30 Mar 2017

New Zealand's first edible park looks set for action after the community dug deep to reach a $60,000 crowdfunding goal.

The planned layout of the Otakaro Orchard.

The Ōtākaro Orchard will be sited closed to the Margaret Mahy Playground.

The Ōtākaro Orchard project is led by the Food Resilience Network, a collaboration of over 30 organisations and 150 people working together under the moniker Edible Canterbury to get a strong local food economy in Canterbury.

They have been granted the lease of the $3 million site at 227 Cambridge Terrace, next to the former PGC building site in the Avon River Precinct, by Ōtākaro Limited and are fundraising $2 million to construct the edible park, cafe and local food information centre.

They have now reached their goal of crowdfunding $60,000 for the first phase of the project, well ahead of their deadline which expires at 8pm on Friday.

Project lead Chloe Waretini said the generosity from the community had been heartwarming.

“Not only in pledges, but through the contributions of rewards, this has turned into an amazing way to showcase Christchurch businesses.
 
“Crowdfunding takes a huge amount of time and energy, but it brings in so much more than just money. Throughout the campaign, we have grown awareness about the project and we know our community is definitely behind us now. They really want this to happen."

The first priority for the Ōtākaro Orchard team now is to get the site ready for planting trees.
 
“We need to excavate the site, form the pathways, put in irrigation and drainage, electrics, and of course soil. The cost of this first phase of work is $100,000. All pledges that we get above our $60,000 target will take us closer to that goal and mean that we can get started really soon.”

Nineteen Christchurch businesses, organisations and individuals have put up almost $15,000 of rewards.  

Several are still available, including monthly passes at the new BizDojo co-working space, a photoshoot with Peanut Productions, tickets for Ao Tawhiti Unlimited Discovery School’s Mid-Winter Bash students.
 
Naming rights for bricks, trees and planter beds are also available, for those keen to put their name to the project.
 
Ms Waretini says there are four spots left for companies and organisations to join Piko Wholefoods Co-operative as Founding Family Sponsors for $10,000 each.

The crowdfunding campaign is still running and closes at 8pm on Friday, March 31.