🧺 What we share, what keeps us well

Tools, kai, skills and care

Winter has its own kind of work.

The days are short, the ground is wet, and many things ask us to slow down a little. But across our region, there is still plenty happening under the surface: compost being made, tools being borrowed, kai being shared, seeds being planned, knowledge being passed around, and people finding practical ways to look after each other and the places they live.

This month’s newsletter follows a simple thread: what we share.

Tools. Kai. Skills. Mātauranga. Time. Land. Food. Stories. Attention.

Our feature this month visits the Paekākāriki Tool Library, where a Saturday morning rhythm has grown into something much bigger than tools. People come for a spade, a sander, a ladder, a drill, or the trailer. Often they leave with something else too: a conversation, a connection, or a reminder that local resilience is built through small, repeatable acts of care.

👉 Read the feature: More than a Tool Library

This thread also showed up at the recent Para Kore Hui-ā-Rohe in Wairarapa, where Toru trustee Hella Coenen joined others working across te taiao and hauora for a day of connection, shared mātauranga and collective planning.

It is a good reminder that sharing is not just about resources. It is also about relationships, attention, experience and the knowledge each person brings to the table.

Upcoming Events

A small selection of upcoming opportunities to gather, learn, and connect across our region.

Wairarapa

Kai Motuhake | Food Sovereignty

Sat 27 June| 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Te Pā Hauora, Masterton

Explore food sovereignty, soil and seed health, maramataka, local growing practices and resilient kai systems, with Guy Ritani sharing insights.

👉 More info

Eco-Printing on Paper

Sat 27 June| 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

Thunderpants HQ, Martinborough

Part of the Indigo & Thyme series, this is a cosy, hands-on workshop exploring eco-printing on watercolour paper, using leaves, natural materials and plant pigments to create your own set of prints.

👉 Bookings

Kāpiti Coast

Foraging for Wild Edible Weeds ~ Winter Workshop

Sun 28 Jun | 1:00–3:00 pm

Wild Botanica Garden

Learn to identify common wild edible plants, explore their uses and stories, and leave feeling more confident to forage safely and ethically.

👉 Get tickets

Hutt Valley

Orchard Design

Sat 27 June | 11:00am–1:00pm

Whiteman’s Valley, Upper Hutt

A practical orchard design workshop helping you map out fruit trees for your place and understand rootstocks, pollinators, planting care and abundant future harvests.

👉 See event details

Foraging with Earth School Aotearoa | Roots

Sat 4 July | 11:30am–12:30pm

Whiteman’s Valley, Upper Hutt

A seasonal, family-friendly forage walk with Earth School Aotearoa at Mangaroa Farms, exploring winter roots, underground foods, and what the land is offering.

👉 See event details

Wellington

Grow Your Own Mulch Workshop

Sat 1 Aug | 1:30pm –3:00pm

Kaicycle Urban Farm, Newtown

Learn how to grow your own mulch plants to protect soil, feed worms and microbes, support pollinators, and reduce the need to buy in pea straw or wood chip.

👉 Book your spot

Find more events happening across our region.

Explore all events

From the Network

Mangaroa Farms Internship

Applications are open for the Mangaroa Farms Internship, a seven-month, full-immersion learning experience on a working regenerative farm.

Four people will live on the land and learn through the whole seasonal arc: late winter, spring planting, summer tending and harvest. Around 25 hours a week of hands-on mahi will be woven with weekly learning and direct mentorship from the farm team.

The internship includes experience across the market garden, nursery, agroforestry and native restoration. It is designed for people ready to commit to the long arc of learning and leave with real, grounded capability.

This is not a quick taste. It is a season of paying attention, doing the work, and learning by being part of the systems that make the farm run.

August 2026 to April 2027

Applications close 30 June

👉 Apply now

Media Picks

A few things that have recently caught our attention.

🔊 Listen

Garden Goal Setting: Less Hustle, More Joy

White Strawberries is an Aotearoa gardening podcast by Sam, a parent, teacher and grower who talks about shaping abundant gardens around real life, not perfection.

In this episode, she offers a gentle four-question exercise for setting garden intentions with more joy and less pressure, from choosing a few new plants to try to making your garden easier, more sustainable, and more fun to care for.

A lovely winter listen for anyone using the quieter months to dream, plan, simplify, or begin again.

👉 Listen to the episode

🎥 Watch

Choosing a Slower Life

In a time that can feel fast and uncertain, this piece offers a gentle reminder of the richness that emerges when we move at a slower pace.

Featuring Antony Osler, it explores how choosing slowness is not about stepping away from the world, but returning to it with a deeper sense of connection. As the noise softens, awareness shifts, and space opens up for what truly matters.

A grounding watch for anyone wanting to reconnect with a sense of steadiness, presence, and belonging.

👉 Watch

📖 Read

The Yacón Tuber

A lovely seasonal read about harvesting yacón after the first frosts: lifting the sweet, crunchy tubers, curing them indoors, and saving the crowns to plant again in spring.

It’s a good little introduction to a lesser-known perennial crop that offers a lot of winter abundance.

👉 Read: The Yacón Tuber

Why we share

Across our region there are many people quietly growing food, restoring ecosystems, sharing knowledge, and nurturing community.

Much of this work happens in small places such as gardens, farms, classrooms, community kitchens, and local gatherings, and often it remains largely unseen beyond those directly involved.

Toru exists to help make these threads more visible and connected. Through stories, events, and shared learning, we hope to celebrate the people doing this work and strengthen the relationships that allow it to grow.

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If you’re hosting an event, workshop, or course that aligns with our kaupapa, you are welcome to list it on our website. Check out our event listing guidelines and create an account.

Event listings are always free and are one small way we can help support the wider network.

Thank you for being part of this growing network.

Ngā manaakitanga,

Emma Ellison

on behalf of the Toru Education Trust

We would love to hear from you. Please email us at info@toru.nz or simply reply to this email.

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