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8 July 2009IN THIS ISSUE:Get involved Get on your bike Don’t miss our AGM The Longest Night Riverton Organic Growers meets the 4th Tuesday of each month at 7.30pm. July meeting all about Seed Raising, when, what and how….. Critical Mass - it’s a Cyclic Thing! If you’ve not cycled around the streets of Invercargill on a Friday evening along with the other riders keen to make their presence felt to the car-driving public, then you’ve not taken part in Critical Mass and that’s most of you! The group is a small one that would like to be bigger. The route we take is not difficult and it is high profile - starting at Wachner Place under the big clock and proceeding up Esk Street past the coffee drinkers and evening shoppers, round and about a few streets and returning triumphantly to Wachner Place, where we congratulate each other on our derring-do and set the date for the next ride. Then, it’s a dash for Zookeepers and a cup of coffee, more congratulating and plotting, then back to our various homes. The idea is to draw attention to the very eco-friendly transport option that bicycles offer and to rally people who want to have a say without saying anything. Critical Mass ‘occurs’ in cities all around the world and Invercargill has now joined the list of cities that experience the mass. Only our mass isn’t massive. (It could be, if YOU turned up and brought your family). If you are keen, contact Robert at the Centre and make sure your tyres are pumped up! National Exposure For the past year or so I’ve been in the very fortunate position of being employed to write about my favourite pass-time for the New Zealand Gardener Magazine. Thanks to an audacious nomination from a ‘mystery friend’for Southland Gardener of the Year and the unexpected notoriety that came with winning the title, I was rung by Lynda Hallinan, the live-wire editor of NZ Gardener and asked, ‘Do you write?’. Not wanting to let the opportunity pass me by, I said, “Yes”, and now I do! I’m tapping out a column called ‘Deep South’ which covers the kinds of things that we are doing in our garden here in Riverton, along with stories of the peripheral activities from around the town; a bit of community orchard news, something from the Open Orchard project and anything I see or hear in other peoples gardens. It’s a lot of fun to write and I get a surprising amount of feed back from all over the country, even when I’m away travelling. The New Zealand Gardener gets into a lot of homes! I’m also doing a regular piece on Growing in Glasshouses, which is challenging, as it too is a monthly column. I’ve had to spend a lot of time talking with keener glasshouse growers than myself to keep the column full of interesting and new material. All suggestions and stories about life under glass gratefully received! A single page near the back of the magazine is my responsibility also and it’s where I advise gardeners around New Zealand of the ‘state of the moon’ and what to do accordingly. My greatest challenge there is accuracy! Moon people notice if my dates are even slightly out and they let me know! I’ve been involved too, in writing material for the supplementary Home Grown ‘special editions’, the latest being ‘Fruit Trees’. This was great fun to contribute to and I was able to describe all of the orchard projects we have running here in Riverton, especially the work to save the heritage apple trees and re establish orchards throughout the region. The New Zealand Gardener is a tremendous portal for advertising Riverton, Southland and the work of our own groups here. I emphasise the spray-free, creative organic growing methods we employ and try to suffuse my articles with humour (not so hard to do when you live with funny people). I’ve begun now to contribute articles to Organic NZ as well and this gives me an opportunity to cover some ‘less mainstream’ issues as well as reaching a different audience. The Riverton Promotions group, if they still exist, should be very happy with the amount of coverage the town gets nationally, through these publications, which are both widely read. The New Zealand Gardener won the Magazine of the Year award again recently and has a huge circulation. It has increased its readership 28% in the past year, despite the recession. People are very keen to learn to grow their own food and writing on that topic is very satisfying. Closer to home, I’m also writing for the Southern Express newspaper every now and again and I try to cover broader issues for those Southlanders who have a care for the environment. One thing I have learned that is needed if you are going to write is that you also need to be doing. If there is nothing happening ‘on the ground’ then there’s not a lot to write about! Robert OPEN ORCHARDORDERS FOR TREES Orders for the fruit trees that will be arriving in mid August are coming in fast and the range available is less for those ordering from July. You will need to give more choices (10) and you will get 5 of those 10 – put them in order of preference. Once a month Robyn updates the list and dates the update. MISSION NEARLY COMPLETE After gathering 4 apples from each of the majority of Southlands old fruit trees we have faced the challenge of photographing and recording their 40 characteristics for identification. Surprisingly each orchard is unique though there are some double-ups between orchards. So it has been a painstaking labour of love. Luckily the bulk will have been done this year. Next year we will do the smaller amount of early apples and those we missed out on. We are then going to post the data on the internet in orchard sets and name those we can as we identify them. FRUIT TREES FINDING HOMES We are thrilled