· A network of community gardens, allotments, orchards, forage trails, nurseries, etc throughout the east located on the fringes of the red zone near local communities and schools.
· Complementing existing community gardens and nurseries.
Considerations:
· Some ex-red zone residents, residents in new medium-density homes without gardens and migrants with a tradition of food growing want access to allotments.
· Some existing fruit trees from red zone gardens can be retained.
· Many red zone soils are fertile and have been used for gardens and market gardens in the past.
· Community gardens and food production have diverse benefits including improvements in levels of food education, nutrition, mental health, community cohesiveness, knowledge about waste reduction, financial savings, community food resilience and a range of environmental and ecological health benefits.
· Aligns and integrates well with Ngai Tahu aspirations for restoration of mahinga kai.
Check out the Food Resilience Network here and their news item here.
