Kaupapa Māori

A traditional Māori garden.
Source: A photograph taken by a visitor to Aotearoa and posted to a travel blog.

We encourage you to explore the Māori kaupapa (concepts and principles) about producing food in accordance with Māori teachings. Consider how these ideas and customs may contribute to your own philosophy about growing plants and what you can do to ensure you are acting as a guardian over the land you occupy.

Before we go on, let’s consider the kaupapa relating to soil.

Visitors in someone else’s rohe

Tangata whenua (the people of the land) have a special role as kaitiakitanga (guardians) of the whenua (land), and kātao (water). Many of us are visitors to their rohe (region), so it’s up to us to do our best to protect the environment for which we are the caretakers and contribute to its health for future generations.

Guardians of the soil

"Hineahuone"

Source: Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

We can do our bit by respecting and protecting Hineahuone — the earth-formed woman, and spiritual guardian of soil — by making every effort to:

• keep the soil covered
  • if soil is left bare, soil erosion will occur.
• keep the soil from compacting too much
• use organic amendments rather than synthetic chemicals and fertilisers.

These practices are closely aligned with what we’ll cover in this module.

Wairua and mauri

You may remember that in Hua Parakore, the wairua (spirit) and mauri (life force) of the māra (garden) are important concepts in Māori approaches to gardening. The best way that we can get a sense of the wairua and mauri of our garden is by paying attention when we spend time in it. Observe how well your plants are growing, listen to and look for insects and manu (birds). Dig in the soil with your hands and look for soil organisms, such as worms.

The following video describes these ideas as shown by this quote:

We’ll learn more about these kaupapa in the topic on soil health, later in this module.