|
25 June 2011*Strategic Planning Meeting 2nd July 11am*AGM 19th July 7pm* Winter Courses*New funds help us growSTRATEGIC PLANNING WEEKThis is the week to have your say! Do it right now and fax, email, post, phone your ideas and comments. Here are some thought provoking questions to get you started and we have even included a tick sheet for you if your prefer that method. What do you want to see in Southland's community and environment in five years time? Which of our current services and projects do you value? Or even better everyone is invited to come along to our special public workshop this Saturday 2nd July 11am-2pm. Relatively informal brainstorming session leading into ordering and prioritising ideas. To conclude the day committee and Society members will collate the information further from 2-3pm. Even if you can only come for 30 minutes or we would appreciate your ideas and suggestions. Continuous free soup, snacks and drinks provided. This will be held in Flecks Hall beside the Environment Centre Which of our current services and projects are no longer relevant? Which of our former services and projects should we revive? What new projects and services we could provide? What would you like to be involved in? (Please state topic)
STEWART ISLAND VISITRobyn trembled during most of the flight to the island. The plane was tiny - a 6 seater Cessna-thing that dipped and dove like an insect, especially as the skinny airfield hove into view, but I remained staunch and calm at her side and we landed safely. We were straight to work once the luggage was unloaded, whisked straight to the garden of Beverly where we looked at the possibilities for creating a wetland-with-pond to take advantage of the natural features of the property - that is, the water that trickled from a dozen or so points along the edge of the property and out into what ‘til now had been lawn. Not for long. There are changes afoot. Our trip to the island was organised by Rayleen Waddell, with whom we stayed over the 4 days of the visit, on behalf of the Stewart Island Garden Circle. Their members and others from the wider community were keen to hear our views on a range of topics around the theme of sustainable gardening and we told them all we know; at their homes, in the Fire brigade hall at an evening meeting, at the school where we dramatised the values of gardening and hard work and anywhere else we happened to meet islanders with questions about growing vegetables and fruits in their very special circumstances. And by that I mean possums, rats, deer and kaka. There are not many gardens here on the mainland that need to be protected from sharp-beaked parrots that drop from the sky and strip the bark from your apples trees, nor do we face the ravages of deer that might wander into our gardens at night and level a row of silver beet. Compost heaps on the island are magnets to rats and roses love possums, or is that the other way round? One or two of the gardens we visited were far flung - not so much in distance, as most of the town is within walking distance of the pub, but there are houses that seem to be set in the wilderness, despite their stone's throw from the town status. Those gardens are wild, or at least in danger of turning wild, with native bush pressing in from all sides and nothing beyond their boundaries but rimu, broadleaf, pepper tree and kotukutuku, all looking like they'd like to move in and take over the rose beds, the vegetable garden and certainly the lawn. We met the hard-working team who have created the community garden in the town. They've made something unique by employing cut-in-half mussel buoys as containers, filled with compost, garnished with seaweed and planted with vegetables. The veges grow very well therein and have graced many a dinner table in the town since they were set up. So far, no deer attack has set the project back, nor have the kaka made their mark. It's a lovely community project and looks to be one that will grow. We had visited, talked and ran workshops three years ago and it was a pleasure to come back and see the residents had not only taken many our suggestions on board, like their Community Garden and all the new home orchards. By inviting us to come back again and help them with the next steps in self reliant food production made us feel we are really supporting this remote community in a very positive way. We are hoping to connect more often now so once a month we can send resources, organic food, plants, seeds and information to the island for distribution as requested.   M f E FUNDING for one more yearIt has been a nervous time waiting to find out if our funding applications were accepted by the Ministry for the Environment. We are thrilled to get limited Centre funding again for one more year, even though we didn't get all we had hoped for, because along with it came a future plan for Environment Centres. The Government has put money into a feasibility study to strengthen our network and networking throughout NZ and then set up a system of reliable funding. They believe all Centres could provide a more valuable service and if we are sharing resources and information between us then we can share our specialities and all of NZ will benefit. To begin this process Robyn along with a representative from each currently funded Environment Centre were invited to Wellington the meet with each other, the key people in the Ministry and the Minister for the Environment. They were all also invited to be guests at the very glamorous Green Ribbon Awards. One Southland project the Pomona Island Charitable Trust came out winners in the 'Protecting our Biodiversity' category in recognition for its on-going work in establishing Island sanctuaries to aid the recovery of some of New Zealand’s most endangered birds. It was a very valuable time and the benefit of sharing experiences and knowledge is already apparent. The next stage is a 2-3 day workshop in August where two representatives from all NZ Environment Centres, presently funded or not, work together to make a proposal to the Government on how we can see a National Network could operate. If we can do this a long term funding option could result with a National Standard for Environment Centres formulated. There are pluses and minuses for this but I am sure we can still retain some autonomy and continue to fill local needs as well. Happy Holidays to Doetie and Jelle, Peter and Marike, Dave and Carol who all enjoy a few months overseas visiting family this winter. It is quieter in the Centre over winter so a good time to start volunteering, even once a month is a big help and your are sure to enjoy it. Then once the busy summer months come you will enjoy meeting people from all over NZ and the world. FOOD CO-OP NEWSThank you to all the people who began experimenting with all the interesting apples we have had available this year over 60 varieties were on offer. This is really important because we can't grow fuji, pacific rose and braeburn well in Southland and we really want to be able to sell all Southland apples in the future (with over 500 varieties to choose from we should find a good 50 we like!) Most of the apples