GARDENERS: Students from Rongomai School plant an orchard for free food for the future. Images supplied.

FOUNDATION: James McCarthy makes the resting place for Freedom Fruit Gardens plaque at Preston Road Reserve, Otara, while artist A.D Schierning and Otara Community Board member Bill Wiki watch his labour.

INSPIRING communities to reap the rewards of their labour has generated living art that will make a statement for years to come. A.D Schierning has a vision to help vulnerable communities access quality food for free and has taken the third step in her artistic Freedom Fruit Garden journey.

Her first exhibition at Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts in Pakuranga included a mandarin tree and a recycled wood garden bench. The living sculpture explored the tension of land control and sustainability. A.D’s subsequent project was planting a citrus grove at Te Tuhi and passers-by are invited to pick a lemon.

The third exciting stage is an orchard planted at Preston Road Reserve, Otara, chosen because it shares a border with Rongomai School. Students from the decile-one primary school nominated the fruiting trees which were donated by Waimea Nurseries.

A.D met with the school board and management before the event, and the children and community have enthusiastically taken ownership of the orchard.

Te Tuhi director James McCarthy contributed his labour — digging the hole for A.D’s Freedom Fruit Garden plaque and Bill Wiki, of Otara Community Board, gave a blessing as it went into the ground.

Students, parents, teachers, Te Tuhi staff, and a team of 15 conservation volunteers got the planting under way in the rain.

No-one was too bothered by the weather — it made the soil softer and heaps of fun for the children in their gumboots.

“It was a beautiful ceremony and it was something that everyone wanted and we worked together to make it happen,” says A.D.

“I feel quite touched about the whole thing. It’s a beautiful statement about what you can do by coming together.”

A.D is taking her living art project to another community recognised as financially deprived and is working with TheNewDowse gallery in Lower Hutt.

For more information, visit www.freedomfruitgardens.com.