Waitōtara is a not-for-profit organisation developed to provide education in sustainable and resilient living, along with environmental conservation and restoration in the Rodney region. Our Story
Waitōtara Sustainable & Resilient Living aims to connect members of our community and share practical skills through social events that prioritise permaculture solutions to local challenges. Permacultur
e operates under the ethics of earth care, people care and future share and we endeavour to emulate these sustainable development values at Waitōtara. Our name reflects our respect for New Zealand’s indigenous culture and combines the te reo Māori words wai, meaning water, stream or river which signifies the local waterways and honours our ongoing need for this resource with tōtara, the beautiful native giant, traditionally used for building and which continues to offer us shelter and support. We have different skill sets and each have areas of special interest within the organisation and volunteer our time as we are able outside of paid employment. The hub operates from a private property which provides a unique showcase for permaculture principles in action. We are open on a Monday morning and the fourth Sunday of each month (excluding school and public holidays) between 9:00 am and midday. These free sessions provide a platform for community members to come together on a regular basis and share knowledge, about sustainability and resilience and life experiences in general. They are designed to be inclusive and to minimise social isolation and always end with a beautiful homemade morning tea. Ensuring the success of Rodney’s habitat restoration is one area that we are all passionate about. We hope to help by coordinating individual efforts and providing best practice training and management planning along with eco-sourced plants and community numbers to help with pest control, planting days and maintenance as required . We can also help access funding opportunities and with your funding applications. To support all of Rodney’s activities in this area we have established a plant nursery at Waitōtara to help provide the botanically correct species for the Rodney ecological district (where appropriate) and increase the overall availability of native plants. Our nursery offers restoration grade as well as landscape grade natives for home gardens. We also have a wide range of productive and edible species essential for the permaculture garden. Your purchase directly contributes to ecological restoration in Rodney by enabling us to donate natives to those community projects that we are working on. We hope to meet you at one of our events and would love to help with anything that we can. No question or request considered too trivial!
