Medicinal Uses For ...

A few weeks ago, a small group of 5 children from our class went to a harakeke & medicinal workshop. They learnt how to create ninja stars and flowers out of harakeke. We tried making the ninja stars here in class, (it was TRICKY!) When we cut the flax or harakeke here at school we were told by the children how went to the workshop that before you cut the flax you need to say thank you or do a karakia, afterwards they told us that there is 3 lengths of harakeke, the baby, the parents and the grandparents they told us to only cut the grandparents and to cut the flax at the base on a downward slope. There were also some other rules like not to drop or step on the flax or put it on the ground. After we created our flax creations we put the leftover flax under the bush we cut it from. You have to respect the harakeke.

They learnt how to plant kumara in a plastic tub, we also tried it here at school. We started by adding a layer of stones then grass clippings, soil and sand on top. we then cut the two ends of the kumara and buried the ends into the sand and soil. The Maori used this recipe to grow the kumara all year round. Hopefully, our kumara will grow.

Two girls from our class, Sophia and Liana showed us how to create Kawakawa syrup. We used 5-6 leaves, 1 tsp of garlic, 1/2 a tsp of ginger and 1tsp of honey then we simmered it for 30-60 minutes. + the Kawakawa leave picks you the one with the most holes is better because it has more nutrients.

                                                         Simmering the Kawakawa syrup

                                             Holes in the Kawakawa, adding more nutrients

                                                                     Cutting the flax

                                                                  Planting the Kumara

                                                                             weaving