Mangaroa Farms is a resilient community food hub and education centre in Te Awa Kairangi Hutt Valley. With 1,200 hectares, Mangaroa Farms is a living laboratory transitioning dairy and pine into regenerative agriculture and native forests. The market garden team produces a weekly array of fresh and delicious produce grown with organic principles, while the farm backs on to 500+ acres of native old growth forest and 700+ acres of pine which will be regenerated as native forest, working alongside nature and partnering with pasture-raised livestock to increase soil health and diversity. Mangaroa Farms regularly hosts volunteer days and workshops to share the broad knowledge base of their team.
Project story
Most people have never pulled a beetroot out of the ground. In January 2026, we opened the gates of the market garden for the first time and invited whānau to come do exactly that.
Whānau holding fresh-pulled beetroot — hands in the soil, smiles on faces
Pick Your Own runs on Saturday mornings, 9am to 11am. A $20 ticket gets your family one crate to fill with whatever's in season — beetroot, potatoes, pumpkins, kale, silverbeet, sunflowers. You bring your own bags, secateurs, and a hat. We provide the soil, the produce, and the morning.
A PYO crate — kale, beetroot, potatoes, rhubarb, straight from the garden
Despite cold and rainy weather on the first day, people came from across the Hutt Valley and Wellington. Tamariki pulled potatoes bigger than their hands. Parents knelt in the rows cutting kale. The Farm Shop and Coffee Shack stayed open for hot drinks and extra kai to take home.
Tamariki (children) holding their harvest — potatoes pulled straight from the soil
Through autumn, PYO became a regular fixture — running alongside the Harvest Festival and kicking off Organic Week in May. Wendell Berry said "eating is an agricultural act." That's what this is. Not a farm tour. Not a workshop. Just the simple act of harvesting your own kai from the ground it grew in, surrounded by community.
Families looking out across the garden — tunnelhouse and hills behind
The last PYO of the season ran on 2nd May 2026. The Coffee Shack hibernated for winter. We'll be back when the weather warms and the soil is ready again.
Mangaroa Permaculture Orchard sign — families picking in the background
Project updates
Team
Community Food Hub: Pick Your Own at Mangaroa Farms
Mangaroa Farms is a resilient community food hub and education centre in Te Awa Kairangi Hutt Valley. With 1,200 hectares, Mangaroa Farms is a living laboratory transitioning dairy and pine into regenerative agriculture and native forests. The market garden team produces a weekly array of fresh and delicious produce grown with organic principles, while the farm backs on to 500+ acres of native old growth forest and 700+ acres of pine which will be regenerated as native forest, working alongside nature and partnering with pasture-raised livestock to increase soil health and diversity. Mangaroa Farms regularly hosts volunteer days and workshops to share the broad knowledge base of their team.
Project story
Most people have never pulled a beetroot out of the ground. In January 2026, we opened the gates of the market garden for the first time and invited whānau to come do exactly that.
Whānau holding fresh-pulled beetroot — hands in the soil, smiles on faces
Pick Your Own runs on Saturday mornings, 9am to 11am. A $20 ticket gets your family one crate to fill with whatever's in season — beetroot, potatoes, pumpkins, kale, silverbeet, sunflowers. You bring your own bags, secateurs, and a hat. We provide the soil, the produce, and the morning.
A PYO crate — kale, beetroot, potatoes, rhubarb, straight from the garden
Despite cold and rainy weather on the first day, people came from across the Hutt Valley and Wellington. Tamariki pulled potatoes bigger than their hands. Parents knelt in the rows cutting kale. The Farm Shop and Coffee Shack stayed open for hot drinks and extra kai to take home.
Tamariki (children) holding their harvest — potatoes pulled straight from the soil
Through autumn, PYO became a regular fixture — running alongside the Harvest Festival and kicking off Organic Week in May. Wendell Berry said "eating is an agricultural act." That's what this is. Not a farm tour. Not a workshop. Just the simple act of harvesting your own kai from the ground it grew in, surrounded by community.
Families looking out across the garden — tunnelhouse and hills behind
The last PYO of the season ran on 2nd May 2026. The Coffee Shack hibernated for winter. We'll be back when the weather warms and the soil is ready again.
Mangaroa Permaculture Orchard sign — families picking in the background
Project updates
Team
Location
New Zealand