Gardening, Clean Up Week in NZ and Bee Month
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi. With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive.
Every time the students get ready to have their turn at mahi māra/gardening we speak this whakataukī/proverb. In the coming weeks we’ll be busy getting the māra/garden ready for kākano/seeds and new seedlings that will grow into hua whenua/vegetables or putiputi/flowers.
During Mahuru Māori there are many opportunities to use kupu hou/new words and the first person to tell me how many kupu māori I used in this article will get a block of tiakarete ”Miraka kirīmi” (Milk Chocolate) from me - Karawhiua/give it a go!
During spring Tawhirimātea (atua/god of the wind & weather) does send the hau/ wind to shake of the old and let the new growth appear. Well, a little bit of help is needed at times from us humans. Next week is the official Clean Up Week in NZ. Put on some gloves, take a bucket or a recycled bag and take your whanau to the tātahi/beach to pick up those ugly bits of plastic and rubbish. Here at kura we’ve had already Class 5 clean up along the Wairere Stream.
As it is Bee Month the students will be busy sowing seeds at school, from Asclepias (swan plant) to zinnias (beautiful colourful flowers). Do you know how many flowers are actually edible? Check out the fantastic guide put together by the common unity project. Perhaps you will sow some yourself?