Experience Farm-To-Table At Velskov, A Regenerative Forest Farm In Auckland
If you are visiting Auckland, don't forget to slow down with a visit to Velskov where nourisher and creator Mamakan will take you through her 10-acre forest far
It was a nippy evening in Auckland. After a delayed flight, I landed three hours late. Over a very late dinner, Saadiyah, from the Radisson RED (where I was staying), asked me if I had it in me to join a culinary and foraging experience early the next morning. Despite the lack of sleep and my inability to make sense of time (thanks to jet lag), there was no way I was missing out on this visit.
The next morning, along with four other journalists, I drove 30 minutes from the heart of the city to Velskov, a 10-acre forest farm in the Waitakere Ranges of Auckland. At the entrance stood Mamakan, a Danish-born botanical artist and forest farmer who is also the creator and nourisher of the regenerative forest farm.
“Welcome to my home,” she said.
Tumm 30+ Was Yumm!
After a long walk up the steps, we were seated inside a glass room that gave us a perfect view of the city in the distance and the Waitakere Ranges much closer to us. It felt like I was feeling the sun after ages. Mamakan let us immerse ourselves in the space while she prepared her famous Tumm 30+. “When was the last time you all stood amidst the trees and heard the leaves rustle?” she asked from a distance. We all started thinking back in time until we discovered that, for most of us, that experience was dated months ago.
“That’s what the city does to you,” she replied while placing bowls full of a pink-hued porridge in front of each one of us. “That looks Yumm,” one of the journalists remarked. “And it is called Tumm,” Mamakan laughed.
Part of Velskov’s multi-sensorial dining and foraging experience, the Tumm Bowl (also referred to as the Tumm 30+ microbiome breakfast bowl) is a plant-based porridge prepared using more than 30 different plants, most of which are hand-foraged from the surrounding native New Zealand bush. It is one of the first things you will experience during your multi-sensory dining and foraging experience at Velskov.
Tumm is a tea-based dish made using endemic New Zealand herbs (such as the peppery Kawakawa). It incorporates plant proteins like nuts, seeds, mushrooms, and seaweed, is blended with seasonal organic vegetables, and is topped with fresh fruits and edible flowers. Despite being entirely vegan and dairy-free, it features a very rich, creamy texture.It is placed to promote gut health and introduce guests to Mamakan’s philosophy of “GastroGeography”—the concept of tasting and experiencing the landscape and medicinal qualities of a local ecosystem.
As we polished our respective bowls, Mamakan stood smiling at a distance. “If you eat this for three months straight, you will start witnessing changes in your heart, mind, and body,” she claimed. When I asked her about the name that meant nothing to me, she said, “My son, Sammy coined it. He says the meal is yumm yet good for the tummy.”
Did it agree with Sammy after one bowl down…yes!
Eat The Forest In The Forest
After wiping the bowls clean and discussing how we would love to prepare this each day for brekkie but are constrained by a paucity of time, Mamakan asked us to move on to a “house party.” Well, if it were a house party, then for me it was one with strangers. We all gathered around a heated stove where Mamakan’s friend Aneke Griffiths, who is also the official corporate partner at Velskov, waited for us.
We were handed mushrooms, courgettes, corn ribs, kiwis, and tomatoes. After peeling, slicing, and sauteing the fruits and vegetables, we placed them on the stove. At the very centre was placed a block of blue cheese, and on the sides was toasted some bread. As the vegetables and fruits took their sweet time to cook, we stood there chatting and discussing how each vegetable would have to be flipped at a different time. Courgettes were quick, while the corn took longer. We took turns flipping, and finally, when we knew our meal was ready, we all let out a breath of great relief. But the exercise definitely brought us all much closer, not just to each other but also to what we were going to eat.
“That’s the point. You touch, see, feel, and smell whatever you eat before it lands on your plates,” said Mamakan. My favourite was, of course, the mushroom because I tried my hand at sauteing them and next on my list of favourites was the roasted kiwi fruit. “Are you saying that because you are sitting in the land of the kiwis?” Mamakan asked laughingly. Probably, it was just tasting better at the source, and that was the whole point.
Track Your Tree Even Years Later
After we finished our meal, Mamakan was already preparing a surprise for us. She asked us to assemble in front of a bench lined with saplings. “Pick one sapling each, and whichever you pick belongs to you,” said Mamakan. I picked a kanuka tree, which is known to heal damaged land, has soft leaves, and produces tiny white summer flowers used for honey and essential oils. Mamakan also handed us paper slips and markers. “Now name your plant.”
Naming a plant was not new to me. I had seen my grandfather call his plants by different names all through his life. But for others, naming a plant was like naming your teddy bear as a child. After much thought, I named the plant after my mother’s name.
“Now that you have named the plants, these will be planted in Velskov,” assured Mamakan. She also mentioned that a GPS link will be shared with us to locate our plants, and even years later, when we return to the forest farm, we will find our tree blooming and growing.
All in all, Velskov is a place where you not only experience things you probably never have time for, but also get to touch grass and connect with the food you consume. At a time when everyone is talking about farm-to-table, Velskov brings it to your plates in its most honest self.
Today, the forest farm is home to over 31 species of native plants, with a total of almost 150 native herbs and trees and a viability rate of 89%. The revival of this fauna has also led many native birds and insects to return to Velskov. We were lucky enough to spot a pīwakawaka or New Zealand fantail, a very chatty bird.
Mamakan, the one who revived the forest, started off as an artist whose career included large-scale botanical photography, installations, and immersive, sensory art involving sight, touch, taste, sound, and scent.
Before founding and developing Velskov in Auckland, she worked extensively in the arts, including projects in Singapore. Her GastroGeography project was part of the 2016 Singapore Biennale, and she later created a botanical installation, Treasure Island, at the National Museum of Singapore in 2017. With Velskov, she decided that instead of bringing nature to the gallery, she wanted to bring people to nature itself. With that thought in mind, she set out to revive a barren land into a 10-acre living and breathing forest farm.
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