Honey Extraction and Making Splits - at the Southland Community Nursery, 15 February 2017
On Wednesday night following the monthly Southland Bee Society committee meeting Murray explained how to make a split (which essentially was how to build up your hive boxes by halving the resources – bees and pollen, including a Queen cell). I never even fathomed the intricacies of making Queen cells, the dependence on the weather, and the need to provide enough food to produce good Queens! It made me appreciate that keeping bees is complicated – and then as Murray and Norman (Southland Bee Society members) showed how to extract honey, it made me realise how messy (and yummy) it can be. And well, to be fair, I probably hadn’t even thought about the process of how to get the honey out of the hive and into the jar! What a process it was! We were shown different methods of breaking the wax (in order for the honey to flow out), members got to try the spinning and watched the anticipated golden flow of honey into the bucket! So, bees are not only important for our environment and our planet but they produce lovely honey. It was a great night and my knowledge of bees and honey increased immensely. The Community Nursery Education Centre made a great venue for this potentially messy activity - which was why the Bee Society changed from their regular venue! Thanks. Bronwyn G
We have a range of resources for planting to attract bees to your garden, including lists of native plants appropriate to the Southland Region - see this link for further information http://www.southlandcommunitynursery.org.nz/restoring-your-patch/planning-your-project/planting-for-bees/
For more information abou the Southland Bee Society email Sonya Crook [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
Posted: 25 February 2017
There are lots of events coming up at the Community Nursery and Education Centre. Workshops coming up soon include Foraging, Nature Photography, Native Plant ID and Seed Collecting, Body Products from Natural Materials and others. Most require a booking so have a look at the dates and workshop information and if you are interested start planning for these events and make a booking. For information on workshops
Posted: 11 February 2017
The Nursery will re-open on Friday 6 January 2017. Come and help the Nursery get off to a good start in 2017! Help needed with potting and weeding. Bring along some morning tea and enjoy the company of others. If you are still on holiday and doing planting around your place come and see what plants are available for sale - proceeds to the Education Centre.
If you are out and about keep an eye out for native orchids - we found eight different species on a recent walk in Fiordland. Here are photos of a couple - the black orchid, or potato orchid (Gastrodia) and the green hooded orchid (Pterostylus). If you see one and want to know what species send us a photograph (with something in it for scale if you can). Also keep an eye out for the cherry raiders - our tree has been completely stripped of cherries in the last 2 weeks!
Happy New Year!
Chris
Posted: 4 January 2017
Southland Community Nursery, Otatara Landcare Group and Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC) teamed up for an exciting Eco-Fun Day on 11 December 2016.
The event started at the Community Nursery Education Centre where keen families picked up their Eco-Passport in which to record their stamps for activities.
The idea was to get outside and explore nature at Rances and Bushy Point. Activities included identifying bugs and plants and discovering the uses of some plants also becoming a legend alongside Otatara Landcare Group members and plant another tree in this forest in the making. Each plant had a number and after planting them children measured the height of their numbered plant and their own height to keep a record of growth in future years. Bushy Point is a “forest in the making“ and also a site where you can see conservation in action – you can visit the area any time from the public access and walkway on Bryson Road. There have been over 25,000 native plants planted here in the past 6 years - all by volunteers.
Families also saw what life lives in the pond (koura and damselfly larvae were pulled out of the nets), and children played games and learned all about pesky possums and other pests.
A lot of fun was had as well as learning about all the creatures that live in our own backyard – thanks to everyone who attended.
KCC is a childrens conservation club you can join at www.kcc.org.nz – you will receive 4 copies of the “Wild Things” magazine as well as being able to enjoy local outings – contact local KCC Coordinator Bronwyn 213 0017, [Enable JavaScript to view protected content] for further details.
Chris
Posted: 22 December 2016
The Christmas Breakup 16 December 2016 - was a great occasion, as they all are, thanks to those who came brought something yummy to eat, decorated the tree and enjoyed good company for the last time this year. And a little bit of work was done. Thanks Alan for supplying the bubbles!
Hope you have a good Christmas and the nursery will be open again on Friday 6th January 2017!
Kind regards
Chris
Posted: 19 December 2016
