I had a fascinating tour of the Maungaturoto Edible Village Project yesterday hosted by Josie Gritten and accompanied by Deputy Mayor Gordon Lambeth, and Otamatea Ward councillors Mike Schimanski and Denise Rogers - Councillor, Otamatea Ward, Kaipara.
Josie is creating an amazing array of permaculture gardens around Maungaturoto with fruit trees and associated allied plants that will be available to the community to use.
The first site we visited was by the centennial hall and planted in June 2025 where we received an explanation of how the areas of permaculture guilds work, along with a bit of a graze on the sorrel (tastes a bit like the 'applestalk' we used to chew on below Kaiwaka School). We also checked out the plantings on the walkway through to Bickerstaffe Rd.
We then viewed the plantings at the country club where Josie explained about the syntropic agroforestry food forest.The Edible Village Project is designed to be a model that can be replicated in any other towns that are wanting to get on board.
An aspirational vision to have an ecological learning and community hub in association with the gardens was also discussed.
What a great initiative to have evolving in the local community - thanks Josie!
Photo: L to R Councillor Mike Schimansi, Councillor Denise Rogers, Josie Gritten
Photo: Josie explains the syntropic agroforestry food forest
