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Keisha Castle-Hughes
Home » Magazine » Good, issue 4 » Keisha Castle-HughesAt the age of 18, Keisha Castle-Hughes has clocked up more experience and wisdom than someone twice her age. She credits her environmental awareness to her Maori upbringing and the birth of her 14-month-old daughter, Felicity-Amore
Photogragh by Chris Skelton
Ever since I’ve had Felicity, I worry more about what’s going to be left for her generation in terms of natural resources. At home we have what we call our ‘whanau steps to being green’. We have them on little Post-It notes around the house.
My generation has been taught to over-indulge, to super-size, to update everything. We buy a new phone and then there’s a new one out the next week. So instead of making things last, we just buy lots of little things that don’t really matter.
I know how to use a new cellphone if I’ve never seen it before. But I wouldn’t know what time of the year I’m meant to plant snow peas or harvest kumara. Those are the life skills that my grandfather’s generation had. So Felicity and I have just started our own little garden.
I think it’s exciting for a child to watch life grow. They’re learning how to nurture. Felicity also has two little goldfish she has to look after, although she hasn’t quite figured out that she can’t put her hand in the tank and pick them up!
I love cooking and I try and shop as organically as I can, although it’s hard economically. I have a shopping list that I stick to, otherwise I would buy lots of stuff we don’t need. It would go in the rubbish bin at the end of the week and just be a waste of produce, and packets. We have a menu every week.
My partner Bradley and I have just bought our first house and there’s always a well-balanced meal on the table at the end of the day. My 16-year-old brother lives with us. He works with Brad so I’ve tried making their lunches for them, but they say it’s embarrassing to take lunch boxes onto building sites.
I always use natural medicines. When we were sick as children, mum would give us a combination of crystals and rocks to put in our pocket. We’d always be walking around, jingle jangle, with quartz and something else to counterbalance how we were feeling. It always worked for us!
I didn’t realise how much I learned from my mother until I was a mother myself. The other week I had to clean out the fridge and I rang her and said, “So you put vinegar and baking soda in some water?” Then Brad said, “What’s wrong with Spray N Wipe?” I thought you could only clean a fridge with vinegar and baking soda!
Being Maori, a lot of this stuff goes back to my cultural roots. It’s the basis of everything we know as Maori people. We learn the story of Rangi and Papa, that the earth is your mother and the sky is your father. And we have Gods for everything. We respect the ocean because there’s a God there.
I’ve always taken it for granted that we have this amazing nature all around us. But when you think how many of our animals might not be here in 50 years, that’s kind of scary. Like the tuatara, they’ve lived forever, so what have we done in order to wreck that?
Keisha stars in Niki Caro’s new film The Vintners Luck, due for release in 2009
