Chris and Brian have been missing in action for the last week or so. The reason was a trip up to Auckland to attend the Investiture Ceremony for the QSM’s for conservation they were awarded at Queen’s Birthday in 2015. It was a VERY grand occasion! Off came the gumboots and on the suit and tie, skirt and jacket – it’s not a sight you will often see! It was the last investiture ceremony for Sir Jerry Mateparae and he made the ceremony a very personal and memorable one.
Why Auckland rather than Wellington? Well it was a chance for Chris and her mum Marjorie to catch up with their closest relatives in NZ, Auntie Margaret and cousins Bob and Sally – from Northland, and for Brian his brother John and wife Wendy travelled up with us from Invercargill.
It was a humbling and special experience, but one that doesn’t come by our own efforts alone and we would like to thank all our conservation supporters and lovers of nature who we are proud to represent.
Posted: 9 May 2016
Apple Pressing with Malcolm – Friday 13 May 2016– 1pm-3pm. Bring your apples and containers and you can juice them using Malcolms ciderpress ($5 donation).
Teachers Workshop and bughunting with Ruud Klenpaste – Sunday 15 May 2016 – sorry all booked out.
Matariki Night Celebration (BYO Supper to share) – Saturday 18 June 2016 – 7-9pm. KCC Children’s Activity 5-7pm
Natural Body Products Workshop with Honorlea – 21 May 2016 (booked out), 11 June 2016 – still places so book up now – email Chris.
Apple Pruning and Grafting Workshops at the Community Nursery with Guytons – expressions of interest are being taken to firm up dates in July and September 2016.
For workshop details see http://www.southlandcommunitynursery.org.nz/education-centre/activities/
Posted: 9 May 2016
On Monday 4th April 14 Glenrose Pippins arrived for their follow-up visit to the Community Nursery. They had a number of activities planned – the first being a study of the Rances wormfarm. Made out of an old bathtub Chris pulled off the cover to reveal hundreds if not thousands of tiger worms (they are the sort recommended for compost bins). The pippins were well informed about the worm’s ability to recycle your food waste and turn it into “worm wee” which was good for your veggie plants. They also knew that worms don’t like oranges and lemons or onions in their compost bins! Generally, worms in the soil are good at aerating the soil, improving drainage and oxygen to plant roots, mixing minerals and humus and increasing nutrients to plants and increasing soil fertility. Did you know – there are over 200 species of native earthworm in New Zealand, but the one you see most often in your gardens is an introduced species! Another creature Chris had discovered that day in the nursery was a skink and the pippins got to observe it close-up before it was released back into the wild.
The bug theme was continued in the Education Centre where giant jigsaws of a nursery spider, weta and butterfly were made and then the new challenging tui and flax jigsaw. Other activities were potting up some mingimingi, feeding the ducks and then presenting Chris with a mural made of natural materials collected round the pond on their last visit.
Posted: 12 April 2016
On Tuesday 5th April, ten children from Waverley Park Kindergarten visited the property with Myross Bush Nature Discovery teacher Wendy. The children were part of the regular visits to Kindy South bush property at Myross Bush and for today’s visit they were excited to be discovering a new forest. Feeding the ducks was the first activity before venturing into the deepest darkest part of the forest. The theme of nature discovery is very much that children are left to use their own senses – looking, hearing, touching, smelling to make their own nature discoveries and the children found all sorts of interesting patterns, colour and species such as an adult nursery spider under the web, lots of fungi (“which you can’t eat because you don’t know if they are poisonous” I was told!). At one place we were all silent for 2 minutes enabling us to hear bellbirds and tui, while a fantail followed us most of the way round. What was apparent to me was the confidence these children had in the bush – enabling them to see so much more of what was going on around them and ask lots of quaestions. It is a credit to Kindergarten South that they are encouraging “nature discovery” as it has benefits for children in so many ways.
Posted: 12 April 2016
On Monday 11 April 2016 Ross Ramsay brought 14 first year SIT Environmental Management students to do the one day course – Know Your Southland Natives - An introduction to botany and Southland native plants with Jesse Bythell and Chris Rance. The course is based on the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network (NZPCN) two day course but tailored for Southland species. All seemed to enjoy the mix of tutoring, exercises and outside time and very favourable feedback was received on all aspects. Thanks Ross for promoting this course to students in their first year and to Jesse for her endless enthusiasm and knowledge.
Posted: 12 April 2016
