ADVENTURES IN HARAKEKE : Introduction

Harakeke, Phormium tenax, is a member of the Agave family. The plant grows as a clump of long, straplike leaves, up to two metres long, from which arises a much taller flowering shoot, with dramatic yellow or red flowers. The fibre has been widely used since the arrival of Māori to New Zealand, originally in Māori traditional textiles and also in rope and sail making after the arrival of Europeans until at least WWII. It is an invasive species in some of the Pacific Islands and in Australia. The blades of the plant contain cucurbitacins, which are poisonous to some animals, and some of them are among the bitterest tastes to humans.

Tui on a Harakeke flower stalk

Flax Worker feeding leaves into a stripper

Early 1930's

There are protocol to follow when gathering Harakeke. These are general instructions for a pa harakeke, or garden:

Each harakeke bush is made up of many whanau (family) to form a hapu (family group). So each fan is a whanau and has nga matua (the parents) either side of te rito (the growing shoot).  These three blades are never cut to ensure the ongoing survival and wellbeing of the bush. The remaining leaves of the whanau may be cut for harvest.  It is very important that this is done in the correct manner.

 

v Before harvest karakia is offered to give thanks

v The leaves are cut as per the diagram above. Depending on local practice, all leaves are taken except for the rito and awhi rito with the bush left fully cleaned. Or you may harvest leaving the grandparents (whenu 3 above) as long as each fan is harvested thus. However, if you are not able to use all the available leaves, just take what you can use.

v Traditionally the left over harakeke or toenga (those whenu not suitable for weaving due to disease or deterioration) were left to decompose around the base of the bush.  However this is no longer the practice due to the possible presence of disease and pests in the discarded whenu and so the matter must be composted away from the pa harakeke. With seriously diseased whenu it is now advised that they be burnt to prevent spread although traditionally harakeke was never burnt.

v Fans containing korari (flower stalks) should not be harvested until the flowers have died. We limit the growth of korari in the pa so that the energy of the harakeke bush is not diverted to the growth of the flowers, away from the whenu. Traditionally all korari were removed to prevent the possibility of cross fertilization of the different cultivars.

v Harakeke should be harvested during the day when the blades are dry, not at night or in the rain or frost - as a safety measure but also as doing so will effect the quality of the harakeke making it very brittle.

v Once harvested the harakeke is never walked over, but around. All toenga is removed from the pa and disposed of elsewhere, with the site being left clean of the remains of the harvest. If you are adding this to a greenwaste collection service, check that they will actually take the toenga, as many won't.

v No-one eats, drinks or smokes within the boundaries of the pa harakeke, whether harvesting or visiting.

v Traditionally women with their mate wahine (monthly period) do not harvest as this was a time of rest.

Traditional Flax Harvesting & Weaving Karakia

Te Harakeke, Te Korari

Flax

Nga taonga whakarere iho
the treasure passed down to us

O te Rangi. O te Whenua. O nga Tupuna.
by the sky, the land, the ancestors

Homai he oranga mo matou
gives us health

Tihei mauri ora
for our life force

You may make your own karakia or offering of thanks and gratitude.

HARVESTING:

I harvested my harakeke on a warm day, slightly overcast, with just a light breeze, using the above Karakia before starting. I used a box cutter with a new sharp blade - you generally cannot cut the leaves with scissors or clippers, it's just too tough.

Harakeke before tidying

After harvesting and tidying

The waste pile - this went into a general waste skip, not greenwaste

The harvested leaves

The leaves are then topped, tailed, the centre spine and the coloured edges removed. Fold the leaf in half on itself, cut off the butt end, and using your fingernails or a blade, slice off the spine and edges. Remove the tip. If desired, you can hapine or split the blades into narrow lengths.

RHETTING:

At this point I put the harvested leaves into a large blue plastic rubbish bin in cold water, weighted down with bricks and a terracotta saucer. I fed it some sugar (to feed the bacteria) and aquarium salt to make it slightly briney.

Day 1: First batch of leaves in the bucket

When rhetting European flax, you only do it for a maximum of about 10 days. At that point, the harakeke just laughed at me. I checked it every week after that, and eventually left it in for 5 weeks:

After 5 weeks, there was an interesting mould growth, and it stunk to high heaven!

This is a batch of muka (prepared bast fibre) from a previous experiment, and a couple of leaves, which I boiled to see if it helped. Yes, no, maybe.

The harakeke leaves once they'd been tipped out of the bucket and laid on the grass to dry. Phew. Stinky!

Next time: preparing the muka/bast fibre ....

Please feel free to contact me if you want more information regarding the process so far.

sue.cottle@kinect.co.nz