10 November 2009

Te Radar

If you are a fan of TV1’s Te Radar, the fellow living in a caravan and learning to live ‘off the land’, you will be able to look forward to Riverton appearing in his next series ‘Radars Patch’. The wind howled down Riverton’s main street as the camera crew began filming – an interview with Adam on seed saving inside the Environment Centre
fared little better with the skylight and chimney rattling intermittently. Floundering on the North beach that evening was also blustery- Radar slept that night in Adam’s bedroom- the loft above the families garage amongst the trays and bags, baskets and sacks of seeds, getting a closer look at how southern seed saving gardeners live. Then against all odds and predictions the new day was a gem- sunny, windless and warm- Radar apparently got sunburnt! So the filming in the Guyton’s 15 year old Food Forest captured it as the paradise that it is…hopefully the filming of the programme will encourage more Kiwis to garden more naturally using heritage fruit, berries and veges. The next day the gale force winds returned... It was fun having him here and we hope to get him back next year to do a performance for our community.

Beach 350

We went to the beach with our spades and a canvas tent to be part of Southland’s ‘350’ awareness campaign- encouraging our earths leaders to stick to 350 parts per million units of carbon in the atmosphere, (the safe level to keep climate change at bay). At our present 387 parts per million climate change is already being noticed globally, it is sobering to think about. We weren’t the only ones at Oreti Beach- there were hundreds of people there building sand castles near to the waves to highlight how vulnerable coastal communities like ours are. No matter how well the sandcastles were built they eventually fell to the power of the waves. Our big tent was no different and fell spectacularly to a huge wave just as the Southland Times was taking a photo of one of our intrepid campers digging up frantically to shore up the sagging tent. The event was mirrored throughout NZ and the world, but no other region used the tide or sandcastles and tents to illustrate their point. Go to www.350.org to see the diverse 350 video clips from all over the world.

Congratulations Marijke Aalders Southland Gardener of the year:

Marijke has always gardened even when living in a 6th floor apartment in Holland she used to cycle for 30 minutes to get to her allotment. For 30 years she has been a wonderfully self sufficient organic gardener admired by us all. She a founding member of our Riverton Organic Group. More recently she has been growing thousands of native plants with little renumeration for our Aparima Nursery Enterprise. She has volunteered for nearly 15 years at the South Coast Environment Centre. She is always willing to share plants, information and teach all who show interest in gardening and slef sufficient life styles. This is a well deserved recognition for someone who definitely walks the talk!

Community Trust of Southland long term support.

Diane Williams called in to visit last week to pick up a copy of our audited accounts and hear about what we had been up to. She was very impressed and probably felt tired after Robyn shared all we had been doing. The very good news is that they have changed the way they support worthwhile community groups to give them more security. If we continue to perform well and provide a great service in Southland we will long term be in 'year one' of three year funding! So next year is the first year of a further three years funding not the last year of guaranteed funding as we thought. This is a huge relief because in the back of our minds we always have thought that this time next year we could be in dire straights once again. Knowing our basic costs are covered we can go forward with confidence and plan annual events and long term projects. Any extra funds we get from other sources will be an added bonus for our projects and educational programmes. It is very impressive for the Trust to be so supportive during obviously tougher economic times - This is what makes Southland the special place it is.

Organic Farm NZ

We have held two workshops this year and we have more than enough people to get started with the certification process. It has been very enjoyable and worthwhile meeting and sharing ideas. Rather than just meeting once or twice a year to review and assess each other we have decided to meet several times a year. We will run a “Southland Small Organic Producers group” alongside the ‘OFNZ Certification’ process. If you are growing and selling organic produce of any type and you would like to be part of this discussion & support group, leave your contact details at the Centre and we will contact you when we next meet.

