On 3 July 2020, Geoff lead a “Forest Gardens” workshop where we stared in the apple orchard and worked our way back past the fruit bushes and nut trees discussing the merits of different systems. From apple pruning or not, shade tolerant vegetables, perennial vegetables and fruit bushes. Back at the Nature Centre Eleanor gave information about making kombucha – she brought along a live “scoby” and some delicious kombucha drinks for us to try. See the Kombucha information sheet.
On Friday 10 July Chris lead a session on setting up a Community Nursery – with people from Lumsden, Bluff, Pahia, Invercargill and Otatara. Over the years the Southland Community Nursery (SCN) has welcomed the chance to pass on the knowledge of growing native plants and quite a number of local community nurseries have been set up to serve the projects in their local communities. Passing on knowledge is a way of ensuring the SCN project keeps going strongly into the future. We started in the Nature Centre where Chris explained the “first get to know your local native plants” – with references to – “SCN Plant ID resources”, “Ecosourcing”, “Using reference sites”. Then outside to the “structures” part – linking the essential structures (standing areas, water, plant frames, potting shed) with the nice to have – e.g shadehouse, raised beds. We didn’t have the luxury of building everything at once so had to prioritise and build as resources allowed. A trip to the pond to look at plant tolerances to water table completed the morning. It was great to share knowledge and hopefully see more Community Nurseries springing up as a result.
Chris
Posted: 15 July 2020
Over the past few weeks we have had quite a few smaller events held at the Nursery. Three cuttings workshops were well attended, with Linda leading the process of creating new native plants from cuttings – in case you have forgotten a few key steps – check out https://www.southlandcommunitynursery.org.nz/restoring-your-patch/get-growing/cuttings/. We had a small Matariki event – the highlight of which was Pens carved kumikumi – see photo. We also had the CEO of Predator2050 with Ini Southland Coordinator in the Nature Centre talk to community groups involved with pest control.
Winter get-together/Break-up
On Friday 26 June 2020 we had a great re-union with around 30 people attending – the first open Friday since lockdown, with shared food and stories! Everyone enjoyed getting together again, no work was done but lots of networking and shared food was followed by a “Vegetable Gardening in Southland” session lead by Bronwyn. A large group of beginners and more experienced gardeners shared their knowledge and veggie growing tips and then retreated into the nature centre to look over the resources that had been created.
There are two more workshops to come – “Forest Gardens” with Geoff Friday 3 July 2020 and “Setting up a Community Nursery” with Chris on Friday 10 July 2020.
We will then have a 2 month break over winter and come back raring to go in Spring in September.
Chris
Posted: 30 June 2020
On June 23 we had a frosty start and chilly survey at Greenpoint domain (between Invercargill and Bluff) with Ben Joshua Knight and SIT student Annichje. Rope and broken glass found (similar to last survey). Undertook the audit in some sunshine at the Southland Community Nursery, Otatara before looking at some future possible sites around Sandy Point. A great opportunity to connect the Litter Intelligence Programme community in Southland. Find out more at https://litterintelligence.org/
Bronwyn
Posted: 30 June 2020
I’d like to put a shout out to all the wonderful volunteers who keep the world going! For the Community Nursery, they are the reason we have been going strong for over 20 years. The photos dont show a lot of work being done but not surprisingly lots does get done, including producing around 10,000 native plants a year, providing workshops, accommodating lots of school groups and many other things.
On Friday 26th June 2020, we will celebrate volunteers at the nursery 10am-noon, with food, stories and sharing tips and tricks of vegetable gardening in Southland.
I had a bit of fun finding the photos attached and they bring back great memories of volunteers past and present and some memorable times at the Nursery. May they continue!! Hope to see you at our Friday event and if you haven’t been for a while then come along and share the fun.
Chris
Posted: 24 June 2020
We have all missed the “community” aspect of the Nursery over recent months. So……… back by popular demand we are having an open Friday morning for volunteers on Friday 26 June 2020 – 10am-noon. That means shared food will be back on the menu and we will all share our lockdown stories and yummy food – bring something made from the garden or some food that got you through lockdown as well as recipes we can add to our lockdown cookbook. The scheduled Veggie Gardening workshop will still happen but we will all share our Veggie Garden tips and tricks and Bronwyn and Erica will have some resources that will help us all plan our vegetable gardens this season. No booking required for this one – just turn up and we will be happy to see you again. Then, after a few more workshops we will be closing for a couple of months through winter, so hope to see you on the 26th June. The photos below were from yesterday!
Chris, Linda, Bronwyn, Erica
Posted: 15 June 2020
