03 Dec Whakatō whakatō kūmara e
We are now well and truly in the phases of summer. The Pōhutukawa are blooming, signaling perhaps, that we are in Matiti muramura, if not further along. Matiti muramura signals the third of seven phases of summer here in Te Tai Tokerau. The warm weather is a welcome reminder of yet another cycle coming around.
The days are warming up and stretching into the night. Our garden is growing away, our first big harvest of peruperu are curing, our corn is planted amongst our kūmara, our cucumbers are happy and over eager to produce fruit, and we can’t wait for our first homegrown tomatoes.
We grew kūmara tipu from a tāpapa this year instead of in a glass of water – our first time ever. We didn’t do much research, or preparation, but having watched tāpapa throughout Aotearoa being laid down on social media, I couldn’t help but give it a go. We planted four varieties – Owairaka red, Beauregard orange, Tokatoka gold and the purple Okinawan variety.
Six kūmara of each variety were laid in the tāpapa in late August, but it was still too cold. By September with no signs of growth, we took one of each variety out of the ground and placed them into jars of water as a back up. We then added a large secondhand window over the bed to trap in the heat and moisture. Before long, the leaves start to pop up. The Owairaka was the first and most vigorous. At least half of all the other varieties died, but soon the ones that survived also popped up green shoots.
The kūmara inside jars grew at about the same pace, but not as prolifically. The kūmara grown in the tāpapa were thicker, longer and a deeper green. I think I’ll be sticking with this method in the future, with some adjustments like not putting the kūmara in too deep, adding the window earlier, mulching with grass, and maybe testing various inputs like sand or small pebbles (hei tā ngā kōrero a Wiremu Tāwhai) as I’ve seen others do.
Now we are so overwhelmed with tipu that we are giving them away to friends and whānau. The thought of them being grown throughout kāinga across Whangārei, to feed our whānau six months from now is a beautiful thought. Even more beautiful to think about in the wider context of Aotearoa, those growing kūmara, a long held practice amongst our tūpuna.
My dad has shared with me stories of my grandmother growing kūmara on her bosses property when they lived in Auckland (having moved down from Kaitaia to raise their whānau) and so I imagine all of the grandmothers – living and passed – that would have done the same.
As far away as they feel, they are really only just there. Barely a few metres away, living with us through the soil and in our hands as we plant.
We used to talk about this concept of immortality in wānanga, specifically that Māui tried – and failed – to attain it. Instead, we understand that we are immortal through whakapapa and its continuity. Kai is most certainly a part of that, weaving generations together, keeping us nourished, helping us to imagine worlds in which everyone is fed. The kūmara is truly such a taonga, and I hope that it is a taonga we will be able to share for many generations to come.
Haylee Koroi
Haylee (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngati Kahu) is Kaiārahi for Kai Māori Kai Ora at Toi Tangata.