Karakia is an important step, give gratitude to the plant for giving you such an amazing resource. I'm not even religious and always do Karakia.

this was a challenging yet rewarding activity to do with my class. They found it tricky but a great lesson in resilience and perseverance! A wonderful Matariki activity!

Here's a short karakia that's appropriate to use for harvesting harakeke. I originally came across it in one of the tikanga segments of the TV program Korero Mai - but I have seen it referenced in many other places, too: Te Harakeke, Te Korari. Ngā taonga whakarere iho. O te rangi. O te whenua. O ngā tipuna. Homai he oranga mō matou. Tihei mauri ora. How I was taught to use this, is that it is said holding a leaf from the harakeke bush you intend to cut from, directly before you start harvesting the leaves. You shouldn't cut the harakeke if it's raining, or at night, or when the fan is in flower - I'm not an expert, though, so it is possible that there are other tikanga I'm not aware of. These are just the ones that were taught to me.

Thanks. This looks great!!

thanks very much! a wonderful resource for primary aged students.

This is great with matariki coming up ty

Awesome!

I love it I made it ciz I live on a farm and it’s amazing!

Where is this Pā Harakeke 😱😱😱