Mangere Mountain Community Gardens

On Tuesday 24th of July the yr 6&7 from our senior school all went to visit the Mangere Mountain Education Centre.We went there so we could learn about the Mara Kai,the Mara Rongoa and the tool making and how they grew their food in gardens in the past.

A man named Farrell greeted us and told us about the history of the local iwi. He told us how Hape rode a giant stingray (Kaiwhare) from Hawaiki and how his tribe carried their waka from Tamaki Estuary to Mangere. After that we learned about the gardening tools they used at the time. The ko and the timo-timo.

When Farrell finished explaining, we were organised into three groups. I felt so excited because my group got to do the tool making first. I used the mussel shell and started to smooth the ko (Maori spade). After that we switched to the next task.
We walked outside with our gorgeous teacher Mrs Fepuleai. All of us saw a lady standing next to the medicine plants and she introduced herself to us. Her name was Moana. We were split into four teams. My team had to find the Karamu medicine plant which they had in the Mara Rongoa. The plants were labeled with their name and what medicinal purpose they served. Some of the labels of the plants were hard to find because they were hidden by the leaves.

Finally we were in the food garden or Mara Kai and  Farrell explained to us that they used a ko to dig in the garden and a timo timo for digging up weeds. We got to use the ko to dig and it was very easy for me but as Farrell explained it was a long, hard process because they had to prepare the ground first which meant they had to burn off the surrounding trees and scrub.They then used the ash as compost for the dirt. He told us that as they worked they would all sing waiata or chant together to help them keep in time and make it easier.  Then we had a turn using the timo-timo to dig some weeds out of the mara kai. The timo-timo which is a piece of wood shaped like two sides of a triangle. It was named after the kiwi because it looks like a kiwi’s beak when it digs into the dirt for worms.


After that we came back inside and sat down on the mat and Farrell and the other whaea gave out woven putiputi or flowers to the tamariki who answered and asked good questions. Then we were allowed to eat our lunch.When all of us finished our delicious food we all hiked up the mountain.When we were halfway there we saw the bus waiting for us. We made our way back down the mountain,lined up and noisily got on the bus, back to school to learn.