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Applying a Bioregional Approach to Local Food Resilience in Sumner, New Zealand
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Report prepared by
Robina McCurdy, Shane Orchard, and Bailey Peryman for
Habitat Sumner Project October 2013
1. Introduction – Why Local Food Resilience?
Local food production is of vital importance in these times due to a variety of factors,
including the following:
* Environmental & Agricultural factors –predicted increases in extreme weather events,
increased frequency and severity of earthquakes, serious loss of genetic diversity, and
evidence of rapidly decreasing food quality.
* Economic & Resources factors – economic downturn, disempowering political systems,
rising food prices, life-supporting resource depletion, fossil fuel dependencies, and
uncertain oil availability.
* Human & Social Wellbeing factors – increasing health issues due to poor diet (especially
obesity, diabetes, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder in children), and societal
fragmentation (breakdown of ‘normal’ family systems and isolation of the elderly).
Strengthening social and economic connections through a diversity of community food
systems functioning at a bioregional scale can improve food security for every household
and help to rebuild healthy social systems.
2. Why a Bioregional Approach? A Bioregion (‘Life Region’) may be defined as a watershed or catchment area with particular
characteristics of flora, fauna, people, economy, resources and history.
There are many perspectives regarding defining territorial scales – for example
permaculture systems in use globally vary from 10km to 100km from the main bioregional
activity centre. Food access boundaries expand as time efficiency and distance access
increases – so a significant factor is fossil fuel powered motorised transport, coupled with
the stability of access routes. If this is a non-issue, distance limits virtually disappear.
However, without cars, trucks, trains or cargo boats, we are relegated to human or animal
powered systems (e.g. walking, bicycles, horses) and local boundaries shrink markedly to
where regular human scale, face-to-face contact becomes the norm.
It is useful to consider this range of scales when evaluating and preparing for local food
resilience – firstly the present reality, so we can act immediately within our existing
situation, and secondly the future probability – so we can be properly prepared.
Topography, trading practices and proximity of staple crop agricultural lands, are some
factors which also play into this decision.
Unless we are a culinary-creative vegetarian living in a warm climate, we cannot meet all or
food needs within our immediate locality (i.e. walking distance). The more built up the
human settlement, the more spacious the staple crop requirements, and the larger the
animal consumed, the more we depend upon our outlying rural areas.
Eco-designing of cities into a diversity of village clusters integrating sizeable urban
agriculture areas would go a long way towards solving this ecological footprint and ‘food
miles’ dilemma. However this is not the current situation, nor the trend of developers, so
we need to work within the framework of what exists, whilst ‘pushing the envelope’
regional planning and sustainable resource management. For example contemporary
subdivisions often leave minimal space for vege gardens let alone fruit trees. A more
resilient food production system can be promoted by embracing the bioregional scale,
which can include curtailing our ‘food desires’ down to what can be sustainably produced
within our own bioregion.
3. Permaculture as Design System for Bioregional Food Resilience
3.1 Permaculture & Nature
Permaculture is a conscious land use and social design system based on ecological
principles, marrying the needs of people with the needs of the environment. Its ethics are
earth care, people care and fair share. It mimics the patterns and relationships found in
nature, whilst yielding an abundance of food, fibre and energy for provision of local
resources.
The requirements of nature are the first priority to address. There is a need to allocate areas
for both food production and nature, from a deep sustainability perspective, with the first
consideration being the ecological health of the area, e.g. hydrology, wildlife habitat and
forested vegetative areas. Ecologically sensitive areas may be ‘patches’ in the midst of other
zones, as well as on the extremities. Exclude from food production, the areas which nature
needs and also where the terrain and other conditions aren’t suitable for food growing - and
consider everywhere else as a viable candidate.
Evolution of the permaculture system occurs through continuing refinement and innovation
of production and distribution systems for food and other resources in ways that are in
keeping with permaculture principals (Figure 1).
Figure 1: A topical breakdown of the Permaculture Ethics and Principle
The originators of the Permaculture concept, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren and others,
have written a succession of books on the subject, as well applying its design methodology at
every scale and educating many thousands of students in every continent. The
Permaculture principles introduced in the books Permaculture 1 and 2 have been
amalgamated and renamed in David Holmgens seminal book ‘Permaculture – beyond
Sustainability’.