Welcome to Chris and Jolene

We have way outgrown the office systems that did us well in former less busy times- this year has been particularly difficult because the busier we got the more we noticed old systems just weren’t coping. It was also frustrating to have to the accounting system we bought and set up earlier in the year sitting there unused as we lacked someone with accounting skills to insure we launched and ran it correctly. Now we are lucky enough to have two people with advanced accounting skills helping us get our modern and professional office and accounting systems in place, with room for future expansion. We are thrilled to have their help and support- so when you see two new faces in the office please say hello and make them feel welcome because they are going to be able to make a huge difference to our administration load and free Robyn and others up to run more courses and events. Chris Cole (Merryn McKays daughter) is a new committee member and is on our newly formed finance committee. She is really enjoying setting up our accounts in the new system. She is moving to Myross Bush early next year with her husband and four sons to live on a 5 acre lifestyle block but will continue to be involved on the committees as our official ‘Accountant’ to support and guide us and as our office manager back up. Jolene McGuire is also very experienced and capable and has worked for several years both in NZ and overseas in much bigger offices than ours- She is our new part time ‘Office Manager’ and she will ease into the job over the next few months as she has a three month old daughter. She only lives two blocks away- married to Chris McGuire our new local policeman. So we are very lucky to have someone with her skills wanting to work only part time so close to us. So with this great team in action we hope to have everything in place by the end of the year and it will be smooth running 2010 and beyond!

Hauroko school Visit

When this country school visited the Environment Centre to learn more about composting and food forests we were delighted to find the students knew so much already and were filled with more advanced questions about what, when and why. It gives us faith that this new generation will be the ones who will really be able to make good decisions in the future with the health of the earth in mind. It appears they are already convincing their teachers and parents to make positive proactive changes.

In Transition

The premier of the “In Transition” movie was screened last month in the Southland Museum and Art Gallery. This was an interesting movie showing how many communities around the world are adapting to a future with less oil and the expected challenges of climate change. Afterwards a panel of Southland leaders were invited to share their views. The mayors of the Southland District Council and Gore were on the panel along with a Venture Southland Rep and the Guyton’s from the South Coast Environment Centre. A good turn out to the event showed there was a strong interest in Southland for the kinds of developments ‘Transition Towns’ offers; greater communications between groups, food and materials produced locally etc. Riverton is portrayed as the most developed community in Southland on these lines with its eco groups covering many of the Transition Town characteristics. Southland overall looks in a good position to adapt to the challenges having mayors with such open minded approach to the issues.

COMING UP... COMING UP...COMING UP

THIS WEEKEND:

Nelson Lebo – Award winning Environmental Educator from America

Nelson had heard about Riverton being the Centre of ‘Southern NZ Permaculture’ so offered his services while he is down South tramping with his partner. He is presently working on his PHD at Waikato University ‘Incorporating Permaculture into year 9 & 10 science curriculum’. So even at short notice we jumped at the chance to have his workshop, slide show presentations and teacher training. It is this weekend 13th/14th November so please spread the word.

Friday 4pm Riverton Enviro Centre: Teachers workshop ‘Incorporating Permaculture (enviro education) into year 9 & 10 science curriculum.’ No charge.

6.15pm shared pizza tea- cost $8 pp for local gourmet pizza

7pm Slide show presentation (koha) Riverton Environment Centre

Design with Nature: Lessons from Pedal Power Farm

Power Point Slideshow: Tells the story of building a low-budget, organic, energy independent homestead in rural New Hampshire, USA. Includes information on design principles, building soil fertility, managing water, building with local resources, edible landscaping, and creative reuse (dumpster diving). Alternative description: Young, poor and idealistic, Nelson Lebo bought a run-down farm in rural New Hampshire, USA. He spent the next eight years developing one of the most sustainable properties in the United States. He managed the 38-acre property using almost no fossil fuels. Using a combination of energy efficient technology and high quality (human powered) hand tools, he developed a lifestyle with a miniscule carbon footprint. His 220 year-old farmhouse used less than one kilowatt of electricity (generated by solar panels) per day. Living a self-imposed post-petroleum lifestyle, Nelson developed design strategies and management techniques that can be adopted by anyone who wants to save money, save energy and shrink their carbon footprint

Saturday 1 pm-4.30 pm Human Scale Weed Management Workshop plus Food Forest Intro and Tour. Learn form Nelsons years of experimenting the easiest way to deal with weeds, and more! $15 unwaged to $25 waged Guytons place 20 Thames St. ''' Saturday night 6pm pot luck tea''' at the Guytons- bring food and drink. Plates, glasses, cutlery etc provided. ''' 7pm slide show presentation''' (koha) at the Guytons Message of Hope from the Top of the World: Education Reform, Solar Energy and Sustainable Agriculture in Ladakh

India: The Student’s Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL - see below) is an amazing success story. This beautifully illustrated program begins with an introduction to Ladakh - geographically, geologically, culturally, and politically. It then addresses some of the problems Ladakh faces as it "develops," primarily problems with the education system. As a result of poor education in Ladakh, a group of student activists formed SECMOL in 1988. Over the last two decades the organization has made incredible progress on a shoestring budget. Examples are provided on the design and construction of solar-powered schools, renewable energy and appropriate technology. The Week (India’s version of Time Magazine) named SECMOL founder, Sonam Wangchuk, Man of the Year in 2001. COME TO ONE OR COME TO ALL BUT DON”T MISS THEM ALL!

