Grow Wanaka

17/10/2026

Beautiful afternoon for our Medicinal Plant Workshop.

Loran from Herbal-Culture generously guided us through a whole selection of medicinal plants, their properties and how to use them, as well as the conditions they like to grow in and where best to place them in the garden.
We took a tour through the garden to see them first hand along with other medicinal plants, had a Q&A, and everyone got to choose a few plants to take home at the end.

A really informative and lovely way to spend the afternoon. Thanks to everyone who came along to the garden to join us.

Loran will be back Nov 4 & 7 for 2x Edible Weeds Workshops. More info at the following links https://events.humanitix.com/edible-weeds-workshop-november2026
https://events.humanitix.com/edible-weeds-workshop-november26

If you'd like to learn more about Loran and all that she has to offer check out her website https://herbalculture.co.nz/

17/10/2026

From Winter to Summer in a day.

Today we managed the worm farms, cardboard and mulched the pathways, checked and rebaited traps, chopped and drop comfrey around the fruit trees, buried bokashi, added lots of organic materials to top up the hugelkultur, set up a new wicking bed and planted Māori potatoes, patched holes in the bird netting, tided up the raised beds, cleared last seasons crops and prepped a bed for planting, weeded our little greenhouse Phyllis, did a harvest for the team, and enjoyed morning tea thanks to our incredible bakers Toni Foxton, Grace Stephens, Ella, Em, and Jenna Jackson, and thirst quenching Sidekick Soda! Clink.

Massive thanks to our team: Murray, Stevie, Kev, Jenna, Marcelo, Sarah, Danin, Mark, Pip, Nikki, Ella, Max, Colin, Yonathan, Mia, Jingyi, Pippa, Grace, Toni, Em

Next up:
Oct 21st Wed Evening Bee & Brew 4-6pm
No Sat Bee - Labour Weekend Holiday
Oct 28th Wed Evening Bee & Brew 4-6pm

Coming up!
Nov 4 Herbal-Culture Edible Weeds Workshop 4:30-6pm https://events.humanitix.com/edible-weeds-workshop-november2026
Nov 7 Herbal Culture Edible Weeds Workshop 1-2:30pm https://events.humanitix.com/edible-weeds-workshop-november26
Nov 19 Art in the garden. 10-11:30am See our Fb event for more info.

10/10/2026

Sat morning team work is the dream work!

Today we trained up a new team on managing the worm farms plus fed the worms a nice buffet, buried bokashi, planted heaps more spuds, tided up the greenhouse in prep for planting, cardboard and mulched the pathways, unrolled the bird netting, cleared and prepped beds for planting, flipped our raised bed and sowed fresh greens, installed new irrigation lines, transplanted seedlings, did a harvest of greens for the team, and enjoyed morning tea complements of Toni Foxton, Grace Stephens, Perri & Ivan, Nikki, Em, and the amazing Sidekick Soda!

Massive thanks to our team: Murray, Tom, Perri & Ivan, Hong, Stevie, Grace, Anne, Sarah, Tsai, Marcelo, Pip, Mark, Danin, Nikki, Ella & Max, Zoe, Nali, Toni, and Em. With special mention to Hong for her fantastic photos! More to see here https://www.loishongvision.com/grow-wanaka And to Matthew Stout of Maxed Out Tree Care for the epic pile of mulch for today's mulching project. We appreciate the drop so much! 💪

Next up:
Wednesday Evening Bee & Brew 4-6pm. Finishing with a refreshing Sidekick Soda

Sat Morning Bee & Tea. 9:30am to 12pm. Morning tea provided.

Sat Avo - Herbal-Culture Medicinal Plant Workshop and Fundraiser for Grow Wanaka. 1-2:30pm at the garden. Grab your tix here: https://events.humanitix.com/herbal-culture-medicinal-plant-workshop

03/10/2026

Stunning day for planting!

