Hot weather slowed down the digging (it was dry and hard) and led to lots of discussion on conditions and what is needed for plants to live and grow in. The crew from JHC Environment Group got right into the planting and planted NZ natives grown at the Southland Community Nursery and plants that they had propogated themselves at home and school - a great contribution to the Waihōpai Restoration Project area. There was identification and selection of appropriate plants, learning what a NZ native is and how riparian planting can enhance an area, and discussion on what ecosourcing means. We planted tī kōuka (cabbage tree), harakeke (flax), kōwhai, ribbonwood, broadleaf, karamū, Pittosporum species, Koromiko (Hebe) and mingimingi. A great project working alongside Environment Southland continuing this wonderful restoration project for the wider Southland community.
Bronwyn
Posted: 24 March 2022
Heading into the bush we used all our observation skills to spot fungi growing in the forest, talking about where we might find fungi and what kind of places they grow. It was also discussed along the way that this time of year is a good time to start hunting for fungi. We found a few but the highlight find were heaps and heaps of giant scale insects - Coelostomidia! Awesome spotting! We did learn some of the terminology about the parts of fungi! Great to follow the children’s lead and wonder alongside them!
Bronwyn
Posted: 20 March 2022
Education and connections with Southland teachers continues at the red traffic light setting in our covid world. Working alongside Environment Southland education I gave an overview to Enviroschools Teachers of how the Southland Community Nursery can support schools on their learning journeys. Zoom online meetings/workshops are certainly a challenge and, as we all are, I am missing the face to face real time contact, and look forward to when we can do this safely in our communities again. It was great to continue working with council, connect with these teachers, and present alongside Microplastics and Litter Intelligence citizen science projects.
Bronwyn
Posted: 20 March 2022
Term 1 has seen me on outreach visits, continuing the Southland Community Nursery’s strong connection with Otatara School. I am taking a number of classes to the adjacent Otatara Scenic Reserve for bush visits for students to learn about their local place, how special it is and what lives there. Inquiry and wondering on these visits has so far focused on class tree species, and using our noticing or observation skills. We have eaten blackberries, looked at leaves and bark and spotted seeds. We have seen some wondrous things…and some things we don’t want in the reserve! (i.e pest weeds - check the photos out). At the end of this term you will see a story from each class about our bush visits.
Bronwyn
Posted: 20 March 2022
During March we have hosted three groups for plant ID, seed collecting and cleaning workshops. The groups included Bluff Motupohue Trust, Te Tapu o Tāne and Hokonui Rūnanga – all groups starting up native plant nurseries with large ambitious planting projects.
Key messages were around knowing the projects and areas the plants are targeted for, identifying the plants you want to collect from in the field, knowing what the seed looks like when they are mature and timing of collection and the treatments for cleaning and storing seeds. Most of the content of my part of the workshop used the resources from our website as well as going out and looking at seeds in the bush.
https://www.southlandcommunitynursery.org.nz/restoring-your-patch/get-growing/seeds/
Meanwhile, at the Oreti Totara Dune Forest, Jesse Bythell took two sessions specifically on plant identification in the field.
Back in the Education Centre we also did some hands-on seed cleaning and looked closely at all the seeds recently collected and in various stages of preparation.
Passing on knowledge and learning from each-other is a key part of what we do here at the Community Nursery and we look forward to working together for nature in the future.
Chris
Posted: 15 March 2022
