New project helps elders share food gardening knowledge

A new project run by the University of Auckland Centre for Co-Created Ageing Research will give older gardeners a chance to share their gardening knowledge.

The Office for Seniors' age friendly fund granted the research centre $13,553 for its Master Home Food Producers project.

The centre plans to connect older people who have mastered the art of growing fruit and vegetables at home with people of all ages who are keen to learn.

The project aims to transfer skills, empower older people, encourage sustainable food-growing practices, link people to community hubs, and inform policy decisions.

Centre for Co-Created Ageing Research organiser and research co-lead Dr Tamika Simpson says they are beyond excited to receive the grant.

“I was taught how to grow by my grandparents, and it breaks my heart to know there are people who would like to but don’t know how. And that there are master gardeners, like my grandparents, who are not practising their craft for a range of reasons.

“I want to bring them together in the revival of home food production,” Simpson says.

She hopes ripples of positive change will spread as older people are valued for the gardening knowledge they have garnered over a lifetime.

“Our project will make the mastery, skill, and contribution of older people visible, and we hope this intergenerational knowledge transfer will help them be better recognised in society.”

Simpson says the project “goes right to the heart of food security”, helping people grow what they need in their own gardens.

Project co-lead University of Auckland senior research fellow in nursing, Dr Lisa Williams, became interested in inter-generational social connections while working on a film research project a few years ago.

“Encouraging connection through growing food is such a great idea.

“There are also great environmental outcomes – reducing food miles and the use of packaging. I’m rapt we get to do this project,” says Williams.