Today we turned in the green manure crops, prepped the beds and planted robust cool weather seedlings just busting to get out of the propagation house, plus watered, hooped & cloched. Prepared additional beds, planted more potatoes, managed the worm farms, buried bokashi, did a harvest of greens for the team and enjoyed a decadent morning tea thanks to Toni Foxton, Rachel and Hong, with a perfectly refreshing Sidekick Soda!

Thanks to our incredible team! Andrea, Jenna, Rachel, Libby, Hong, Helen, Alice, Sarah, Yonathan, Philippa, Danin, Sarah, Alex, Toni, and Em.
Wishing Yonathan safe travels on his next adventures! Thanks for spending the autumn and winter with us in the garden. ☺️

Special mention to Lois Hong for the incredible photos! https://www.loishongvision.com/grow-wanaka and to Scott from Grassroots Greens for the epic trailer load of microgreens soil.

Next up:
Oct 7th Wednesday Evening Bee & Brew Session 4-6pm (Kicking off our first wed evening session of the season).

Oct 10th Sat Bee & Tea 9:30am to 12pm (New earlier start time).

Oct 17th Herbal Culture - Medicinal Plant Workshop & Fundraiser for Grow. 1-3pm Grab your tickets here https://events.humanitix.com/herbal-culture-medicinal-plant-workshop

26/09/2026

Two Brilliant Workshops with Evita Shen!

We spent Friday evening at the garden with Evita for fermentation and gut health magic. We kicked off the evening with lacto-fermented veggies. A simple and delicious preservation technique that turns a wide variety of veggies into probiotic rich delights. And we finished the evening with a kombucha workshop with tasting, how to look after your scoby, and first and second ferments. Everyone left with a bit of Evita's 5 year old mother to start them off on their fermented beverage journey.

Fantastic and engaging hands-on workshops. Thanks to everyone who came along to join in the fun.

Evita will be back up in December so keep your eyes peeled for our next delicious workshops.

26/09/2026

Celebrating the Spring Equinox and Our Incredible Team with a Shared Kai Meal - Wrap Style!

Today we had a short bee to manage the worm farms, and plant, water and cloche some seedlings, but then it was tools down to enjoy each others company over a build your wrap style shared kai meal. Huge thanks for everyone's contributions to the table, and to Sidekick Soda for the refreshing cold beverages to complement!

Love this Team! Thanks Murray, Ronja, Hong, Stevie, Libby, Mary, David, Yumi, Joe, Philippa, Colin, Jason, Toni, Em and 2 more. And special thanks to Hong for capturing the beauty and vibe of the garden and team so perfectly. https://www.loishongvision.com/grow-wanaka

Next up:
Oct 3rd Sat Bee & Tea - Shifting to earlier hours for spring & summer 9:30am to 12pm

Our Wednesday evening sessions will begin Oct 7th, time TBA.

19/09/2026

A wind kissed session. 🌬️

Today we planted seedlings and more spuds, managed the worm farms, buried bokashi, shifted wicking beds, did a tidy up around the garden, watered the propagation house, did a harvest for the team and enjoyed morning baking from the amazing Toni Foxton, Andrea Richey, Ronja Landeck, Grace Stephens and quenched our thirst with yum Sidekick Soda!

Huge Thanks to our Amazing team: Murray, Andrea, Tom, Ronja, Hong, Stevie, Yonathan, Rachel, Jenna and Em. Special Thanks to Hong for the fantastic photography. Hong also has a youtube channel where she cooks a seasonal recipe using ingredients from the garden each week. 😍 Check out her channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCU5mRcz6-E

Coming Up:
Next Friday Sept 25th Lacto-fermented veggies workshop with Evita Shen. 3-4:30pm More info and tix here:
https://events.humanitix.com/lacto-fermented-vegetables-workshop-with-evita-shen

Right after on the same night...