came from Tree Dimensions in Nelson which specializes in heritage and organic suitable apples. However we have hundreds of young trees about to come into production throughout Southland. Please write down your favourites both from your own orchards and those bought from us. Which ones weren't that nice we should use for cider! We are a relatively informal team making decisions day to day with whichever volunteers are there, and we have general policies and guidelines to follow. This means that we have an actual committee meeting usually only once a year in June to update our office bearers. Only one change this year with Karla elected as the treasurer for our Co-op and she does the banking, Robyn remains the Chair as background organiser and Yvonne the Secretary for writing cheques and posting bills. Derek is our data manager checking prices and bar codes are up to date. Louise orders most of the food on a Saturday morning and Chris has joined our team as our accountant. Along with our 20 volunteers running the shop work side of things we are a great team. Please let us know if you want to help out and become involved in anyway. The more the merrier and you also earn a discount on your food! You may have a particular skill or interest we would happily assimilate into our mix. WINTER COURSESOur grand plan is to put out a seasonal course list so people can plan ahead. With any 3 courses for $40 they are very good value especially when all courses include free resources or tasting! The brochure is attached or on the website. Please register early as it is disappointing when a course has to be cancelled due to lack of numbers then the night before 3 people ring to say they want to come! So now we are planning Spring Courses, send us you wish list what courses would you like, when and where? We want to meet you needs but can only effectively do this if we know what they are. Drop off a note to the Centre or email us at education@sces.org.nz Likewise if you have a skill or knowledge to share please offer yourself as a tutor for a course. SEED SAVING NEWSWe are in desperate need for more gardeners to adopt a vegetable variety or varieties and bulk up the seeds for these. Our old seed savers have all passed away and we need the next generations to step up and take over this very important work. Only 5 % of vegetable seeds are NZ raised, many are managed by multinational companies who prefer hybrid seeds which can't be saved. This means gardeners have to return each year to buy them again. These big companies can then set prices and ultimately will have world food production under their control. Already plants are being patented so it is illegal to sell them even if they are heritage seeds that have been available for decades? Scary stuff! Thanks to Henry Harrington and the other old gardeners who are no longer with us we have a treasure of over 300 seed varieties in our care. We are in a strong position as a province but only if we can keep the seeds viable and fresh. Once we get a good team saving seed there is potential to make it in to a Southland Enterprise and we could buy Southland raised seeds off growers to be packaged and sold. Our own independent seed company will give us future security and build up very strong 'Southland adapted' stock. Southlander’s will be able to buy Southland raised seeds. If you think you can help please let us know and choose the types of vegetables that you grow well. You keep the healthiest plants for seed and can eat the rest. If you are a beginner, a good way to start is buying Kings organic non-hybrid seeds and practise on them. We are holding Seed Savers Workshops on 25th July 1.30pm and Wednesday 6th September 7pm both in Riverton. How to gather, sort, clean and store seeds. How to choose seeds that can be saved once grown. It is easy but there are several pitfalls to avoid. Will cover saving seeds from each family group and you will get lots of seeds to take home for free! $15 OPEN ORCHARD PROJECTThe busy winter season starts for us in July with scion gathering and pruning, and pruning workshops. August is our fruit tree fundraising sale month and September is grafting and grafting courses. If you would like to help out with our working bees we have 200 baby trees to transplant and 500 to clear around at West Plains. Please give us your contact details and we will let you know when the working bees are on. We usually decide only a day or two before to ensure the weather is nice! Grafting working bees are a great chance to master your techniques. It is very exciting to think of all the trees we have planted and sold over last three years will be starting to bear fruit and the crops will only get bigger and better! ORGANIC GROWERS NEWS Both Robyn and I drove to Dunedin (shared the time at the wheel you see) for events of an environmental nature. The first was a evening meeting (followed with a shared meal) of the Otago Organic Growers Group. This is the umbrella group that overseas Organic Farm NZ Certification for Southland. We met with members from the Otago region and talked with them about their trials and tribulations as organic food growers and did the committee business that is part of every organisation these days. We both avoided getting elected for any executive role, which pleased me, but were able to contribute plenty to the discussion I think. It was very nice to meet their groups and put faces to names and we were pleased to let them know we have another Southland grower ready to convert to OFNZ. We met with Peta Hutson there OFNZ Certification manager)and decided to visit her and her peninsular home and garden the next morning and when that rolled around, we drove there. After seeing several unplanned-for branches of the harbour, we found Peta's home and spent some lovely time there, seeing her application of permaculture and how that works on very sandy soils that are battered by strong winds. It was very herby and flowery and everything was growing well. We met with Jay, living onsite in a self-contained-for-energy-with-all-mod-cons house truck and had a very interesting time looking at the technologies that support that, as well as having a great discussion with Jay about the books she has written and those she didn't write but recommended we read. It is always good to connect with like minded people and they appreciated our visit very much as well. Boost Your Energy by Dr Sandra CabotToxic chemicals can affect our energy !!! Many people are tired because the energy factories inside their cells, known as mitochondria, are not producing sufficient energy. Find out how to recharge these Energy Factories with the exciting new technique of Fine-Tuning Your Cells with natural anti-ageing hormones and nutritional supplements. You can have more energy than you ever thought possible. You may find it interesting to know that Sandra chose the nom de plume of 'Dr Cabot' in 1982, as in those days Australian medical doctors were encouraged to use a nom de plume (or writer’s name) if they were going to write books and participate in the health media. This was considered ethical behaviour and was smiled upon by the medical registration boards. |