At Taupaki Kindergarten, we are fortunate to be in a community that is connected to mana whenua and where amazing produce can be grown in the rich soil.  Abundance abounds in fabulously established fruit trees and well toiled vegetable gardens. It is also a community that looks after each other (evident in recent times such as the big floods of a few months ago).

We wanted to tap into these amazing qualities and saw an opportunity for a community pantry – a Pātaka Kai that folk with extra produce could offer up for those without. We were gifted a boat shell that had the perfect shape to provide a character-filled, fun and vibrant casing to house the community’s offerings.

In the way that rural communities do, lots of parties came together to make this project happen. Tony Kloet (husband of Taupaki’s long term Head Teacher – Sue Kloet who passed away tragically a few years ago) offered to pick this up and transport it for us. We also had the Paaske family (whose two daughters are keen Kindergarten attendees) very keen to pick up the boat from outside the kindergarten staff carpark to take home as a boredom-busting painting project during lockdown. We had some lovely updates of the children painting the boat in their backyard and they delivered it back to us looking colourful and ready to go. The pantry is now in a prominent place outside the kindergarten gates, under the cooling shade of the trees that will help keep the produce fresh.

We are looking forward to this becoming a local community feature with not only kindergarten families as patrons, but also the primary school next door, and the farming communities around us. Spreading the love and the lemons (the first item to grace the pantry’s shelves…).