The most fun way to Recycle ever!

Come along to the Centre at 7pm on Thursday the 19th of November and bring along those unused and unwanted things that are cluttering up your cupboards and wardrobes. The gifts that made you cringe, the clothes that were not just you, the things you bought and you thought you needed but have never used since. Ones man trash is definitely another mans treasure – others will willingly take your treasures home and guaranteed someone else’s treasure will be the perfect Christmas gift for you in-laws or the outfit can wear at your next social occasion. Bring along a small plate for a shared supper and be prepared to have some fun. All leftovers will be donated to the local Salvation Army.

Future Plans for getting around Southland

Do you want to walk, use a wheelchair, or cycle more around Riverton and in the surrounding area? Frustrated at a lack of well designed routes or just can’t find a place to park your bike? Then Sustainable Transport Southland wants to hear from you.

Over the next two months Ken Wuschke, the project manager for Sustainable Transport Southland, will be at the South Coast Environment Centre once a fortnight to discuss with residents of Riverton issues about walking, cycling and disabled access around the community. He will be here between 10 am and 12 pm on the following dates: 25 November, 2nd, 9th and 16th December. And if you can’t make it on a Wednesday, either email him at

Sustainable.transport.southland@gmail.com , phone him at (03) 217 2571, or leave him a note at the South Coast Environment Centre and he’ll arrange a time to talk with you.

Healthy Food Cook-a-thon

Ever wanted to know how to create delicious food using those weird and wonderful healthy ingredients from the Food Co-op? Well now is your chance! We will all meet to cook and taste at least 20 dishes all in 2 hours of culinary chaos- then you can take away the recipes and impress your friends and family content in your new found knowledge. You can come with the recipe and ingredients for your favourite dish or just come as a helper and taster. 1.30pm Saturday 5th of December.

Happy birthday Riverton organic Group 20 years old this month!

20 years ago (November 1989) we invited the Riverton Community to come and hear Perry Spillar speak (He was the president of the Soil and Health Association of NZ). To attract him out here we had told him that we had a 'group' in Riverton; counting those we knew might be interested on one hand! When he unexpectedly said 'yes' we advertised widely hoping to get a few more! He had spoken to Invercargill the night before to 26 people. When he arrived he was as surprised as we were to find 54 people crammed into the Primary School library- he effervesed about what a fantastic group we had here and after his great presentation most people were more than happy to be part of the very new 'Riverton Organic Group'! Monthly meetings followed and the older more experienced gardeners sharing their gardens and their skills with the young and keen- and organic vege gardening thrived in every corner of Riverton. Now those young ones in 1989 are now 'the oldies' and we welcome new gardeners to come and join us to learn about organic gardening through our meetings, workshops and garden visits. Over the last 20 years more eco friendly groups were formed and now the South Coast Environment Centre is widely known around Southland and NZ as a great resource for more than just organic gardening.

Keep Sunday 29th November free for our celebration event-it will include food, a slide show and historical highlights. All welcome to join us!

SCES Committee meetings are now on the 3rd Tuesday of each month

to enable our secretary Geoff to ‘meeting pool’- travelling 30km to attend two Riverton meetings on the same night. We have swapped with Estuary Care who will now meet Bi Monthly on the 2nd Tuesday of the month.

Friday Night Soups Nights are over for another season

and will start again in April after a 5 month break- This heralds the start of summer events- weather dependent keep an eye on our website for picnics, farm visits, garden parties etc.

Riverton Organic Growers Group meets 4th Tuesday of the month

plus has other garden tours etc. Last evening meeting for the year 24th November 7pm

Coming up next year:

• Waitangi Day 6th Feb - Bike festival Riverton

• Last weekend in March -Our annual Heritage harvest Festival