About us

Growing Point is a dynamic educator in the regenerative movement in Aotearoa — weaving mātauranga Māori and western science to reconnect people with te taiao and inspire joyful solutions that restore wellbeing to land and life.

Actioning joyful solutions

Established in 2010 to scale up a community composting initiative at Dignan Street Community Garden in Point Chevalier, our mahi has grown from one community space into a wider movement of soil and compost education, workshops, and collaborative projects. Today we support growers, schools, and communities across Aotearoa to regenerate soil, strengthen kai sovereignty, and work in harmony with nature.

At the heart of it all is Dignan Street Community Garden — our Hua Parakore verified community māra where soil care leads directly to human care and gardening together builds a more resilient, connected community. While Growing Point is the people and the kaupapa; DSCG is the place where it all began. Together, they form a living example of how regenerative gardening, soil education, and community action can transform lives.

● Our work at a glance

● 16 varieties

Of precolonial kūmara preserved and grown as a living collection in partnership with Ngati Whatua Orakei.

● Four tonnes

Of mauri-rich biocomplete compost produced and used on-site each year through our courses and working bees.

● 260

Subscribers and active readers or our weekly email newsletter with events, mātauranga and garden-related māramatanga outlook.

● 90+

Facilitated working bees for members and volunteers each year at Dignan Street Community garden.

We’re a small but passionate team, working both in the garden and further afield

Our core pieces of work include:

  • Keeping Dignan Street Community Garden humming along through two facilitated working bees each week, growing enough kai to provide for the 50+ membership.

  • Delivering soil education programmes on a range of scales, from our 4-part deep dive into soil microbiology and compost making to our mobile microscopy unit bringing regenerative agriculture to life in the field.

  • Maintaining a national collection of pre-colonial kūmara varieties, and supporting other māra kai maintaining duplicate collections across the city

  • Running an active calendar of free or low-cost events and workshops for garden volunteers, kids, locals and our partner organisations.

  • Consulting on regenerative and biological solutions for growing projects grounded in both Hua Parakore and the Soil Food Web approach.

We’re also a registered charity and open to collaboration with communities, schools, researchers, and businesses who share our values.

Our Team

Rebecca Swan

Co-director, Founding Member, Community & Education Lead

Bex brings creativity, vision, and a deep commitment to our community. She is one of the original founding members of Dignan Street Community Garden and continues to hold the kaupapa of Growing Point with passion and care.

Bex’s background as a renowned visual artist and photographer, combined with her soil microscopy training under Dr Elaine Ingham, makes her passionate about making the unseen seen – and connecting people to the vibrant life force that flows from a healthy māra and a connected community.

Bex was the data mentor for the Centres of Regenerative Learning program, and leads Growing Point’s soil, composting and microsopy education. Based just up the road from the māra in Point Chev, she’s usually found talking to the seedlings in the greenhouse or making friends with tuna in the local awa.

Rob Small

co-director, Mātauranga Lead & Kūmara Project Curator

Matua Rob (Ngāpuhi) is a cultural leader and expert grower, guiding Growing Point’s mātauranga Māori practice.

He carries decades of knowledge in soil, seed, botany and tikanga, and has been instrumental in the preservation of heritage kūmara and other taonga fruit tree species which are being preserved on-site.

Rob’s has decades of wisdom in horticulture, parks management, garden maintenance and education, and he shares his wisdom generously.

Rob also sits on the board or Te Waka Kai Ora, the national Māori organics authority, and is an independent verifier of blossoming Hua Parakore māra around the mōtu.

Luke Baker

Secretary, Regenerative Soil Specialist & Microbe Whisperer

Luke is a soil nerd and gardening educator with a passion for bringing the invisible world of microbes to life. Alongside teaching gardening at a local primary school, he leads Growing Point’s soil ecology research and experimentation, and supports the delivery of courses in composting and microscopy.

Luke’s love of gardening is intergenerational, and he thrives on connecting people to nutrient-and-flavour dense kai, to seed heritage, and to practical regenerative tools they can use in their own contexts.

Luke is currently undergoing Dr Elaine Ingham’s advanced program and soon to be a certified Soil Food Web Consultant and Lab Technician, offering in-house soil testing and biological expertise to both our māra and our collaborators.

Partners & funders

  • Kaitiaki and owners of the land where Dignan Street Community Garden is located, and incredible neighbours.

  • Project funding for heritage crop preservation and mātauranga Māori research.

  • Supporting infrastructure and equipment for both the māra kai and our heritage kūmara project.