Sept 25th Kombucha workshop with Evita Shen. 5-6pm More info and tix here: https://events.humanitix.com/kombucha-workshop-with-evita-shen

Sat Sept 26th Spring Equinox Shared Kai Celebration - wrap style. 9:30am to 12:30pm Free and All welcome. Short bee to start and then tools down to hang out over yum kai. Bring a filling to share for an epic build your own spread. Hope you can join us. 😋

12/09/2026

A beautiful calm morning in the māra kai.

Today we watered the greenhouses, installed irrigation to our corn & sunflower bed, managed the worm farms, planted our early spuds, direct sowed crops, prepared a bed, nipped out poplar shoots, set up wasp traps, received an amazing donation of compost (thanks Karen Tippett 🙏), made up our seed packets ready to give away, did a harvest for the team with surplus delivered to a produce pantry and enjoyed morning tea complements of Andrea Richey, Yumi and a BIG Cheers from the team to Sidekick Soda! You're the Best! 🤩

Thanks to our Amazing team: Andrea, Tom, Yohann, Hong, Kev, Colin, Philippa, Zoe, Brooky, Ivy, Kaiella, Yumi, Hayley, Lyn, Stevie, Vojtech, and Em
Special mention to Hong for her fantastic photos! Check out her website for more amazing pics! https://www.loishongvision.com

Up next:
Sept 19th Sat Morning Bee & Tea 10am to 12pm. Morning tea provided. Contributions to morning tea welcome.

Sept 25th Lacto-fermented veggies workshop with Evita Shen. 3-4:30pm More info and tix here:
https://events.humanitix.com/lacto-fermented-vegetables-workshop-with-evita-shen

Sept 25th Kombucha workshop with Evita Shen. 5-6pm More info and tix here: https://events.humanitix.com/kombucha-workshop-with-evita-shen

Sept 26th Spring Equinox Shared Kai Celebration - wrap style. See fb event for more info. 9:30am to 12:30pm Free and All welcome.

Oct 17th Herbal Culture Medicinal Plant Workshop & Fundraiser for Grow. 1-3pm More info and tix here: https://events.humanitix.com/herbal-culture-medicinal-plant-workshop

05/09/2026

05/09/2026

Epic session with an incredible team! 💪

Today we prepped more beds, sowed cover crops, direct sowed our first crops of the season, transplanted crops, watered all the greenhouses, managed the worm farms, buried bokashi, made up a concoction with our garden teas and watered the whole garden, checked and rebaited traps, finished off the irrigation upgrade in the propagation house and fixed a couple of irrigation leaks, made up origami packets for seed to give away, did a harvest for the team and gathered together for morning tea with beautiful home baking thanks to Toni Foxton, Ronja Landeck, Andrea Richey, Grace Stephens, Libby plus Sidekick Soda 🫶

Huge thanks to our team: Murray, Kev, Andrea, Stevie, Ronja, Yohann, Hong, Paz, Nico, Yonathan, Philippa, Clark, Libby, Nat, Ido, Joaguin, Encel, Wellwood, Nali, and Em.

Special thanks to Lois Hong for her artistic eye and capturing our garden sessions so beautifully. To check out more of her work visit https://www.loishongvision.com/grow-wanaka

Next up:
Sept 12th Sat Morning Bee & Tea 10am to 12pm. Morning tea provided. Contributions to morning tea welcome.

Sept 25th Lacto-fermented veggies workshop with Evita Shen. 3-4:30pm More info and tix here:
https://events.humanitix.com/lacto-fermented-vegetables-workshop-with-evita-shen
Sept 25th Kombucha workshop with Evita Shen. 5-6pm More info and tix here: https://events.humanitix.com/kombucha-workshop-with-evita-shen

Sept 26th Spring Equinox Shared Kai Celebration - wrap style. See fb event for more info. 9:30am to 12:30pm Free and All welcome.

Oct 17th Herbal Culture Medicinal Plant Workshop & Fundraiser for Grow. 1-3pm More info and tix here: https://events.humanitix.com/herbal-culture-medicinal-plant-workshop