Part One

South Coast Environment Society News

Life is busy at the Environment Centre, so busy in fact we are often working in pairs- one person front of house and doing essential tasks to free up the second person to work more effectively on projects and resource management. Recent changes in the cost of food and petrol and more awareness of the finite nature of our earths resources are making more and more people interested in sustainability. This in turn has created a lot of education needs- we are very busy running workshops and talks all over Southland. We are revamping our website and filling it up with information sheets on a wide range of topics and have started several new initiatives.

Volunteers make a huge difference to our work load and they are also enjoying being involved in the action. We have a good range of small tasks that can be done both at the Centre or taken home. You can choice something that suit your talents, interests and time.

Goodbye and good luck to three volunteers who have recently shifted away. Shari Lawson and her family have brought a lovely property in Golden Bay and are looking forward to becoming self sufficient. Sam Telfer and Lynne Grove are both away overseas for a year or two.

We welcome new volunteers Simon Grieg, Karl McIntosh who are popping in when they can to help out in all sorts of ways. Gillian Swift is coming one Wednesday a month, Diana and Eileen are also new volunteers who are a great help. Matthew Bateman from England and Adam Guyton are working mainly behind the scenes supporting some of our projects and groups. They both decided to stay on after attending the Permaculture Course in Riverton.

Please introduce yourself to these new volunteers and help us make them feel welcome and appreciated. The great thing about our Centre is that all who have energy for sustainability are welcome to help out - we have all income groups, religious beliefs, ages and life stories. We are all coming together as one group to make a difference for the future.

All ten environmental groups in Riverton also welcome new members and volunteers as they are also much busier- they have lots of projects on the go around our local area or 'behind the scenes' in the Centre itself. They all have the ideas and enthusiasm but need more grass roots people with a little spare time to join in activities or to help out in all sorts of ways. Come and see us in the Centre and find out more about what would be fun and worthwhile for you!

On a provincial level the four Environment Centres are doing more networking and support. We met again in Lumsden in mid June focusing on our role in promoting Transition Towns (see article) and we are supporting their education works by providing speakers and workshops on our areas of expertise.

We have updated our TV and bought a DVD so you can now relax by our fire and watch a choice of educational programmes including our own programmes. We have also bought more new and second hand books and magazines to add to our library

REMEMBER TO VISIT OUR WEBSITE! Every week Robyn dedicatedly updates our web site with coming events, news and new sections of information.

BOUNTIFUL BACKYARDS- These workshops are very popular and can be held in any corner of Southland - a great start to becoming more self reliant.

1. Living soil- composting, worm farming, green crops, mulching, liquid manures. Prepare your soil over winter to be fertile and productive this spring.

2. Starting up a home vege garden instant raised bed gardens, crop rotation, planting timetable, companion planting.

3. Setting up a back yard food forest You can fit heaps of fruit trees and berry bushes in a small space it you know how.

Contact Centre if you are interested and times will be to suit participants. We will travel to your local area if you have 8 or more people interested in any of these.