Newsletter: Happy New Year

What a great feeling to return to Auckland and see the city abuzz; people returning to work and welcoming back international tourists to our shores.

As a family, we are always extremely grateful to be able to return to our Canterbury roots and spend time at Pigeon Bay, catching up with family and friends. Over the years, our holiday includes some form of wilderness adventure, and this time we headed to the Hollyford Track in Fiordland. For a region that has 10 metres of rain each year, we were so fortunate to have 5 days of settled weather to hike the 56 km of native rainforest. Click here to read my full story.

Wishing you all the very best for 2023,

Ngā mihi,

Sir Joseph Banks of Banks Peninsula

And for those of you who are interested in food history, I have discovered the journals of Sir Joseph Banks, naturalist on the HMS Endeavour and of Banks Peninsula fame. What an incredible life this man lead, sailing with Captain Cook as a 25 year old and later becoming the unofficial botanical advisor of the Royal Botantic Gardens, Kew. Banks would oversee Kew becoming the leading botanic garden of the world with an unrivalled collection of living plants. He was fascinated by edible plants and now as the world focuses on reviving plants in our diets, Banks' work is very relevant. Click here to read my full story.

Banksia Serrata. Plate from Banks' Florilegium - Joseph Banks, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, Australia

Urban Forage with Riki Bennett

Our Urban Forage (Mahinga Kai) with Riki Bennett (Te Arawa and Ngāti Porou) starts with a guided walk to identify a range of edible plants and leaves.

Back at the New Zealand School of Food and Wine, Riki will explain native flora and share in more details in an interactive presentation on native edible plants and trees, along with Māori food gathering traditions and culture.

Class Details
- Saturday 18 March
- 9.30 to 2.30pm
- NZ$125

For more information and to register, please view the website here.