Ōtara Mara Kai

06/03/2026

2026 has been full on busy for our crew. We have been busy removing old garden boxes, re-building new ones and re planting while working on putting together some new kaupapa to help our local whanau to receive and maintain easy start up gardens in buckets!

Watch this space...

18/11/2025

🎄 2025 CHRISTMAS BOX NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN! 🎄

We’re excited to launch our Christmas Box registrations for 2025! Thanks to the beautiful generosity of Life Church, we have 100 boxes available to bless whānau who may need a little extra aroha this season.

If you know a whānau doing it tough, now is the time to nominate them.

📅 Nominations close Wednesday 10 December
📍 Open to everyone (Ōtara & Papatoetoe whānau prioritised)
📦 One box per whānau
📝 All nominations must be submitted through our JotForm link

Let’s share the joy, spread the kindness, and make Christmas brighter together. ❤️✨

Nomination form HERE - https://form.jotform.com/253212168992057

Nominate a whānau today!

24/09/2025

💛Good In The Hood 2025 💛

A huge Nga Mihi to everyone who put thier tokens in our column thoughout this month. We’d just like to acknowledge our amazing Kaimahi Tauraa and Liz who seriously go over and beyond in everything they do for our community - even before the Mara bit especially on our Mara.

Todays blessing!

23/09/2025

🥗💚 Habitat for Humanity x OMK 💚🥗

Every month we get to host our Habitat for Humanity whānau — and it’s always special!

Our relationship with Habitat is more than partnership, it’s whanaungatanga. Over the past 3 years they’ve shared their space with us, and we get to return that manaaki. Our maara isn’t just about growing kai and upskilling — it’s about connection, community, and plenty of shared kai. 🍲✨

We’re so lucky to have Habitat as part of our wider whānau. 🙌

23/09/2025

🌿✨ Check out the Herb Club! ✨🌿

In our maara, we let a few planter boxes grow wild with weeds on purpose — and it paid off! One of our Herb Club specialists came through to teach us about the hidden treasures in our garden: edible and medicinal “weeds.” 🍃

The sun was shining, the kōrero was flowing, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect for learning together. 🌞💚

22/09/2025

Spring is in the air! We have been super busy replacing old garden beds, weeding and re-planting. We are located at the Ormiston Habitat for Humanity.

Our kaupapa was setup a few years ago to support growing more free locally produced and pesticide free produce for our community. It's distributed through our other kaupapa The Otara Kai Village.

We also work with organisations and whanau teaching them to grow their own mara kai and providing a space for hauora and cooking lessons on site.

A huge nga mihi to everyone who continues to support us.

24/08/2025

Morena whanau,

We have been lucky enough to be chosen as one of the local groups for the Z Gas Station "Good in the Hood" fundraiser. Basically when you fill up your petrol you can grab a token in the gas station located right in front of our Otara Mara Kai and select which project you want Z funds to go to. We would love your support. Our Otara mara kai is located right behind the Z gas station 8 Ormiston Road. Every token will help to keep our local Otara Mara Kai running.

Thank you all for your support!.

On behalf of Taurra and Liz (OMK Kaitiaki)

Good friends Liz and Tauraa Monga show us a snippet of their labor of love with this community garden they faithfully have been toiling away within the beaut...

12/08/2025

What an ataahua day today! We know the cost of living is a struggle for whanau. We grow kai pesticide free here at our Otara Mara Kai to support our community. All produce grown is then distributed through our other kaupapa The Otara Kai Village.

We host mara kai workshops but have been very busy supporting other organisations and their clients but if you are interested in learning how to grow your own kai from home please feel free to reach out to us or stop in at our mara kai located on the Habitat for Humanity property right behind the petrol station East Tamaki.

04/08/2025

We love hosting, cooking and sharing our matauranga to all the wonderful people, groups and organisations who come through to our Otara Mara Kai. Some come to learn, some come to connect, some come for their own Hauora and Wairua to be uplifted when things are tough and more. This is a whare of Aroha and Manaaki.

All kai that we have grown here over the years is done to support our other kaupapa Ōtara Mara Kai. We grow kai and distribute it back to our community free through the OKV. We also teach whanau how to grow their own kai, provide seedlings and a space for people in our community to come and feel Tau when life is heavy.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to support us all these years with this important kaupapa especially E Tū Whānau ❤️

04/08/2025

We love our partnership with Habitat for humanity and supporting each others kaupapa and kaimahi while growing sustainable kai for our community and educating all our manuhiri along the way. I found some resources in Habitat and used it all to build some asian inspired walls for our Mara Kai so when manuhiri come we have a bit more protection from the wind especially during this winter season. We love to re-use and recycle old products. It's been so helpful to our Mara Kai.