that we have had orders for Southland Heritage fruit trees that will be going into public places we hope to get funding to put a plaque beside the tree with details of who planted it originally, where and when, the variety’s history if known etc. Ask your local council if you can have some as part of your reserves. Why have only ornamental trees? Why not fruiting trees that serve more purpose than just looking good. Your street could be lined with varieties from a 19th century orchard…. the value of edible landscaping is recognised world wide. PRUNING AND GRAFTING WORKSHOPS We are just finalising dates and places for these workshops. Please ring and express your interest and we will let you know of the courses in your area. We are also offering courses on restoring old fruit trees such as those found in the old orchards and then those that can stay on, can join a working bee, helping the owner of the old orchard where the workshop is held, to tidy up a few more of their trees. SOUTHLAND SEED SAVERS Catalogue out end of month seeds due now! Annual donation of $5 towards running costs = membership. If you can help stock take and packet up seeds let Robyn or Yvonne know they would love a hand. SCES AGM TUES 14TH JULY Come along and enjoy the Guyton’s’ slide show tour of the 19th century Southland Orchards, the stories that go with them and the treasures they have found. We will have a delicious heritage apple desert for supper. We have room for more people on our committee. We are a speedy and efficient group that meets for less than 2 hours once a month. There are opportunities for further involvement on our sub committees if one meeting a month isn’t enough excitement for you! We need ‘People Power’ The time has come to re-organise ourselves to effectively meet the increasing needs of the Southland community in 2009 and beyond. We especially need more volunteers and workers with skills. There is a huge range of interesting and rewarding work involved in running the Centre and its projects and you will enjoy being part of our long successful Society. Robyn, our co-ordinator needs more time focusing on projects, events and education. Her multiple responsibilities mean that there are often not enough hours in the day to even complete the everyday co-ordination work and admin, now we are a far busier organisation than we were two years ago. She would like to share some of her 20 hours voluntary work and her 20 hours-a-week paid work. As we look back we realise that, as people have moved away, the sub groups we had five years ago have faded away. (Seed Savers for example was run by Maggie, Nathan, Emma & Jane until they all moved north one by one. Robyn and Yvonne picked that up; too busy at the time to find others to help… now it is time to build a new seed savers team.) It would be great once again to have the knowledge and skills shared amongst a group of people. If two people share a role and one is busy or away, the other can keep it going and visa versa. Robyn would like to work alongside small sub committees and create small part-time jobs (paid or voluntary) for people with the skills to take over specific aspects of her work. What would you like to help out with? What skills can you share? What skills do you want to learn? Be a volunteer and learn while you help out. She is very flexible and will be relieved to have her load lightened in any way. Some ideas for sub committees to support or small jobs: Coastline newsletter team writing and producing Human Resource co-ordinator, training and supporting volunteers and workers Roster co-ordinator, ringing around to fill in the gaps. Funding applications and accountability reports team Accountant work- budgets, analysing and advising to make sure all projects and sales pay for themselves, Point of Sale administration, Treasurer support for groups – or become a treasurer for one of the 4 accounts. PR person, advertising events, working with media. Farmers Market Co-ordinators on a roster – setting up on a Saturday morning once a month and co-ordinating stall holders and contributors Soup night hosts on a roster – co-ordinating meal and DVD or talk Educational and display materials manager, keeping the upstairs storage area tidy and organised. After-school children’s’ club organiser or supporter. Cleaning co-ordinator, checking the Centre is clean and tidy at all times and backing up what staff and volunteers don’t get time for. Open Orchard sub committee or project worker Educational Festival sub committee. We hope to have one a season, 2010 and beyond. Help with one or help with all: Be a Tutor for workshops - Community Orchard co-ordinator Do a window display Chop and bring in firewood Food Co-op Co-ordinator, someone to guide and complete ordering and pricing and trouble-shooting to keep this voluntary group ticking over efficiently. Seed Savers Co-ordinator and production of annual catalogue, packeting seeds etc. Riverton Organic Growers Co-ordinator – organising and advertising meetings and garden tours. The list goes on- so if you think we are doing well now, imagine how we could be with lots more people involved. Even a couple of hours a month, offering your time and skill will give Robyn 2 hours back and if 10 people did that she would have 20 hours a month to make the projects and educational programme come alive…. INSTANT GARDENS READY FOR SET UP NOW Thanks to John who has taken over making our instant gardens. We have a good supply in stock now. These make great gifts for young families or older folk @$20 for a square metre garden. Fill with good soil and plant some seedlings for the lucky recipient of your gift. A useful gift that keeps giving. May keep that older person feeling independent for longer