Māpua Landscapes have generously donated the perfect soil mix for our kumara garden - 1/3 sand, 1/3 compost and 1/3 top soil - and they appear to really appreciate it!

We have been busy in The Middles propagating kumara slips from Poppa Joe (our huge kumara from last year's harvest), and production has been prolific! He gets a hair cut once a week and the very next, he's ready for another. Next job was growing the roots of the kumara slips before planting, the tamariki watched with delight as they saw them grow through glass bottles with progress each day. 

After some hard graft preparing the soil, the kumara are all planted along with kamo kamo and hue (thanks Shane from Crest Clean for the seeds). If you recall, one of our hangi desserts were Kamo Kamo Brownie - so it's an important crop in our garden! 

The hue will hopefully be dried and made into traditional water carriers or even musical instruments. Bob Bickerton - Taonga Puoro inspired our hue idea when he visited and shared his traditional Māori musical instruments earlier in the year.  Fingers crossed, a hot windy summer are the perfect growing conditions?!