What on earth does the Hormuz Strait have to do with gardening?!

Sustainable Matamata committee members have been pondering the implications of international disruptions like the Hormuz Strait closure. This unprecedented event, hopefully now resolved, raises many “what ifs” that may not happen overnight, but likely will happen at some point in these difficult geopolitical times.

International and national supply chain disruptions and restrictions on fossil fuels can be expected in any big oil shock. This could mean shortages and price increases affecting many goods, including food.

New Zealand grows plenty of food, but vast amounts of it are trucked up and down the country from grower and manufacturer to distribution centres and then trucked around again to retailers. Ideally, our regions would refocus on supplying their own residents first, so that they are not so vulnerable to high prices brought on by the addition of fuel costs. And what if we can’t import all that coffee, tea, soy and rice?

A few ways we can respond:

• Grow local, distribute local, eat local.

• Grow more variety, more carbohydrate-rich and nutrient-rich foods.

• Grow more at home, share your excess and create networks to ensure no neighbourhoods are left behind.

• Walk, bike, car pool and use public transport.

• Create more community gardens.

  
  

Sustainable Matamata is active on many of the above fronts, for example, via Crop Swap Matamata, composting workshops and our Potager Garden, which contributes vegetables to Matamata Food Bank.

A bumper crop from a couple of years ago at the Potager Garden

A new community garden for Matamata?

Is it time to consider a true community garden for our town, one that is open to everyone to take part in the growing and sharing of food? Committee member Michelle Tanner is organising a visit to a community garden in Cambridge, with the idea that people in our community give their time to establishing and managing a similar garden.

If you would like to find out more by going along on the visit, it is planned for Thursday 18 July from 10am. Please contact Michelle at michelle.tanner59@gmail.com if you would like to join us.