Learn to create a living food garden
Grow Your Own Food Garden
Friendly, practical workshops for beginners who want to grow nourishing food, build healthy soil and understand how the different parts of a productive garden work together.
Practical skills for transforming your space
Future workshops will follow the same practical pathway used to transform 38 The Parade—from understanding a site and building living soil to creating productive, connected garden systems.
Topics
Converting lawn into productive growing space
Building and caring for living soil
Composting and worm farming
Making natural liquid fertilisers
Integrating chickens into a garden system
Designing a connected small property
Learn in a working urban garden
Workshops take place at 38 The Parade, where compost, worms, chickens, rainwater, fruit trees, seasonal vegetables and garden-made fertilisers form one connected living system.
Learning in the garden allows you to see these systems in practice, ask questions and explore how the same principles could be adapted to your own home, garden, courtyard or balcony.
Sessions are relaxed, practical and designed for people beginning their growing journey. You do not need a large garden or previous experience—just curiosity and a willingness to begin.
Grow Your Own Food Garden
Would you like to grow fresh food at home but feel unsure about where to begin?
This friendly beginner workshop introduces the foundations of a productive organic food garden.
Over two hours, Davina will guide you through the Seed to Sea garden and demonstrate how simple,
connected systems can support healthy plants, useful harvests and confident garden care.
Workshop details
DURATION
Two hours
LOCATION
38 The Parade, Island Bay
DATES
From October 2026
GROUP
Small Group, limited places
During the workshop, you can expect:
A guided walk through the Seed to Sea garden
Practical demonstrations using real garden systems
Clear explanations suitable for beginners
A small-group environment with time for questions
Ideas that can be adapted to gardens, courtyards and smaller spaces
You will leave with a clearer understanding of where to begin and which steps will make the greatest difference in your own garden.
A relaxed and practical session
Learn with Davina
Since 2020, I have been transforming an ordinary urban section into a productive living garden guided by permaculture principles.
I have completed a Permaculture Design Certificate through training led by David Holmgren, one of the co-originators of permaculture. My workshops combine this knowledge with practical experience gained at Seed to Sea and through helping to redesign other properties using the same principles.
I enjoy helping people understand how the different parts of a garden can work together—and giving them the confidence to take a practical first step.
Journal Note
Ako flows both ways. We learn from the whenua, from practical experience and from one another; permaculture helps us turn that shared knowledge into useful action.
Practical information
Before you come
Workshops take place in a working garden and are mainly outdoors. Please wear weather-appropriate clothing and comfortable, enclosed footwear.
Some parts of the garden have uneven surfaces. If you have mobility, accessibility or other requirements, please include them in your booking form so we can discuss what you need.
Any weather-related changes will be communicated directly to registered participants.
Request a workshop place
Workshops return from October 2026. Complete the form below to register your interest or request a place. I’ll contact you with the next available date, price and booking details.