an opportunity with a spare plot of land to create a locally-led source of nourishment for Taneatua’s 786 residents. Through the support of the community and various organisations, her vision has been brought to life.

“The purpose of the garden has always been to create a place of learning, nourishment and belonging for our tamariki.”

The Hughes Place Garden Project has since become a place where whānau and friends can come together to share what they know as well as their talents. A place to care for their young people through locally managed childcare and school holiday programmes. A place to break down stigma and silence through a guiding pathway to social services. A meeting place where no one person is excluded and where showing compassion, love and empathy is expected from one another.

A place to grow and nurture a child-rich community.

GROW FROM SHARED LOCAL VISIONS

Joining forces with neighbours, and reaching out to other members of the community, Honey connected with many people who were all happy to help. Everything from building supplies, the plot of land itself, and seedlings to start the garden off were donated in kind from local businesses and other residents. It was clear early on that this was a project that others also understood its value.  

The tamariki of Taneatua were invited to a workshop so they could share what they wanted for the garden, creating a sense of ownership and accountability for the young people in the process.                         

Through inclusive, shared language a covenant was drafted to set the intent and purpose of the garden, and to outline the beliefs and values that underpinned this place.                         

On the day the garden officially opened and was blessed, the tamariki of Hughes Place, stood alongside their elders, and collectively signed the covenant – using their paint-covered hands and fingertips to do so.

BUILD FROM STRENGTHS

Even in the quiet cul-de-sac of Hughes Place, Honey and her husband Tamiana found that they had a wonderful array of capability right on their doorstep. Between their immediate neighbours and others not far away they soon had a core team with varied skill sets; from previous committee and financial experience to administration skills, building experience, and a native seedlings and plants specialist.

GROW COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP

With Honey very much at the heart of the garden and the community, a committee was wrapped around the project to support her.

Tamiana is key to that support. An Amorangi Minister, a Police Chaplain, and the Chairman of Waimana Marae, he is a man committed to sharing his knowledge and mana with his whenua.

The Thrupps’ other property – a farm at Ruatoki, which looks up through the valley of Te Urewera – quickly became an additional part of what is now called the Hughes Place Food Production Project. With the help of the project committee and other community members, it has since been able to add milk, pork and poultry to the project’s ever-growing list of enterprising assets. It is also very clearly what drives the Thrupps’ connection to Papatūānuku (earth), and which fuels their manaaki (generosity).

Some of what has been learned includes:

“Leadership and establishing roles and responsibilities across the group is key. Bringing together a community and building the foundations of success around that is critical in the beginning to get right. And the garden had that from the outset.”                  

– Andrew Iles, Taneatua Ward Councillor.

“Understanding your strengths, weaknesses and what talents you have around you is something you need to identify up front. Honey has always been the heart of the garden. She is what makes it tick. But as a team we all have something to contribute, to give.”

– Maurice Tooke, Hughes Place Food Production Project, Chairman.

Families and individuals have always been encouraged to both give and to receive at Hughes Place Garden. With the sign out front of the garden simply but powerfully stating, ‘No one to be excluded’.

Hughes Place Garden Project was initially funded and supported by Presbyterian Support Northern, Have a Heart Foundation, PressGo – Mission Enterprise Fund, Te Aka Puaho, Rotary and The New Zealand Lotteries Commission. Moving forward, the project is now focused on sustainability so that they don’t need to rely as much on external funders.

It is with a deep sense of connection and belonging from the garden, the prosperity and vitality of the farm, an unwavering commitment from Tamiana and Honey Thrupp to honour their whāinga (purpose) and kauae runga (knowledge of the heavens), and the spirit of Taneatua residents around them, that the Hughes Place Food Production Project continues to be the bountiful, community-nourishing project that it is.