Huamārama Production Update - Ōturu o Te Ngahuru ma tahi o Paengwhāwhā

Tēnā rā koutou e te whānau e tautoko i te kaupapa o Rauora nei. Te tūmanako kei te noho ora tonu koutou ko to whānau i te wā o te hauhake kūmara, hauhake huawhenua, te wā whakakī i ngā pātaka kai.

This is such a wonderful time of year, where the harvests of our hard work and care and attention of our māra are being harvested and stored in our pātaka kai to sustain us i ngā wā korekore - the lean times of the year.

Likewise with Huamārama, we are almost at the stage where we get to fully realise the work and care and attention to detail comes to fruition to sustain us into our new year. While Pani-tinaku has risen and our kūmara harvests should be mostly completed by now, other tohu and practical considerations mean Huamārama is not yet ready to be harvested and distributed.

We recently received the final print proof from the printers, and while we are thrilled to be so close, there were still some very minor changes that needed to be made to the design and copy so it isn't sent out into the world with inaccuracies. Making these corrections and getting another final cover proof is still being compounded by delays to production caused by Omicron, so the anticipated shipping window we had for mid-April (now) needs to be pushed out to allow for the corrections to me made without haste so it is completed correctly.

Shirley, Te Atawhai and I have been reflecting on this last stage of the journey, as we near Huamārama going into full print production, and while parts of us feel like we wished Huamārama was sent out sooner, we are also very much embracing the realisation that time for it to be sent out will be when the energies and space allow it. We are making positive progress, but also flowing with the rhythms and shifting around the challenges as they reveal themselves - me he wai - to be like water.

Dr Rangi Mataamua, and others, have been wonderfully active in reminding us that decolonising ourselves from the introduced (non-Māori) systems of time requires us to consider what re-indigenising time looks like, and how that might be reflected in what we do. The production of Huamārama has been a wonderful journey of gently challenging our expectations to those that are more in line with natural realisations and growth within taiao.

Heoi anō, please be reassured that progress is continuing, e te whānau, but that our forecast shipping date is now approx Ōturu o Te Ngahuru ma rua o Haki o Haratua / mid-May, 2022.

As always, if you have any concerns or would like to amend your order or delivery address, or have other pātai or feedback, please reply to this email.

We encourage you to connect to our Facebook and Instagram pages (links below) to see more regular updates on progress and what we are exploring at this time of the seasons too.

Noho ora tonu, e te whānau.