Seeds of Generation - July Newsletter 2025
Kia Ora,
Stories, like seeds, are carried in quiet ways.
They wait in glass jars, tucked into paper envelopes, or passed hand to hand across generations - resting, yet always alive.
Their potential for regeneration begins not in grand gestures, but in the small, careful acts of remembering.
With the release of the 2025 seed catalogue from Kōanga Institute: Our Stories, Our Seeds, Our Future, we are invited into the whakapapa of kai - seeds with names, ancestors, and memories.
Years ago, a Māori koro entrusted a rare corn variety Kaanga Ma (below) to Kōanga for safekeeping. This year, his mokopuna reached out, and the seed returned home. A full circle of whenua and whānau.
View the Kōanga 2025 seed catalogue featuring over 330 heritage food plants here.
This month, we honour the quiet stewards and seed keepers - those who remind us that the land remembers, and that through our hands, the story continues.
Please enjoy this month’s updates below.
Ngā mihi aroha,
— Biome Trust
Kay Baxter, Kōanga founder standing next to the Kaanga Ma corn.
Featuring over 350 seed varieties, including, heritage pumpkins, squash, beans and more.
Download a free copy of the beautiful, full colour 2025 Seed catalogue here.
Giftee Updates
Happen Films’ recent film The New Peasants is up for Best Environmental Documentary and Audience Choice – Feature. More
Papawhakaritorito Trust now have their new book Pataka Kai: Growing Kai Sovereignty, alongside a range of other pukuapuka (books) available to order online. More
Toru Education are hosting a range of local events in the Greater Wellington region, highlighting permaculture and food forest design. More
Local Futures’ Helena Norberg Hodge shares Five Words to Reimagine the Future at the 2025 Wisdom & Action Forum. More
Tiwaiwaka’s Pā Ropata / Rob McGowan recently visited Nelson to share the 6 Tīwaiwaka principles for restoring the mauri of the whenua. More
Mangaroa Farms begins designing a permaculture orchard in the paddocks next to the market gardens. More
Organics New Zealand notes FSANZ’s recent approval to allow unlabelled GMO foods on NZ shelves. More
Learning Environment releases their Koha Kai report, based on enhancing access to locally-grown, nutrient-dense produce in Whanganui's Aramoho/Papaiti area. More
Ruamāhanga Farm Foundation hosted a year 3 & 4 class from local Kahutara School for a nature drawing session in the forest. More
Rewiring Aotearoa likens the recent repeal of the oil and gas exploration ban in NZ to investing in a Nokia after the iPhone was released. More
Kelmarna Community Farm’s Soil Factory is offering bicycle-powered community composting in the Grey Lynn area. More
Tū Wairua: The Māori-led kaupapa that’s helping Methamphetamine addicts recover using psychedelics. More
Eco-Index has published remote wetland mapping research, with high-resolution planet SuperDove satellite imagery. More
The short film Mauri, coming soon.
Additional News
Science and Nonduality presents Mauri: The Vital Essence in All Beings, a short film exploring the healing ways of Māori ancestral knowledge - coming soon. More
Predator Free NZ applications are now open until Aug 17th for the Predator Free Communities Programme, offering up to $5,000 for traps and gear. More
Donna Kerridge is speaking at the Indigenous Wellbeing Conference in Meanjin / Brisbane, Oct 20th - 24th. More
Permadynamics reflects on their food forest as a former sheep paddock, now alive with reciprocity. More
No More Glyphosate crowdfunds tests for glyphosate levels in popular breakfast foods like Weet-bix. More
“In some native languages,the term for plants, translates to ‘those who take care of us.”
