Edible Paradise- Film Screening

Friends of the Farm (FOF) hosted our first ever film screening in the barn recently, with 15 adults and eight children joining us to watch ‘Edible Paradise’.  Several of our FOF members, had attended a screening of the film through Films for the Future (For the Love of Bees), and wanted to share it with our local community. 

‘Edible Paradise’ is set in the Christchurch ‘Redzone’, documenting the work of local communities (supported by the Council) in transforming the now uninhabitable land into edible gardens, heritage orchards and food forests.  FOF was keen to see whether there was interest amongst the Māngere Bridge community in exploring the possibilities for producing more food in and around our neighbourhood.

The film generated different ideas for different people.  Some were keen to identify the heritage fruit trees in our community already, and think about how these can be preserved.  Where old trees are being removed, or a tree is dying, graftings can be taken and replanted elsewhere to ensure the tree continues its life.  FOF is looking into the possibility of running a grafting workshop so that we have the capacity to save our special fruit trees before they’re lost. 

Others were excited about the potential for creating a food forest in our neighbourhood.  Food forests mimic natural forests, which have different layers of planting; bigger trees, smaller bushes, and an understorey.  The only difference is that everything is edible!  Food forests are a natural and efficient way to produce food, as the different plants and trees support each other and create their own eco-system of beneficial insects and birdlife as well. Our Māngere Bridge orchard would be an ideal site to try this method of growing food.

The film screening included a micro-workshop making seed bombs, which when planted will provide food for bees and other beneficial insects. We hope this will be the first of many more film screenings at Ambury Farm!