Ranui Community Garden

**Ranui Community Garden
By James Littlewood **

Ranui is not a suburb you’d normally describe as edgy, other than for its location on the outermost outskirts of west Auckland. Swanson Rd, the main drag, will eventually deliver you from Henderson to Te Henga Rd, and from there to the majesty of The Waitakere Ranges and Te Henga itself, also known as Bethell’s Beach. With all that to the west of Ranui, and all of Auckland to the east, it’s possible that more people drive through it, than to it.

Along with its neighbouring village of Swanson, Ranui’s recent history began as a farming community. One of the oldest buildings is the MB Yozin winery, where Milan Babic Yozin grew, made and sold some of New Zealand’s first commercially produced wine.

If not exactly edgy, today Ranui has a somewhat blended identity. As Auckland’s unitary plan bears down on its greenfield development opportunities, it’s not exactly clear whether Ranui is a brand new ticky-tacky suburb, or a rustic agricultural community holding its own against modernity. New subdivisions are opening up faster than developers can build on them, but you don’t have to go far to be in complete wilderness. And there are still old orchards, old buildings, and old timers.

In large part, it’s the farmland that’s now finding itself worth more for housing than it is for produce. And as those houses go up, they’re increasingly occupied by new-found westies, people ready to settle far from the city if that’s what it takes to find a place to call home. And, along with the new people, new amenities are also appearing. There’s a really (really!) nice library there. And — right across the road — a recently refurbished community centre, complete with a cafe. They kept the old train station for another decent cafe, and built a new one next door to accommodate the new commuters.

Given the influx of new people, the reduction of open spaces and the region’s agricultural past, it’s fitting that Ranui also boasts a really first rate community garden.

This comes in two bits: an inside bit, and an outside bit. The inside bit is inside a sort of enclosure. This is kept under lock and key, tricky to access unless you’re one of the community groups who’ve waited their way to the top of the list for an allotment. The outside bit is less protected, but locals seem to respect it, as should we all.

The crops hint at the diversity of the neighbourhood. So an allotment of bok-choy sits adjacent to one of taro, while a run of Jerusalem artichokes emerges from a colourful little riot of spring pansies. There’s also a thriving bed of lettuce, and more parsley than seems commonly decent. And when you visit the community centre’s cafe - lo and behold - there it is: community garden and herb salad. Voila!

Sure, some folks have enough land to grow their own veges. Although strangely, many people who have the land, don’t use it. Maybe they don’t know how (although it’s not hard: you dig a hole, put the plant in, water it grows). At the community garden, people come together to share ideas, good company, and also to share the labour. There’s a quiet revolution going on with these precious spaces, so find one near you and get in on it. If nothing else, you’ll enjoy the satisfaction of eating something (or even feeding something to someone else) which grew at your own bidding.

Image Credits: Calvert Butchery by Catherine Davidson, Yozin Wineries by Dawn McKenzie All others by James Littlewood