Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
Gisborne gardener Brent Mags wants to help people grow their own food and foster a sense of community.
Mags, 56, has transformed his property near Titirangi Kaiti Hill into a large garden space that helps reduce reliance on store-bought food, and inspires others.
In 2016, he started the My Backyard Garden Project, which uses teamwork to build vegetable gardens.
“Working in a team means that everyone can share their ideas, what they are growing and work together to create a food revolution,” Mags said.
So far, he has helped create 1200 backyard gardens and conducted workshops across the North Island.
Mags moved to Gisborne in 2019 and has built a network with other growers, organisations, and farmers to provide resources such as coffee grinds, horse manure, and mulch.
Growing your own kai was dependent on space, he said.
“Start off small with something that you can easily manage and get a good crop from that, then scale up in size if you want to.”
He said there were a few free resources in Tairāwhiti that people could use to help grow gardens, such as seaweed and wooden pallets.
Mags regularly collects seaweed from Kaiti and Tatapouri beaches and picks up wooden pallets left outside businesses, which he repurposes as garden beds or for other creative gardening uses.
Mags has given out free food and used it to show people his garden and explain how he does it while offering advice on how to do it yourself.
“I say to them ‘it would be really cool if you guys could do a smaller footprint to at least provide food for yourself and when the green thumb element starts to get nurtured and get better, then you can scale up’.
“You’re feeding yourself a greater range of vegetables, but you’re going to grow more than what you can possibly eat, so you can share that kai around to others such as neighbours and friends and start that sense of community.”
The cost of living and food prices have been on the rise, meaning initiatives like this are one way to reduce costs.
Information from Stats NZ shows that food prices have increased 1.2% annually.
Fruit and vegetable prices have fallen by 8.9% in the last 12 months to October but the cost of living for the average household has increased by 3.8% over the 12 months to September. For Māori households, it’s 3.9%.
In addition to addressing food security, growing your own kai can also contribute to waste minimisation.
Mags makes his own compost using green waste and food scraps, reducing the amount of compostable material that goes to landfill.
A tip he has for people aiming to do their own compost is to make sure that all the big pieces of waste are chopped up so the worms eating it don’t use up all their energy.
He hopes to inspire others in the region to take up gardening and is willing to assist anyone.
“At the end of the day, it’s not about us, it’s about trying to feed others.
“My contribute is providing my knowledge and my skillset free of charge voluntary capacity to try and teach others what I know.”
Matai O’Connor, Ngāti Porou, has been a journalist for five years and Kaupapa Māori reporter at the Gisborne Herald for two years.