3.2 Permaculture Zoning Pertaining to Bioregional Food Systems Analysis &
Planning
Zoning is the central design principle being used in this bioregional approach. Zoning is the
spatial analysis and conceptual design of an area, to achieve ease and efficiency of land
management, resource and energy flows. The most concentrated zone, Zone 1, ‘hugs’ the
main activity centre/facility, and is where the most frequent engagement, observation,
labour, harvest and intensity of use happens – and the least frequently used and attendance
needing area, Zone 4, is at the periphery/extremities of the land. Zone 5, the wilderness
area where nature reigns supreme, is generally a conservation area beyond that, or
interweaves through the other zones.
By applying the same functional and agricultural zoning approach which one systematically
uses in designing a single property, to food production at a bioregional scale, a diverse range
of appropriate spaces within close-knit human settlements their rural hinterlands, are the
locals ‘food basket’ and ‘grazing ground’.
4. Production, Activities, and Locations for each Zone
4.1 Zone 1
Zone 1 is the intensive high-use, regular interaction areas of daily contact for the purposes of
management, tending and harvesting. In this zone grow many of the annual veges species.
Typical crops for Zone 1 include fast-growing veges, especially salad greens, herbs, and
dwarf fruit trees.
Concepts include:
Small-scale Composting
Wood Fired Ovens / Pizza Ovens
Small Chicken Coops, guinea pig or rabbit Hutches
Container plantings (e.g. veges in buckets or pots)
Seeds Balls – vege seeds impregnated into clay balls and hurled into existing (usually
weedy)
Vegetation along sides of roads, vacant sections, etc.
Creating products which add to the food system locally, not necessarily used by
home producer (e.g. compost materials).
Location in Bioregional Food System: Home Gardens and ‘Neighbourhood Nodes’.
Specific Physical Spaces include:
(a) Neighbours sharing garden space eg taking down a fences, inserting a gate or creating an
opening in the hedge in between
(b) Public spaces in built up residential, business and light industrial areas, accessibility for
picking as passing by, for example:
‘Verge & Edge Gardens’ (on/up/alongside small spaces, verges, walkways,
alleyways)
‘Guerilla Gardening’
‘Vertical stacking’ - using shared structures eg fences for espalier fruit trees, power
poles for vines.
Notes:
Public food picking is a less acceptable part of our contemporary culture in New
Zealand, raising is required to shift attitudes;
Caution – check out any public spaces in advance for impact of animal excreta, use of
chemical sprays and contamination from previous land use.
4.2 Zone 2
Zone 2 is less intensive than Zone 1, with the main seasonal human activities being to prune
and pick fruit. In an orchard, natural pest management plants are used, additional fertility is
given to trees by integrating with chickens. Zone 2 is typically used for staple crops, fruit
trees, herbs, smaller animals (e.g. chickens, ducks commonly in Food Forest or Forest
Garden systems).
Concepts include:
Food Trucks, Fruit Drives, Food swap / food exchange, Seed exchange / banks / library,
Kitchen incubator (small business service centre), Kids Edible Gardens, Local & Mobile
Butchers, Mobile Kitchen / Mobile Pizza Oven, Community Food Stall, Organic Shop,
Neighbourhood/Open Orchard, Shared-use commercial kitchen, Aquaponics, Urban apiaries.
Location in Bioregional Food System:
‘Neighbourhood Nodes’, Community Gardens, Allotments, School Grounds, Vacant Land,
Periphery of Parks & Reserves.
Specific Physical Spaces and Suburban Strategies include:
Redesigning suburbs, villages and towns for greater green space, water harvesting and food
production. Schools can support staple food gardens, seed banks, and serve as plant
distribution centres.
By creating a Local Seasonal Fruit Harvest Calendar, an entire suburb can become an ‘edible
landscape’, with locals ‘scrumping/gleaning’ excess produce (usually fruit, similar to a
‘guerilla gardening’ at a larger scale) - basically ‘backyard blitzing’ of fruit trees to
counteract lack of time and energy in growing/tending own orchard. As a compliment to
this, suitable public land can be set aside for a neighbourhood orchard.
A ‘Local Growers Collective’ can distribute produce and revenue. Negotiate access to places
where surplus food exists - operating on a Zone 2 geographical and strategic level, but
concentrating on Zone 1 for harvesting and consumption.
