Otago Polytechnic student Luke Facer with potatoes fresh from the Kowhai Grove beds. Photo by Linda Robertson.
He has a fairly laid-back millennial thing going on, but the weeds and dirt were flying earlier when he was in the potato patch.
''It's like taking the power back for me, eh,'' says Luke. ''Self-sufficiency. Growing it yourself, putting it into the land without disrupting it.''
The 20-year-old sees the skills he's picking up at the polytechnic and at the grove as setting him up to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Find a bit of land, get established there.
But there are job skills too. He says he could be happy doing this sort of work. In the meantime, he's happy pitching in at Kowhai Grove.
''I would like to keep coming back any day I have free ... it's a good thing to be committed to, it's pretty awesome.''