or start a lifelong love of gardening in young families. Donate one to your local school. KEEP UP TO DATE: www.sces.co.nz FARMERS MARKET ON EVERY SAT 10.30-12.30 We like it better at this time as the sun shines in on or veranda and more locals are out an about. More people are growing to support our market so we expect to get a bigger range over the next few months. We want it all to sell …. So come along and buy it and build this sustainable local network. It doesn’t matter if world wide food has a crisis if we have our own local food sources. Dress ups Some gardens are plagued by birds, some by rats and mice, others by cats depositing their ‘fewmets’ in newly raked ground, or dogs, hounded off their own properties to deposit their ‘doos’ at a neighbours but in the early days when my garden was getting started, we had cows. Geese too, and daggy sheep, wrong-headed calves and even, at one time a stubborn, stubborn pig. There seemed nothing we could do to stop these unwanted visitors. Removing our roadside fence as a philosophical statement of inclusiveness didn’t help of course but neither did vigilance. No amount of watchfulness could keep them away, the marauding hordes and flocks, and anyway, they came at night undercover of sleep (ours).We’d wake in the morning to hear the sound of chewing or hooves pugging carrot beds. Wild pursuit and banging pot lids just magnified the chaos and wrecked more havoc. A stampeding mini-herd of calves works much like a rotary hoe. Fleeing geese clear-fell leeks and silver beet and a fast-trotting pig goes and does where and what it will. Finally, we hatched a plan. We knew we couldn’t keep them out, the livestock of our neighbours, so decided that we would at least draw their attention to our plight. We bought cheap and loudly-coloured dress-up clothes from the Opportunity Shop; bright scarves and hats, gaudy aprons, voluminous knickers and garish nylon raincoats and devised a scheme to trap, subdue and dress the animals before sending them back to their homes, bearing evidence of their wandering habits. But they stopped coming, as if they knew of our plan. Not one goose nor ewe nor sow ever crossed our boundary from that moment on. How could they have known? What quirk of nature saved their bacon? The colourful costumes are still in a box in the shed and we’ve got our fingers crossed that something will turn up, even at this late date. Certainly our dog has tired of us practicing on him. Robert LIBRARY UPDATE FOR JULY Hi there everyone now is the ideal time for browsing in the Centre library. Just imagine cosying up in front of the fire with a good book about gardening, food, sea life, native trees, composting, healthy choices and many other exciting facets of the Green Philosophy. Some are actionable now and the others can be dreams for the next season. All you have to do is be a member of the South Coast Environment Centre for the nominal fee of $15.00. This enables you to take up to four books out at a time for a period of four weeks. It can also been as a way of providing for your family in a different way during times that are a bit hard at the moment. Robyn has been to Invercargill during the past few months buying new books. How exciting it is to open up brand new pages. So please don’t think if you are all ready a member that there are just the old books there. Brand new books for you to peruse! How cool is that? So, come along and see me, or any of the excellent team members and we will only be too happy to loan you a world full of magic - the library book! Cheers Yvonne FOOD CO-OP NEWS We are trying to staff the counter with as many Food Co-op volunteers as possible to enable the office staff and co-ordinators to get on with their essential tasks- we already have 4 days a week covered so are doing well… even a couple of hours once a month is a big help. Check the roster in the office and put your name down. You are welcome to bring along one or two of your children of any age when you volunteer as we have a children’s corner and older children can help you serve and bag up produce. Come along with a friend and volunteer together while you catch up with each other and have a cup of tea by the fire when it is quiet in the shop. We are helping two new Organic CO-OP’s to set up- one in Central and one in the Catlin’s. It is our 20th year of operation so we are a good successful model for others to base themselves on. ‘Organic Farm NZ’ Workshop last weekend in July contact centre for details. (local certification system) Coastline... out first week of each month. Articles and advertisements in by the end of each month. From August we will email out to those who have indicated they prefer that - drop us a line if you do too Many Hands make light work – we have included an extra form for a friend who may also like to be involved in some way. Get involved…. any way, any time… weekly, monthly or seasonally and be proud to be part of the Centre and its activities- you will enjoy the experience! Fill in the details below or contact Robyn with your ideas. Our committee will have a restructuring meeting later in the month and hopefully be able to have lots of choices for our future structure. Name: Contact Details: My interests are: My skills are: I would like to be involved in these ways as a volunteer. I have _____Voluntary hours available per week, month or year: I could take over these responsibilities if such a paid position was available: Could work between _____ and ____hours a month Please write on the back other suggestions and comments for our consideration- what is working well? What things would you like us to focus on in the next years? What could be improved? AND DO IT RIGHT NOW OR YOU WILL FORGET! Thanks! |