The Transformation Issue | Idealog.co.nz
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urban farming
collaborate on future projects.
One chat over coffee was all it
took to realise their visions
aligned, and by early 2015, they
got the go-ahead from the
Foundation for Cultivate.
“The focus with Vodafone
is about engaging youth, and the
youth development side of things
that I was doing didn’t really take
off,” Peryman says. “So it was great
to meet Fi, because we’re a good
match of skills.”
When choosing a location
for Cultivate, the pair focused
on finding a place that would be
accessible for young people, so
a central location was critical.
Christchurch is in a unique
position of having a lot of vacant
spaces where buildings have been
pulled down since the earthquake, and private owners
are often willing to let people test out ventures
on a transitional basis before the land is developed
down the track.
The site chosen was vacant land on the corner
of Peterborough St in central Christchurch – or the
Peterborough Urban Farm, as it is now known. It hasn’t
been easy converting urban land into a farm. When
Cultivate moved in, the land was compacted rubble with
about 10cm of top-soil, but they’ve managed to create
another 40cm of soil to grow food in.
For Peryman, being able to work with the land and
growing produce is the drive for most ventures in his life.
“It’s just who I am, it’s my purpose and passion. My
interests in life are all related to growing food and doing
that with people as a social thing. I wanted to look at how
to address some of the critical issues of our time – such as
climate change and the disconnection between people and
nature – and this is my vehicle to do my bit.”
Peryman explains the difference between urban
agriculture and community gardens is simple, as the
former are essentially small market gardens.
In the years since the first seed was planted, the
farm has grown to a point where it delivers produce to
22 restaurants and cafes in the city, as well as selling its
products at its farm gate and weekend market stall. Closing
the loop on the world’s most fundamental economy,
food scraps from the restaurants are also collected on
Cultivate’s bike-and-wagon and returned to the farm to be
made into compost, which later fertilises more produce.
While there are a lot of services and clinical
approaches to mental health in New Zealand, the big
idea behind Cultivate is to support young people with the
therapeutic effects of gardening and growing food.
“We wanted to know if you could combine the social
purpose of helping people with a productive purpose of
making ends meet,” Peryman says. “We are not always
going to have grant funding, so we want to make sure
Cultivate is a successful commercial venture. It was built
on high ideals and we’ve never budged on those.”
Stewart’s background set her up perfectly for her work
at Cultivate. After studying education and psychology at
university, she travelled and worked with young people first
as a ski and snowboard instructor, and then as a raftingand outdoor guide. On returning
to New Zealand, she worked
at an organisation supporting
young people in the youth justice
system before receiving her
Vodafone New Zealand grant to
start a residential farm training
programme.
The programme was
rewarding and produced
excellent results, but Stewart
knew she needed a more
sustainable venture to really focus
on making a difference in the lives
of young people.
“Working in youth justice,
I learned a lot about what young
people want and how they
believed existing opportunities in
the community would help them
reduce or stop offending,” Stewart
says. “They often said a job would stop them offending, but
that it was impossible to get that first opportunity.”
Cultivate works with young people who have complex
needs with the Urban Farm Hand internship programme.
As well as 10 permanent staff and countless volunteers,
Cultivate generally has between four to six paid interns
with the programme at any given time. So far, 25 young
people have been supported through the internship.
The programme focuses heavily on giving young
people the skills to be successful in any workplace.
Alongside counselling, Cultivate has one-on-one weekly
sessions with each intern to learn their strengths and what
barriers they need to overcome.
Referals generally come from WINZ, and the young
people are often on the job seekers or on the sickness
benefit. At Cultivate, they are paid for 30 hours a week
during the programme, which lasts between three to
six months.
“We support them into employment opportunities,
but we also support them once they’ve left us, so they
retain the job or if it’s not ideal then they know how to exit
that workplace in a positive way.”
The benefits of the programme are obvious. Some of
the young people previously worked as sex workers but are
now no longer working on the streets and have re-engaged
in education. Others see general health and wellbeing
improvements, while some have a clearer path forged for
them and a sense of purpose; while some workers have
stopped using drugs to boost their employment prospects.
“Having a safe place people can come and feel like
they’ve connected to the land and the community is our
aim,” Stewart says. “The biggest thing is seeing mental
health improvements in the majority of the young people
we’ve supported – that’s amazing.”
While the focus is now on how to scale Cultivate,
creating more farms and produce is just one part of the
agenda. The team also want to be able to support more and
more vulnerable young people to find their place in society- and both Peryman and Stewart agree the best way for the
public to support the cause is to buy their produce.
“That’s key for us,” Peryman says. “You’ll be served
by young people who pour their love into the work
and we really want to stand on our own two feet
and do more of what we do.” ■
Having a safe
place people can
come and feel like
they’ve connected
to the land and the
community is our
aim. The biggest
thing is seeing
mental health
improvements
in the majority of
the young people
we’ve supported –
that’s amazing.ABOVE: Cultivate
founders Bailey Peryman
and Fiona Stewart.