A Glimpse of Wellington

I wrote the following based on an interview I did in Wellington - just to give you an idea of what I was up to!

"Soon the rooftop of the City Gallery will be bursting with edibles as Nikau Gallery Cafe takes local food to the next level - literally. The six planters come from the Pop Up Gardens that bloomed in Civic Square over the summer, and have found a new home on the City Gallery's roof. The venture is the latest step in Nikau Cafe's pursuit of local and organic food.

Leading the campaign is chef Kelda Hains, who has been at Nikau for over 12 years. For Kelda, getting interested in local food started as "I noticed more and more that when I bought food from local, organic growers the quality was much better... I did some reading and got really inspired and started looking around for local ingredients". As a chef, she agrees that food tastes better picked fresh and local. "Sometimes my growers turn up at 10:30am with food they picked that morning and it's just phenomenal". There are other reasons to go local as well, she says, including lessening environmental costs and supporting the local food system. Kelda has her own patch up in Brooklyn, where she's been able to do some growing of her own. Drawing a comparison between her work in the kitchen and her work in the garden, "I think gardening is a bit like cooking," she explained, "where you observe results and then decide what's worked - [it's about] repetition and observation".

The rooftop planters are the second step in Nikau's agricultural adventures, coming after success of the outdoor planter boxes in their courtyard. Kelda's experiences helping found the Brooklyn Community Orchard led her to think about how to utilise spare space at Nikau, starting with the courtyard planters. Built from macrocarpa, the stylish planters have moveable sections that combine seating with growing boxes. Since they're in a public space, Kelda says that texture and colour have played an important role in what is planted; "that's part of urban agriculture, it has to look beautiful". Interestingly, "many people don't know what plants look like, so its been quite educational". (More about them can be read on Nikau's blog at http://nikaugallerycafe.blogspot.co.nz/2012/01/courtyard-garden.html).

Since the staff are already busy with running the cafe and "when we get busy in the kitchen is when you need to be in the garden", they will likely hire a gardener to be in charge of the planters on the roof. While Nikau will hardly be able to supply all of its own food from their planters, "its all about filling the gaps and keeping it interesting", says Kelda. For example, "maybe we'll grow carrots but they'll be purple carrots". Whatever they grow its bound to be delicious, so keep an eye out for homegrown additions to the menu!"