Balm-making | by Mel

For our first session we were really excited. We went to the Learning Hub and got introduced to Arihia Latham, a Rongoā Māori expert. 

First we learnt how to harvest kawakawa; it was really interesting. Then we got into groups and tore kawakawa leaves and put them in jars. Then we poured oil in over the leaves. Then we had to leave the full moon to do some work. A month later we were ready for part two. We put our maths brains on and entered. We grated the beeswax so it could be melted easily. 

Then we strained the oil out and added the right amount of beeswax. We melted it and mixed it together on the stove. 

When it was ready we took turns to pour it in to small jars that Karin gave us. Thank you Arihia!

Making kawakawa balm

This is the card we made for the wonderful Arihia:

Dear Arihia,

Nga mihinui ki a koe mo to ako ki te Rongoa Maori.

We very much enjoyed you coming here because it was interesting how you taught us to make kawakawa balm. I’m sure that balm will come in useful when we have cuts, burns, bruises and stings.

Thank you for teaching us; we loved all the wonderful things you entwined into our brains. You taught us that kawakawa has a lot more medicinal properties than some other Rongoa Maori. We learned that we need to say a traditional karakia to the kawakawa plant before we harvest the leaves. Thank you for teaching us the legend about Papatuanuku, Ranginui and Rongomatane. This helped us to understand why and how te ao Maori was created.

It was cool how you taught us to use the ratios to add up the litres and grams we needed when we made the balm today. You taught us how important it is to use the correct amount of oil so it’s not too hard or runny, just in the middle: just right!

You taught us to say, Nga mihinui ki a koe, to the plant when we returned the used kawakawa leaves to its roots.

Thanks for teaching us to sing while we cooked the beeswax and oil together so that we could help the balm to be full of goodness.

It was tricky to pour the balm into the small jars but it felt really rewarding when we got it right!

Thank you so much; we think you’re amazing.

Nga mihinui,

Amy and M13

Rongoa Maori workshop - Kawakawa oil infusion with Rongoa expert Arihia

Today Arihia, an Enviroschools Rongoā expert, came and ran some Rongoā Māori workshops for us in the learning hub. After learning about the stories of Ranginui and Papatuanuku being separated in the beginning, and Tane Mahuta covering his mother with forest, we learned about saying a karakia before harvesting leaves for Rongoā Māori. 

Then we learned about the healing properties of kawakawa and other leaves...

Stay tuned for more blogposts explaining what we learned today!