Knowledge, inspiration, and tools for building resilience through food, nature, and community

Blog and Articles

Topics include:

Community resilience
Conservation work
One Health perspectives
Forest immersion
Seasonal growing

Latest updates

🎉 New! Resources Section Now Live on the Connected Pathways Site
We’re thrilled to announce that the Resources hub is now available on the Connected Pathways website (https://connectedpathways.co.nz/resources/). It’s a one‑stop place for anyone in Golden Bay (and beyond) who wants practical tools, reading material and links to the organisations that keep our food, forests and oceans resilient. Topics covered include: What you’ll find Category Highlights Books &… Read more: 🎉 New! Resources Section Now Live on the Connected Pathways Site
The Modern Disconnect: Why We Need Nature More Than Ever
Forest immersion allows you to experience something increasingly rare in our modern world: the simple act of being fully present in nature, without the constant buzz of notifications, screens, or the pressure to be somewhere else doing something else. The statistics paint a sobering picture of our modern disconnection. The average New Zealander now spends… Read more: The Modern Disconnect: Why We Need Nature More Than Ever
What is Forest Bathing? Beyond Just a Walk in the Woods
Forest immersion—the practice of mindfully receiving the forest’s gifts through all five senses—offers a radical return to wellness that works whether you believe in it or not. Your nervous system responds, your immune system strengthens, and your spirit remembers what it means to be part of something larger than yourself.

View all blog posts

Workshop Materials & Handouts

Resources from our Aorere Food Resilience gatherings

As we develop materials, they’ll be shared here, such as:

Seed saving guide
Preserving basics
Companion planting charts
Seasonal growing calendars

Recommended Reading

Do you have comments or other suggestins regarding the listed books, resources or organiations?

We would love to hear from you: Contact us

Food Resilience and Gardening

Books about growing food:

The Resilient Gardener by Carol Deppe: Food production, seed saving, self-reliance.
Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway (available at Tākaka library): A guide to home-scale permaculture.
Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture by Rosemary Morrow (available at Tākaka library): Focuses on community-scale applications.
Permaculture for the Rest of Us by Jenni Blackmore (available at Tākaka library): Written for people WITHOUT large properties.
Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture: A Practical Guide by Sepp Holzer (available at Tākaka library): Practical, small-scale, realistic approaches.
The NZ Vegetable Garden: The Complete Guide to Growing Vegetables and Herbs in New Zealand by Sally Cameron (available at Tākaka library): Comprehensive, NZ‑specific manual that covers climate zones, soil preparation, pest management and herb cultivation.
Get Growing: A New Zealand Step‑by‑Step Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables and Fruit by Helen Cook (available at Tākaka library): A practical, beginner‑friendly handbook with clear photos and seasonal planting calendars.
The Small Edible Garden: Growing Organic Fruit and Vegetables at Home by Diana Anthony (available at Tākaka library): Compact, low‑maintenance designs.

Books about preserving food:

The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz (available at Tākaka library): A good resource for food preservation essentials.
The Ultimate Guide to Preserving Vegetables: Canning, Pickling, Fermenting, Dehydrating and Freezing Your Favorite Fresh Produce by Angi Schneider (available at Tākaka library): Comprehensive, step‑by‑step handbook covering all major preservation methods.
Real Food Fermentation: Preserving Whole Fresh Food with Live Cultures in Your Home Kitchen by Alex Lewin (available at Tākaka library): Focuses on probiotic‑rich fermentations (kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, etc.).
The Preserving Book by Lynda Brown (available at Tākaka library): A classic NZ‑centric guide that blends canning, pickling and jam‑making with local ingredient suggestions.
The Jam Maker’s Garden: Grow Your Own Seasonal Preserves by Holly Farrell (available at Tākaka library): Connects garden production directly to preservation; ideal for encouraging community members to turn home‑grown fruit into jams, chutneys and relishes.
Attainable Sustainable Pantry: A Back‑to‑Basics Guide to Stocking Your Kitchen by Kris Bordessa (available at Tākaka library): Provides a broader view of pantry planning, bulk‑storage and low‑waste practices.

Books about community food resilience:

Re‑food: Exploring the Troubled Food System of Aotearoa New Zealand by Emily King: Examines the challenges within New Zealand’s food networks, from farm to table, advocating for a holistic food systems approach.
Building Community Food Webs by Mike Meter: Explains how decentralized food networks can rebuild resilience, empower farmers and create local food economies.
The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement by Nick Saul: A case‑study of a grassroots food‑bank turned community hub; shows how collective action creates lasting food‑security infrastructure.
Good Food, Strong Communities: Promoting Social Justice through Local and Regional Food Systems (edited volume) by Steve Ventura & Martin Bailkey: Collection of essays that link local food production to social‑justice outcomes and community resilience.
Seeds of Resistance: The Fight to Save Our Food Supply by Mark Schapiro: Chronicles community‑driven seed‑saving and agro‑ecology movements that safeguard biodiversity and local food autonomy.

