Food Forest founder is doing more than just providing for the community
Megan Priscott is the brains behind the Te Awamutu Food Forest, a community garden that will provide fresh produce for the town.
Megan has always had a passion for food and cooking, the Food Forest is just one of her projects. She manages to juggle running the Food Forest alongside her own catering business.
Photo by Paige Hare
The Food Forest is currently made up of three separate sites around Te Awamutu, each planted with a variety of fruit trees and plants that will soon be bursting with produce for the community.
The initial idea for the project came from Megan’s desire to “bring some homegrown goodness to the community.” The cost of living and Covid were factors that motivated her to pursue the project.
For Megan, the process of bringing the Food Forest to life is just as important as the end result. She strongly believes that the action of growing your own food, getting your hands in the soil and getting back to basics can help “solve so many problems health-wise as well as environmentally.”
Photo by Paige Hare
Megan works closely with a team of volunteers who are all passionate about providing for the community.
Everyone she has spoken to has been drawn to the project and has been willing to help in any way they can.
The team have received help from the Waipā District Council who have supplied the sites for the team to plant on, as well as various local businesses donating supplies to get the project started.
At the moment Megan’s main goal is getting all the sites planted, however, she has big plans for the future of the Food Forest.
She intends to “do more than just provide for the local community.” She is working to make the sites enjoyable and exciting places for people to visit. With the incorporation of murals and playgrounds, she also hopes they will provide some urban tourism for the town.
Megan has always felt that “food brings people together” so she hopes the Food Forest will not only provide fresh produce for the community but also be a space for people to come together and connect.
She wants to encourage people to get involved and check out what the Food Forest has to offer.
If you are interested in helping to bring the sites to life, follow @TAfoodforest on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with upcoming events and volunteer opportunities.