Processing of fruit can happen together as a community at the local hall/community centre
(e.g. ‘Waiheke Island’s Great Plum Drive’).
‘School as a community resource and community as a school resource’ - schools have a huge
potential for vege gardens, and children love being kaitiaki of seeds. Children are usually
willing, and it establishment/guidance/supervision works well if focused on community
support rather than depending upon parents… first get it started then enthusiasm generated
amongst parents. Schools ideally require a ‘Needs Assessment’ with regard to gardens and
food to determine what kinds of support is needed, as it can differ widely from school to
school.
Local Infrastructure opportunities include:
A multiple-use certified kitchen for value added produce, so one facility can be
shared by many. This is an example of a Small Business Incubator, which people can
use at a defined time to do a specific activity, and open for other groups to do their
activities also within those premises;
Mobile Butchers kitchens (note that a mobile/home kill butcher requires
regulation/certification) where community has more control over the meat they
purchase;
Shared Small Processing plants (e.g. Food Dryer, Apiary, Grain Mill), these could be
mobile in a stable trailer;
Central location/facility for collective harvest to be brought to and divided up for
shops, community and disadvantaged peoples;
Seed banks, nurseries and plant materials – including distribution facilities based in
schools;
Aquaponics systems – hybrid of agriculture and hydroponics, introducing fish into
that system which feed off the waste;
Internet Distribution systems - can assist making year-round production systems
viable.
4.3 Zone 3
Zone 3 & 4 require tending and harvesting of animals and plants. Zone 3 typically includes
broad scale farming systems of grains, pulses and other staples, medium-sized animals (e.g.
sheep, goats), and commercial fruits.
The scale could be small (e.g. planting and managing nuts in local reserves or parks) or large,
(e.g. regarding the whole of Canterbury as Zone 3) in relation to the Zone 1 home base.
An example for Sumner might be that ‘Zone 1’ suburban neighbours could band together to
own a block of production land for staple crops by sub-leasing from a farmer in Loburn.
Alternatively, the land could be closer to Sumner, and goats and sheep already exist in open
spaces in the Scarborough area.
Concepts include:
Community-supported agriculture/fisheries/restaurants/composting, Education for urban
farming, Co-operatively managed land on lifestyle blocks, Food hub, People’s grocery,
Farmer’s Markets, Nurseries, Apiaries, City Farms, Staggered-income diversified agriculture,
Alley Cropping, Food Forests on Community Land
Location in Bioregional Food System:
Peri-urban areas, Open Spaces and Hinterlands, Lifestyle blocks/hobby/farms in semi-rural
areas.
4.4 Zone 4
Zone 4 areas typically evolve over time, with people investing in the process. Examples
include nut trees, animal fodder, larger animals (e.g. cattle, cows, deer).
Concepts include:
‘Sharefarming’ /sharecropping/shared animal husbandry - a Joint Venture/CSA approach to
animal raising & crop production.
Grain Mill, Forest gardens / Food forests, Foraging, Biodiversity (agricultural).
Location in Bioregional Food System:
Rural pastoral and forestry lands.
4.5 Zone 5
Zone 5 is to enjoy and protect. Nature governs, and systems have taken time to evolve and
mature slowly. Produce from wild harvest can include seasonal foraging of fruit,
mushrooms, berries, wild game (e.g. pigs, goats, deer), watercress, seaweed, fish shellfish. It
is our responsibility to nurture and replenish Zone 5 areas, which can include enhancing
them by restoring or replicating and distributing elsewhere. It is possible to enhance wild
harvest opportunities in an ecologically sensitive way to what already exists eg along road
verges, tracks, walkways. Plant/seed and harvest native edibles and traditional foods.
Research and create maps of locations of food resources and utilitarian materials – e.g. flax,
raupo.
Concepts include:
Education and training are needed to bridge concepts and learn food preparation and
processing. Promoting the ‘Food Commons’ concept could help to shift attitudes in NZ from
wild harvest being ‘for those who can’t afford to buy food at supermarket’ to thinking of the
‘edible landscapes’ of the ‘food commons’, as part of a fully-fledged ecologically balanced
bioregion.
Location in Bioregional Food System:
Wilderness areas, Park edges, Water bodies (wetlands, rivers, lakes, oceans), Back Country
Hills/Mountains, Open Pastures, Roadside Verges & other ‘neglected’ land.