Online resources on gardening and food resilience:

National Gardening Association forums at Garden.org: Listed community-driven questions and answers around gardening categorised and alphabetised for your convenience.
Website: https://garden.org/forums
Free Permaculture: Helps envisioning and creating ecological gardens and regenerative homesteads, and connect you with a global community of co-learners, innovating solutions and envisioning a sustainable future, together.
Website: https://www.freepermaculture.com/
Open Food Network – NZ: Directory of local producers, farmers’ markets, and CSAs. Helps visitors connect to regional food sources and strengthen the local food loop.
Website: https://openfoodnetwork.org.nz/

Online resources on preservation:

Fermenters Club NZ: Community forum, recipe archive, starter‑culture guides, local meet‑ups. Connects your audience with a national network of hobbyist fermenters.
Website: https://fermentersclub.com/directory/listing/somethingbigisbrewingnz/
National Center for Home Food Preservation (US) – NZ Adaptation: Comprehensive database of tested recipes; you can filter for “New Zealand” where applicable. Although US‑based, the science is universal; you can link to the specific NZ‑adapted pages.
Website: https://nchfp.uga.edu/

National organisations:

Garden to Table Programme: Provides a school‑based food‑education programme that links garden‑learning with cooking and the national curriculum. Tamariki (children) learn to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, seasonal kai, building lifelong skills in sustainability, nutrition and teamwork. The programme now operates in nearly 300 schools and kura across Aotearoa, reaching over 10,500 primary‑school‑aged children. Schools recruit community members to support garden set‑up, kitchen sessions and training workshops.
Website: https://gardentotable.org.nz/
Email: [email protected].
What you can do: Sign up through the “Get Involved” page on the website; access their resources: Free lesson plans, recipes and training modules are available for educators; schools can also request seed packs and garden‑design advice.
Koanga Institute: Heritage seeds, permaculture, food resilience education
Website: https://koanga.org.nz/
Hua Parakore: A kaupapa Māori system for Kai Atua – Pure Foods. It can also be activated by Māori for Māori as a food sovereignty and food security system.
Website: https://www.tewakakaiora.co.nz/
Zero Waste NZ – Food‑Resilience Working Group: Links food‑waste reduction with community‑gardening and composting schemes, helping neighbourhoods keep food on the plate.
Website: https://zerowaste.co.nz/

Local initiatives:

Golden Bay Sustainable Living Centre (GBSLC): A hub of sustainability, education, and community connection since 1986. Initially founded to support local organic food production, education, and community building, we have grown into a space where key players and communities come together to stay in touch with innovative regenerative and sustainable practices that benefit humans and the planet.
Website: https://www.gbslc.org/
Growing Radicles: Nelson Community Garden Collective providing education, seed libraries, and food-growing workshops in the Nelson-Tasman region. Runs courses on permaculture, organic gardening, and food sovereignty. Explores syntropic food and social systems, embracing density and diversity in nature’s ecosystems, and in society, as we play a part in healing both.
Website: https://growingradicles.org/
Mohua Timebank: A community-driven exchange system where people trade skills and services using time as currency.
Website: https://reconomy.nz/
Maungatūroto Edible Village Project (MEVP): A community initiative in the Kaipara region, New Zealand, focused on creating shared edible spaces to improve food resilience
Website: https://www.localmatters.co.nz/health/edible-village-plan-takes-root/

Get inspired by local initiatives in other regions:

Our Food Network (OFN) in Ōtepoti / Dunedin: Recognises that the philosophical, economic, and political motives for localising food production in Dunedin are diverse and is working to genuinely acknowledge these individual differences as collective strength.
Website: https://www.ourfoodnetwork.org.nz/
Food Resilience Network (Edible Canterbury): Was established after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch to weave together a “patchwork of food producing hotspots woven like a ribbon into the fabric of our community”.
Website: https://www.chchenvirohub.org/network-member/edible-canterbury/
Regional Kai Network in Wellington: a collaborative group that is dedicated to shifting the Wellington regional food system to one that centres the health of our communities and environment.
Wrebsite: https://www.regionalkainetwork.org.nz/
Our Garden Party in New Plymouth: A community‑run pop‑up garden‑festival that showcases urban‑garden projects, offers free seed‑swaps, hands‑on workshops (composting, preserving, vertical gardening) and creates a “food‑resilience hub” where locals can exchange surplus produce and skills.
Website: https://www.ourgardenparty.co.nz/
Wao’s Food Resilience Programme (since 2023) and Southern Lakes Kai Collective (since 2024): Established what the local food system in the southern lakes looks like, in order to better prepare our communities to be more resilient to disruptive shocks and sustained stresses to the global and national food supply system.
Website: https://www.wao.co.nz/food-resilience
Kelmarna Gardens in Auckland: Long-established community garden model
Website: https://www.kelmarnagardens.nz/

One Health & Systems Thinking

One Health Atlas by Francois Roger, Marie-Marie Olive, Marisa Peyre anf Dirk Pfeiffer: Comprehensive framework to address the interwoven health challenges arising from the interactions among humans, animals, plants and the environment.
Website: https://www.cirad.fr/en/press-area/press-releases/2025/one-health-atlas (free as pdf version)

Nature Connection

Books:

The Nature Fix by Florence Williams (available at Tākaka library): Explores the science behind why spending time in nature improves mood, cognition and immune function.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (available at Tākaka library): Blends Indigenous (Anishinaabe) teachings with botanical science, urging readers to nurture a more respectful, sustainable stewardship of the land.
Your Guide to Forest Bathing by M. Amos Clifford: A practical, step‑by‑step handbook that introduces the fundamentals of shinrin‑yoku (forest bathing)
Sacred Forest bathing by Ellen Dee Davidson: Looks at forest bathing from a spiritual and cultural perspective.

Organisations:

Association of Nature and Forest Therapy: Largest and leading global organisation for training and certification of forest therapy guides
Website: https://anft.earth/
Treeming: Online training platform for forest bathing, offering internationally recognised certification programmes
Website: https://treeming.org/

Conservation & Biodiversity