Nursery Closed Friday 25 November 2022
We have a full day school event on Friday 25 November so will be closed for Volunteer morning. See you on the 2nd December 22.
Chris
Posted: 17 November 2022
Foraging Wednesday 9 November 22
On Wednesday 9 November over 25 people came to our foraging walk. The walk started at the Nursery car park at 183 Grant Road and ambled through the orchard and deciduous forest areas where there was an abundance of self-seeded plants to forage if you know what you are looking for. Early spring is a good time for the prolific miners lettuce, comfrey is flowering, chamomile, fenel, chickweed, marigolds, foxgloves to mention a few. We went past the birch tree I had “tapped” for sap (too late as I have just found out), saw the differences between sweet chestnut and horse chestnut and the difference between foxglove and comfrey leaves (one of each is poisonous so it pays to know your plants). Past the veggie gardens and in all the wild places were marigolds, wood sorrel, plantains, and dandelions and similar daisy plants. Also, the planted lemon verbena, lemon balm and mints that make great herb tea’s. We finished the night in the Education Centre pouring over foraging books and learning a bit more about plant identification with the display in the centre as well as making a range of herb teas to drink. Next time maybe some of those who attended this workshop could bring along something they have made from foraged plants and share their knowledge, which is all part of these community workshops.
A list of foraged plants for our property here
Chris
Posted: 17 November 2022
Foraging Evening Walkabouts – Spring 22
During Spring, Summer and Autumn we will be holding a few informal foraging workshops on mild evenings and the first will be Wednesday 9 November 2022. Each season brings a multitude of different foraging plants with many self-seeding in gardens and wild places. The key to any foraging is to know your plants – “if you don’t know what it is, don’t eat it” – or “if in doubt, leave it out!”. We will be concentrating on plant identification and sharing knowledge with a few “tasters” at the end. There are a few resources we have developed for past workshops. Unfortunately, we won’t have the Southland foraging guru Maggie with us this time but the information sheets include some of her notes and recipes and recommended reading. You do not need to book for the workshops, just arrive at 6.30pm and park in the 183 Grant Road carpark and pay a koha at the Education Centre at the end of the walk. Future workshops will be advertised a few days before the event and will be planned for fine evenings. Attached is a poster about the event and foraging notes from previous workshops. A list of foraging species will be given out on the night.
Chris.
Posted: 7 November 2022
Community Nursery News 7 November 2022
Nursery Fridays are in full swing with potting, moving plants, pricking out seedlings, track clearing, even full nursery watering a few weeks ago! We usually have between 10-15 volunteers attending Friday mornings, so it is busy! Networking is rife with newcomers benefitting from the experience of others, not to mention the morning teas!
On the plant front everything is happening – a warm, and now wetter spring has brought out lots of native flowers from Fuchsia, kohuhu, clematis and a mass flowering of kowhai. This means lots of bird activity. I located for the first time (in 20+ years) a tui nest in our restoration area, so it proves that by providing the habitat and pest control that they will come! It goes without saying the providing a food source like kowhai will bring nectar feeders like tui and bellbird in to feed. Interestingly waxeyes are also nectar feeders but have not evolved in NZ – they “raid” the cap of the flower with their sharp beaks and get food that way rather than feeding up the long flower as tui and bellbirds do (see photos). I also recently saw two falcons at Tautuku and a shining cuckoo at our place.
In the nursery itself seedlings are all coming up and pricking out will be a major job for many weeks. This year we are also taking over the Bushy Point plant order so there will be less plants available to the public, but still lots of plants for sale at the moment from shelter species to forest restoration to wetland species. We are always on hand on Fridays to give advice so pop in and see us on Friday mornings between 9am and noon.
Note the Nursery will be closed on Friday 25th November 22 as we have a full day event booked in the Education Centre that day.
Posted: 7 November 2022
Pest Trapping Workshop 19-20 October 2022
The Education Centre and property was the venue for the latest two day NMIT Trapping Workshop on 19-20 October. Under Tutor Steve Price, ten participants went through the detail of planning a pest trapping operation, pest species characteristics and behaviours, legal requirements, trap types and operation and then sessions in the field setting out traplines with hip chain and compass and setting up a variety of mustelid, rat and possum traps in the bush. Steve was assisted by Kate Hamilton and Tim Exton from DOC who also brought with them a variety of new traps and tools for people to get hand-on experience with. With the indoor and outdoor settings here it is a good location to run practical courses like this and we look forward to more such courses being run here. The biodiversity based courses are run through DOC and available by booking - https://www.doc.govt.nz/get-involved/training/field-based-courses/
Chris
Posted: 31 October 2022
Page 10 of 102