5. Applying a Bioregional Approach to Identifying Local Food Opportunities in Sumner, New Zealand 5.1 Methods
Overview
An interactive workshop was conducted to prepare a bioregional assessment and plan to
identify local food opportunities. The workshop process included three key phases:
- awareness raising and identification of the various types of local food systems
available
- review of Permaculture principles and definition of the 5 zones to be used in the bio-
regional analysis approach followed by analysis and mapping of current local food
sources and systems
- Identification of opportunities for enhancing Sumner local food sources and systems,
together with notable issues and constraints
Background research and awareness raising
In preparation for the workshop a literature review and background research was
conducted to identify and document a summary of local food systems. This document was
used in the educational resource in the first phase of the workshop and accompanied by a
visual presentation. A brainstorming exercise was conducted to identify any further types of
local food sources and systems that were known to the group.
Bio-regional assessment of current local food sources and systems
A review of the permaculture principles and definitions of the 5 zones was conducted to
brief the group on the approach prior to the assessment exercise. A crowd sourcing
technique was then used to identify what was already known about local food sources in the
bio-region. This was facilitated using an exercise to prompt the identification of current local
food sources and systems using symbols representing various food groupings, placed onto
local model-map by workshop participants.
Identification of opportunities for enhancing Sumner local food sources and systems
To identify further opportunities the bioregion was first characterized using a range of
criteria of importance to local food production. These included
- Soil types;
- Current vegetation and natural habitat patterns;
- Water and moisture sources;
- Sun and shade regimes;
- Other climatic attributes (e.g. frost, wind exposure) and known micro-climates;
- Transport systems and other infrastructure; and
- Identification of social systems, nodes and key characteristics that are integral to a
local food system are also identified (community resources).
With this information in mind a brainstorming exercise was then conducted to identify
opportunities to improve local food sources and systems in the bio-region, in each of the 5
zones. For each opportunity identified, notable issues and constraints were also assessed.
5.2 Results
5.2.1 Definition of the Bioregion
Our workshop’s definition of Sumner Bioregional boundaries: the coast and foreshore along
Avon Heathcote Estuary / Te Ihutai to the spur dividing Redcliffs from McCormacks bay, and
along the crest of the hills behind, to include all of the Redcliffs, Richmind Hill, Sumner and
Taylors Mistake catchments. The area is characterized by a patchwork of different and
somewhat fluid zones, with the back of the valleys and upper hill slopes being Zone 4 and 5.
5.2.2 Inventory of current local food sources and systems in the Sumner
Bioregion
Tree crops & Fruit:
(a) Brownlee Reserve guerilla orchard pears -– top of Clifton Hill, cnr. Panorama and Clifton
Hill Road – handful of various fruit trees.
(b) van Asch, half a dozen plums, a dozen apple trees, and walnuts
(c) Wakefield Avenue, elderberries
(d) Heberden Avenue, plum trees
(e) Mulgans Track, plum trees
Approximately 5% household self-reliance fruit trees, therefore there is an opportunity to
increase the number of fruit trees.
Main crops – staples:
Beyond bioregion - Marshlands, Canterbury Plains
** Not much happening in Sumner – areas of previous supplies no longer available.
Animals & Birds:
Kotare Produce –eggs and rhubarb
Sheep (Council) hill country (anything which is not a formal area) – Greenwood farm
(Specified local animal/bird production – not relevant for this area)
Nurseries:
(a) Horotane Valley
(b) Sumner Community Gardens – surplus seeds
(c) community/school gardens
Beehives:
Upper Clifton Hill Road – Richmond Valley side – son and father – will take bees out to
where pollination is needed around country.
Wild Harvest:
Wild mushrooms along tops of hills
Rabbits and hares Port Hills
Mussels – Taylors Mistake, Port Levy
Parsley, spinach – Richmond Valley, Evans Pass, Scarborough
Rosemary – Clock Tower foreshore
Fish – Scarborough rocks, Estuary mouth, Taylors Mistake
Seaweed – foreshore
Olives – Amanda Cropp – harvested Sumner flat –Stromboli press outside of Sumner
Seed Banks:
Sumner Community Gardens
Certified Kitchens:
Sumner Bowling Club
Sumner Old School Hall (great kitchen – unknown if certified)
van Asch Deaf Education Centre
Wilderness Areas:
Sumnervale Valley
Wakefield Avenue area
Native reserves / restoration areas – including Rapanui / Jollies Bush/ Mahoe-nui / top of
Evans Pass Road
Beginnings of: Nicolson Park around to Whitewash Head Road, coastal strip all way round.
