More links and websites
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Koanga o te tau: planting time
This 1967 article from Te Ao Hou magazine discusses ways of growing and preparing kūmara.
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Kumaras and kumara magic
A 1962 article from Te Ao Hou about the religious aspects of growing kūmara.
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Maori gardening: an archaeological perspective
This very comprehensive report by Louise Furey focuses particularly on kūmara (PDF, 445 KB).
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On the vegetable food of the ancient New Zealanders before Cook’s visit
This 1880 paper by William Colenso includes information on kūmara.
More suggestions and sources
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Best, Elsdon. Māori agriculture: the cultivated food plants of the natives of New Zealand: with some account of native methods of agriculture, its ritual and origin myths. Wellington: Te Papa Press, 2005 (originally published 1925).
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Davidson, Janet M. The prehistory of New Zealand. Auckland: Longman Paul, 1987.
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Leach, Helen May Keedwell. 1,000 years of gardening in New Zealand. Wellington: Reed, 1984.