market gardening — Blog — Village Agrarians

Join us to share some lessons, joys, and challenges of the growing season.
One ticket (sliding scale $5-$50) will give you access to all six workshops in the winter series!

While our gardens are put to bed, or at least slowed down, for the winter, let's gather together virtually and share the learnings of the past season. Growers from around the country will share some of their techniques, their successes and challenges, and some images from their growing season. Think of it as a virtual tour/workshop where we'll learn some growing methods, business insights, and more. There will be ample time for questions following each presentation so that participants can find out more specifics about topics that are of interest to them.

Each session will run for about an hour to an hour and a half.

This will be an interactive platform for networking, sharing knowledge and ideas and highlighting and celebrating the diversity of growers and their practices around Aotearoa. We look forward to seeing you there!

get your series pass here

The schedule of speakers includes:

Thursday 18 July, 6:30pm - Saskia & Elle from Vagabond Vege in Wairarapa, Wellington
Thursday 25 July - Break
Thursday 1 August, 7:30pm - Jonathan from Crooked Vege in Kāpiti, Wellington
Thursday 8 August, 7:30pm - Brendan from Welcome Rock Gardens in Garston, Southland
Thursday 15 August, 7:30pm - John McCafferty from Pleasant River Produce in Dunedin, Otago
Thursday 22 August - Break
Thursday 29 August - TBC
Thursday 5 September - TBC

Buy one ticket ($5 - $50) to give you access to all six workshops in the series, whether you attend one, two, or all, just choose the amount you wish to pay. Staff at non-profits are welcome to attend for free (email villageagrarians@gmail.com for the discount code). Ticket holders and Village Agrarians members will have access to the recordings and any content produced afterwards.

Sheldon, Saskia, and Elle from Vagabond Vege

It is quite likely, that if you are reading this, you probably have an interest in local food, organics, or sustainability. Good on you! What a good sort. Welcome to Village Agrarians, a group of other passionate folk who want to improve the world in a similar way. 😊

Why? Local, organics, and small scale have been increasing in priority since globalised consumption is driving the need for change, to be able to sustain our wonderful earth and the beautiful beings we share it with. It has been well established that the current global food system negatively impacts the environment, is wasteful, unequal, and vulnerable to unforeseen future changes. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the support for local consumption and ‘building back better’ has only grown even more. Lockdown showed me how fast drastic change can happen if we really prioritise it, but it came at a difficult cost which is why it hasn’t been prioritised enough yet.

Reading a book by Melinda Williams, I recently came across the term ‘eco-despair’. I think a lot of people are feeling this at the moment. Perhaps particularly the young folk who aren’t yet able to vote, and are taking to the streets to voice their despair instead. When the problem feels so big, it can be overwhelming and hard to get a feeling of control over our own future and help where we want to most. I like Melinda’s way to combat this. Draw yourself two circles, one small, inside a larger. The small inner circle is your ‘circle of influence’. Fill this one with things you can influence directly. E.g. choosing to cycle, diet, growing some of your own food, choice of what you purchase, refilling rather than packaging. The larger is circle your ‘circle of concern’. It is for issues you are concerned about but are perhaps not able to directly influence as much as you would like. Examples might be protecting Maui dolphins on the West Coast. For issues in this circle, it might be best to address them by raising your voice by writing letters or submissions on proposed projects or government consultations. Categorising this way gave me a sense of empowerment and direction for where to put my energy and help handle my worries.

My Mum has always told me that making a difference is the most important thing we can do with our life. I love that my Mum taught me this, it has a huge influence on the choices I make. But ‘making a difference’ is pretty broad, and can feel unattainable as the goal posts keep shifting. But just by striving, and being passionate, we can influence and inspire others. Every little bit adds up. Growing food sustainably is perhaps the greatest thing we can do to help save the planet, and build food justice. Agriculture is responsible for about half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and food waste alone, if it were a country, would be the third largest emitter in the world, following only the USA and China.

As Village Agrarians, we are setting out to address this. By encouraging people to take up organic horticulture practices, and arming them with support to take their new skills a step further if they wish. Not only does this empower us to act on our own ‘circle of influence’, but also expands our circle by empowering others to act on their circle of influence too, through providing sustainably grown food.

Welcome to the club 😊 Let’s get started, I’m excited to meet you 😊

Leigh – Beginner, Wanna-be, Village Agrarian.

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