Distribution Nodes:
Old Sumner School hall – summer seasonal food swap and plum drive events (kitchen used
as a base for making sauces/jams).
Garden City 2.0 FoodBag delivery service
Summary of Analysis:
Sparse food production areas
Lots of wild food
Potential for more
Potential for added value produce with local thinking from backyard
Green pasture on north ridge with shelter belts
5.2.3 Identification of opportunities for enhancing Sumner local food sources
and systems by zone
Zone 1:
* Food Club – 17 Marriner Street available (Cost: $30.00 per month for front room)
* Wood-fired oven - communal oven for pizza nights and neighbourhood scale bread
baking.
Zone 1 & 2:
(a) Community gardens
- increase multiple options/extend functions eg add commercial kitchen
- more land and safer site, especially chosen areas with its uniqueness e.g. by
kindergarten so children can pick strawberries
(b) Fruit trees, with associated Wild Harvest areas – huge potential here.
- Where? Start with Van Asch and Sumner School.
- Make a pitch to Council for vacant land for community orchard.
- Have dedicated orchards and allocated wild harvest places
- Run like ‘Project Crimson’ approach – driven by a Sumner ‘Food Club’
Zone 5:
Wild Harvest
There is a huge potential in Sumner bioregion,
- kai moana e.g. mussels, paua
- wild herbs e.g. spinach and parsley growing wild in valleys
- native edibles e.g. kawakawa for teas
- harvesting wild game e.g. rabbits – a ‘pest’ species so a double-advantage possible
5.2.4 Constraints and opportunities for achieving community-scale food
production
• Good gardeners and people with good knowledge of food growing, when to harvest –
important to make it explicit that it is collective and working as groups – coordinated
• Local authorities may prefer a clear/clean look – area broken up into ‘squares’ –
structured, allocate certain amount to each property. Aesthetically pleasing.
• Improvement of water quality by awareness of nature of catchment floor.
• Quality of wild harvest – investigate and identify clean sources
• Some Other Viable Product Ideas: Pine Nuts, Saffron, Hemp (along ridgelines) –
great for oils, seeds, fibre and good for rejuvenating soil.
• Collaborative projects between the community and local authorities who may have
suitable land available. A good model is a community-council project in Nelson.
Council has a MOU agreement with a community group (in this case a Ratepayers
Association), who want to plant and manage a reserve for food production in an
appropriate way (in this case by managing as a community orchard).
5.2.5 Incentives for Participation
• Competitions in Sumner – best taste – select varieties – grafting – transplanting
• Tours and educational events – e.g. bus tours and workshops, could be centred on
local schools and /or community gardens, with children showing others around to
enthuse peers and/or other attendees.
• School badge – can facilitate children’s involvement.
• Tap into other community groups to get volunteers – food types to suit different
social groups.
• Special Trademarks or branding for Sumner products to raise profile.
Appendix 1
Key components of Bioregional Approach to Local Food Resilience
(adapted from Earthcare Education Aotearoa, 2013)
The essential factors in a comprehensive approach to local food resilience to develop
interconnected resilient food growing communities, with fun ways of motivating and
organizing whole families to get involved, are:
Education is required to support food production processing and local distribution
systems - people growing, food processing activities and distribution logistics suit
different people with different skills, e.g. gardeners, accountants etc. There is also a need
to consider and embrace cultural traditions.
Create a multi-tiered Permaculture design strategy - applied at backyard,
neighbourhood, local, and regional scales;
Awareness raising and personal empowerment activities hand-in-hand with growing
food;
Piggy-back on existing social, sports, organisation and business networks, with
'good fit' food resilience functionality;
Developing an interactive local seasonal calendar for land management, food
production, harvest and distribution, linked with social-cultural events;
Extensive and efficient use of local resources; from double-up use of existing
processing facilities to the replenishing wild harvest areas; and
Enriching regional food economies through production systems and value-adding
activities, to further increase local food resilience and household wealth in the region.