Fruit Tree Guild Planting at Kahutara School

In May we visited Kahutara School in South Wairarapa to help them start a food forest garden. We worked with tamariki from across the school to plant 3 fruit tree guilds which will be the start of a new food-growing area of the school.

In the morning we got to know each other and did some learning about forest ecology. The tamariki talked about their experiences in the bush and then we used this to show how plants and animals can work together to create an ecosystem in a food forest as well. We got outside to have a look at the area for planting and notice what was already there and we even did a lesson on fruit tree guilds up in their tree house!

After morning tea we identified the plants we’d brought along and matched them to their functions within a guild. Then we got planting! Each group planted an apple tree then cardboarded and mulched around it before planting a variety of companion plants. The kids loved the physical mahi and it was a great chance to talk to them more personally and hear all their experiences with gardening and growing kai.

In the afternoon we gathered to reflect on our day and the tamariki chose a way of presenting their learning. Some drew a plan for the extended food forest in the future, others created a slideshow presentation to show at a school assembly and some of the younger ones simply drew sketches of what they had planted that day to share with their class.

We had an awesome day at Kahutara and can’t wait to go back and see how their trees are getting on and see the progress on their food forest!