Urban farmers sprouting in Nelson

Growing your own food has plenty of benefits and more urban Nelsonians are working together to share knowledge, ideas and seeds as part of a new group, Nelson Urban Farmers.

Words: Judene Edgar

As I walk around John-Paul (JP) and Ros Pochin’s urban garden I can’t help but think about Tom and Barbara Good from ‘The Good Life’. While the British sitcom only lasted a little over three years, for many from my generation it made quite an impression. And while JP doesn’t have a goat called Geraldine and Ros isn’t weaving her clothes on a second-hand loom, it is the glint in JP’s eyes, the passion, and the ingenious solutions that strike a chord.

JP is a member of the Nelson Urban Farmers group, a group of everyday people who are trying to make a difference, one plant at a time. For JP the journey started about five years ago when the Extinction Rebellion (XR) protests in the UK began raising awareness of the urgency that we needed to act on the climate crisis. “It was a wake-up call to how dire our situation was and shortly after we started a local XR group in Nelson,” he says.

“It really made me start to think about the degradation of soil,” says JP, “and I realised just how little I understood about soil and plant growth. Soil is such an important part of the ecosystem and current farming practices are destroying soil quality and contributing to hundreds of millions of tonnes in New Zealand being washed into the ocean annually.”

As a result of his new-found interest in soil, digital artist and programmer JP created ecological working group Terrestrial Assemblages with painter-producer Simon Ingram, to create awareness of natural systems. Terrestrial Assemblages produced a series of computer-based works which were exhibited alongside Ingram’s ‘Automata Paintings’, which are based on ‘cellular automata’—mathematical grid models in which the states of cells change through repeatedly applying a basic rule.

With climate change embedded within mainstream awareness, JP decided that it was time to focus on the practicalities. He joined the Nelson Tasman Climate Forum’s Society and Culture group, and it was through this group that ideas were seeded!

“One idea was growing our own food,” he says. “I had always grown vegetables, but on a small scale, and it wasn’t really an area that I knew much about.”

“It’s about building resilience. Things are only going to get worse – crops are being wiped out through drought or other extreme weather events. The fear of food not being available in supermarkets came to fruition in Hawke’s Bay after Cyclone Gabrielle. It showed how stuck you can suddenly become. It’s not the full solution, but it could make a significant difference, especially if more people did it.”

A group of people from the Society and Culture group and other like-minded people meet every week to talk about the state of the world and to come up with practical ideas and to support and learn from each other. It’s from this group that the idea of urban farmers came about.

Local photographer Jose Cano had been developing land by his house to grow food and had been experimenting with ideas which would allow people to grow food even if they didn’t have a garden.

He created raised beds in the driveway and soil tubes using recycled sacks. JP was inspired to build a fence garden and some beds of his own using old pallets and other recycled materials. He has also created selfwatering systems using rainwater collected from the roof of the house and garage.

“Growing your own food ticks so many boxes – with no pesticides or synthetic fertiliser the food is healthy, as is the soil, there are no food miles and it’s great for your mental health, too,” he says. “We’ve lost connection with how things are grown and it’s great to get your hands in the ground. The problems we face are enormous and we can feel powerless, but doing something positive, even if it’s small, can create ripples.”

Despite his passion, JP acknowledges that he’s a novice, but he’s loving learning and experimenting, and while not everything is successful, it’s still fun. “Nature is in charge and there is so much to understand,” he says.

JP’s backyard is now full of kale, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, nasturtium, capsicum, eggplant, chillies, and corn of all different colours, as well as a variety of fruit trees. “I’m a bit disorganised in the garden so I sometimes forget what I’ve planted,” he laughs, “so it can be more of a surprise than it should be to see what comes up.”

JP says at the supermarket so much of the plant is missing. Carrot leaves for example, are great in a stock, soup or salads, or can be used to make chimichurri. There are many things you don’t get in the supermarket, which is quite wasteful. “What we call weeds are often really valuable and important parts of a healthy soil,” he says. “I made some great dandelion wine.”

His garden is also increasingly humming with bees and other insects. Global reports of an ‘insect apocalypse’ have highlighted the serious decline of insect populations. The decline in insect numbers is due to intensive agriculture, heavy pesticide use, loss of habitat through urbanisation and climate change. The insects and seeds from the grass and plants now subsequently attract a wide range of birds to the garden.

More recently JP has also started planting vegetables and wildflowers into the front lawn and verge. “Grass is ruining our ecosystem,” he says. “Grass lawns are expensive, unsustainable, waste water, and diminish biodiversity.

While more environmentally-friendly than footpaths, their upkeep come with heavy carbon costs. “It’s far better to grow vegetables than lawn,” he says. “As the grass got longer, I gradually added vegetables, it’s a much better use of space and better able to absorb water.”

The Urban Farmers group has a Facebook group – Urban Farmers Whakatū/Nelson – and a website – urbanfarmers.nz – to share tips, links and insights. After visiting Healthkids Kindergarten to help them develop their garden, another member of the group, Alistair Kwan, is writing an educational plan for kindergartens.

“So much simple knowledge seems to have been lost,” says JP. “Young age is the best time to learn those skills, and kids take that knowledge home, providing a connection with the parents also.”

JP says they have also helped some people with their private gardens and work with Victory Community Gardens, Waimarama Community Gardens, and the Compost Club. A sub-group, ‘The Seedling Group’, has grown thousands of seedlings that have been given away or planted into the community gardens.

“If you don’t have your own garden or space, getting involved in community gardens is a great way to supplement your food, as well as learn,” he says. “Compost is also a great resource.” Working alongside a dedicated group of volunteers, Ben Bushell’s compost club is supporting the transition into a regenerative circular food economy. Like JP, their ethos is ‘from little things, big things grow’.

“It’s all about trying to create a new culture of cooperation and doing something because it’s the right thing to do,” says JP. “The only rule we have in the Urban Farmers Group is that nothing’s for sale.

We freely share knowledge, resources, and food.” “It’s about being cooperative rather than competitive,” he says. “Giving freely without expecting anything in return.”

“The group is also about making connections and exploring ways in which we can support each other. I’m not an expert, I’m growing food with the help and knowledge of others, and if I can, anybody can.”