The Inspiration behind 'A Lil Bee'

Kiaora whānau, it's the Bee here 🐝 firstly I'd like to take a moment to introduce myself.

Ko Tararua te maunga tipuna,

Ko nga wai tuku kiri e rere iho mai: ko Otaki aea, ko Mangapouri, ko Waitohu. E mimitia ana i nga whenua, i te kookooputanga te putanga ki waho, pakia mai ra e nga ngaru o te moana. Ko Rau-o-te-Rangi I tapiti atu ki Raukawa Moana, aki atu ra ki nga tahataha o Kapiti motu. Tahuri tona titiro ki a Katihiku, te turangawaewae o nga uri whakaheke o Huia ki Katihiku, tu mai e te whare tupuna, tu mai. Ki a Raukawa, E whakakotahi ana I Ngati Maiotaki. Ki Te pou o Tainui, he iti na Motai. Na te Rauparaha I tapaina I taku whanau- ko Kapukai.

Tenei au, te mokopuna o Te Rongorito, e tuku ana te mihi maioha, te mihi matakuikui atu ki a koutou te hunga E are mai ana. E kore te puna aroha e mimiti.

The story starts at a local school in a little town called Otaki. I came in as support staff, and was initially pulled in to work in the takiwatanga programme they were designing and implementing at the time. Time went on and I found myself working with children of all ages, and having a particular soft spot for the kids that struggled to engage with their mahi.

One of those tauira was my nephew, Archie, whom I hadn't previously had the chance to get to know.. In the beginning we would go outside and I would give him a big stick, and tell him to beat up the trees. (Poor trees! I know...) This was an effective method emotional regulation and for pulling him out of his brain stem and back into his frontal lobe, where he could process and think rationally.

One day I bought some seedlings for him, I have no idea what pulled me to the garden store in the first instance. But once I was there I knew that what I had bought was for him. I brought them into school and set to work pulling weeds and digging and planting. I didn't know anything about gardening myself, but had google to assist me with what we were up to, so it flew well. As he worked, I watched the troubles and worry melt off of his face. There was nothing in the world but him and the garden ... and I wanted that for myself!

The other tauira caught wind of what we were doing, and came to investigate and it soon became a two term long learning experience for all of us. The benefits were enormous, and not just in terms of education. The children became genuinely curious about the taiao around them, and began noticing simple things like the different colours of leaves. We made murals, we planted seeds, and one time - this is proof of the power of blind faith - the tauira picked handfuls of flowers and "planted them". I didn't have the heart to say that wasn't really how growing something works, but I also didn't have the knowledge to know that sometimes, just sometimes, that is EXACTLY how nature works. Weeks later I realised the flowers hadn't died, pulled one up and it had established a strong root system.

After leaving the school, I spent some time as a stay at home mum before I started working as a support worker. Before long I was pregnant with my second child and after a loooong pregnancy (if you're reading this, let's not EVER do that again, thanks my love 🤣🫣) my daughter was born. During her infant stages there was a lot of time I spent holding her, cuddling, feeding her, and I had a lot of hours on my hands with my phone. So I set to work researching, I decided I would learn to grow food..

Now if you added up the hours you spent scrolling, chatting, messaging, doing lives, whatever else you do with your phone in your spare time you would find that you have ample research opportunities in your busy life! I utilised those hours and learned everything I could about gardening. From different styles and methods, to soil health, to composting, to companion planting and mulching and plant care and so on ... (The list really is incredibly extensive)

When my baby hit around six months old I started to lay cardboard and make a plan. Fast forward to six months later and I began my first winter as a beginner gardener. I grew over 50 cabbages and almost the same in broccoli. There were many fails and unalived plants along the way, and so I started to research individual plants and how to care for them. I documented my garden journey using TikTok and very soon I had a circle of close connects in the Tiktok world. This circle continued to grow and I began to help other people start gardens, which turned into what I advertised as free garden consultations. I committed to a hundred consultations free and worked through them very quickly. In the beginning people would get scribbled diagrams and pages of scrawled writing on refill - I'm honestly not even sure if it was all readable! To save myself time I set to work on digital products that I could send off, to avoid writing the same information over and over again. This was the beginning of my business idea, which continued to grow and grow with the support of my wonderful partner, my friends and my TikTok family.

A year later, here we are. A business with multiple revenue streams, and a mission to change the lives of generations to come! The profits of my consultations, digital learning resources, my gardening services and materials, natural skincare products and locally sold seedlings go towards designing installing and maintaining edible gardens and fruit trees in schools and communities.

Bee is set to start at the very same kura that inspired this entire mission. I'm going to fix my Archie's garden up as a dedication to his memory and have it blessed, just for him 💜

If you are still here and still reading, please know that I appreciate you and your support so much! It's what motivates me through challenges, trials and tribulations.

Bee blessed lovelies , bee blessed.

🙏✨🐝