Pukehina School is PROUD to be a part of the Garden to Table programme. We have been in this whanau community since 2021 and now one of the lead kura in the Western Bay of Plenty. This wonderful programme helps empower our akonga to grow, harvest, prepare & share great food.
Our Garden to Table programme is integrated with our Bush School programme and operates one day a week. Akonga are taught how to grow & harvest a range of kai & use this kai to prepare & share a range of dishes with one another & our whanau or put in our pataka for our community. Food grown & harvested include carrots, strawberries, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, a range of herbs, lavender, kamakamo & kumara.
We are always adding fruit trees to our orchard that include peaches, feijoas, lemons, limes, mandarins, oranges & apples. We have a space to grow sunflowers every year & experimented with growing hue. With the support from Southern Cross Horticulture we have built our very own mini kiwifruit orchard.
We have recently developed a Chaos Garden in partnership with COLAB. The purpose of this initiative is to provide the community with kai.
Comvita have also provided a Pataka Kai to be used to provide kai in our community
Our Garden to Table purpose for our akonga, whanau & kaimahi are:
- Grow an appreciation of our whenua & kai. Developing a sense of kaitiakitanga; looking after Papatuanuku and valuing our natural resources
- Develop a sense of sustainability where they are capable of growing, harvesting, preparing & sharing their own kai
- Live a healthy lifestyle utilising the environment around them
