Kelmarna Gardens is an organic community farm in Ponsonby, central Auckland. It’s set on 4.5 acres of council-owned land where and where they have successfully worked to provide delicious, healthy food and be a place of learning and well-being for the community for over 40 years!
These wonderful gardens sell their produce in their on-site shop and they even have a bike-powered community composting enterprise called Soil Factory where they use food scraps from those in the surrounding area that don’t have the space or time to turn them into compost for themselves.
Read on to find out more including shop hours, visiting options, and how you can get involved!
From Kelmarna Gardens …
Through rebuilding connections between our people and our food, we work to champion and demonstrate a regenerative local food system that supports climate change mitigation, urban resilience, and community wellbeing.
Situated on 1.7 hectares (4.5 acres) of council-owned land, as part of Hukanui Reserve, Kelmarna is a busy, small farm, largely tucked away behind rows of houses on Hukanui Crescent and Kelmarna Avenue.
Kelmarna is Certified Organic through OrganicFarmNZ, and we use regenerative organic methods to build the health of our soil, water, and biodiversity, while sequestering carbon into our soils and growing nutrient-dense food for our community.
Based on the principles of permaculture design, our small farm features a range of diverse farming operations that work together to form an integrated whole.
Each of our farming operations serves multiple purposes, forming the basis of our educational and therapeutic programmes, as well as generating income to cover some of our costs, and providing food for local people.
We currently have just over 600m2 in vegetable gardens, the majority of which is managed communally by our team and volunteers, and the produce is sold to our community and restaurant customers. As well as production beds, we also have plots dedicated to our horticultural therapy and education programmes.
Our multilayered food forest contains a large variety of fruit trees, perennial herbs, and companion plants, as well as annual crops like pumpkins and potatoes that form the staple foods of our volunteer lunches.
Our site includes around 9,000m2 of pasture, divided into 7 paddocks, sloping away from the gardens down to Cox’s Creek. These are now populated with many varieties of fruit trees, a mobile layer hen flock, and our sheep which are rotated around the paddocks to graze.
The majority of the produce grown at Kelmarna is sold through our on-site shop, enabling people to access certified organic produce, grown locally, and harvested fresh!
The Shop is open Wednesdays (10am – 4pm) and Saturdays (9am – 12pm) though you are also welcome to visit and enjoy the gardens outside of these times.
All proceeds from produce sales fund our work to teach people about growing food, connect people with nature and their community, and support people through horticultural therapy.
We demonstrate diverse composting systems on-site, including hot composting, worm farming, and bokashi, as well as offering composting options to local businesses and households through our community composting social enterprise, Soil Factory.
Kelmarna Gardens is a space for everyone, open seven days a week through the pedestrian gate at the Hukanui Crescent entrance.
There are a few ways that you can visit with us on the farm:
Casual Visiting (Daylight Hours):
Feel free to pop in and wander the grounds and enjoy the peaceful country environment near the heart of the city. You’ll find chickens, vegetable gardens, a food forest, beehives, worm farms, compost making, native trees, harakeke flax, and a whole lot more!
Kelmarna is an inclusive space where organic food is grown, so please be mindful of the vegetables and walk with care. Please also refrain from picking or harvesting anything from the gardens. A great deal of work goes into cultivating the space that we share and all of the plants and produce in it.
Group Visits & Tours (Monday – Friday, 9am – 3pm, Bookings Essential):
We welcome your group to explore the farm, and we offer guided tours that include a brief history of our unique space and a closer look at our operations across the farm.
We’re keen to share ways we work to benefit our community, in collaboration with the environment, and how we can connect with or inspire your group kaupapa.
Farm Tour:
1.5 hour farm tour experience with one of our staff | $12 per person (GST inclusive) | $96 minimum booking fee
If you’d like to bring a group to the gardens or schedule a tour of the place, please go here to set up a booking.
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