Event Details

Earthworkers Hort 101 is a five-day, in-person immersion designed to support growers navigating the transition to biology-first regenerative growing systems. The course blends soil science, on-farm practice, and real-world decision-making — giving participants the confidence to work with soil biology rather than against it.

Graduates also join Earthworkers’ ongoing mentoring network, a living classroom where growers continue to learn, troubleshoot, and support one another long after the course ends.

Location & Host Farms

Primary Host Farm: Mangaroa Farms

Te Awa Kairangi (Hutt Valley water catchment), Upper Hutt, Wellington
Mangaroa Farms is an Earthworkers Alumni Farm. It functions as a community food hub and resilience education centre, and a living laboratory for transitioning dairy and pine forestry into regenerative agriculture and native forest systems.
As part of Biome Trust, Mangaroa Farms demonstrates how soil health, microbial systems, grazing animals, forests, and waterways can be integrated into a resilient, productive food system.

Key features include:

• Regenerative market gardening supplying local communities
• Regenerative grazing with pasture-raised cows and sheep
• Active restoration of native forest alongside productive land
• Direct relationship with the Mangaroa River and surrounding ecosystems

Mangaroa Farms backs onto over 500 acres of native old-growth forest, with neighbouring pine plantations being regenerated into native forest over the next 2–5 years — making it a powerful learning environment for growers interested in long-term land stewardship.

Field Visit Partner: Mahinga Kai

Upper Hutt

Mahinga Kai is an Earthworkers alumni farm and living example of regenerative food production grounded in community. Field sessions here will deepen participants’ understanding of soil health, system design, and place-based growing practices.