Wow, the New Year is already upon us!! Hope you have had a restful holiday. The Nursery will be open for volunteers next week on Friday 13 January 23. This week we are preparing for Brian’s month-long botanical trip to the Sub-antarctic Islands! Thanks to everyone who helped last year, we hope to see you again in 2023 and for newcomers, come join the party!
I hear rain outside – a very welcome relief from the watering we seem to have been doing all holidays – thanks to those who also helped out during this time. Things are growing prolifically – produce from the garden, with the odd attempt at pest control, weeds certainly! Seed collecting has already begun with fluffy Olearia and Clematis seed being collected at the moment.
Below are a few photos of spectacular places and plants seen over the last month. Note the magnificent beech mistletoes flowering at the moment.
See you soon.
Nga mihi
Chris
Posted: 5 January 2023
Its been another challenging, but good year, for the Community Nursery and we will be celebrating its conclusion on Friday. So…. bring yourselves, some nice food and enjoy the festive atmosphere. There will also be some work as the Nursery never stops! On that note, and due to the dry spring/early summer if you can spare a few hours over the holidays to help with watering that would be appreciated. Let me know by email or on Friday. If you haven’t been to the Nursery for a while come along and re-connect on Friday – it always amazes me how popular volunteer Fridays remain after doing it for over 25 years! Last week I mentioned “living Christmas Trees” so give that some thought and take away a totara (which you can then plant out – Bushy Point or the Oreti Dune forest are a couple of locations if you haven’t got an area yourself). We are also reprinting the Community Nursery recipe book which makes a good stocking filler ($20) and includes sections on foraging etc which has become very popular. In the New Year Geoff Dembo will be running some full day “Permaculture Workshops” so if you are interested in these let me know and we will have a list of people to contact once we have decided on a date. Similarly for Foraging workshops. Come and get native plants for planting out over the holidays or seedlings to pot on – we have an abundance. There will also be an abundance of fruit and vegetables soon (or now) so bring along any spare plants for swaps on Friday and we will also have Sanguine Peach plants for sale ($5) – about the only peach variety to grow well in Southland and a great bonus for any orchard (see photos of the flowers and fruit).
If you are out and about in Nature over the holidays look out for orchids and other special native plants and birds nesting (I found my first tui nest with 2 fledglings only a few weeks ago after looking on our property for 25 years! and saw two tui juveniles this week). Check out seed collecting sites – seed is likely to be early this year due to the spring weather.
Thanks to all the volunteers who have helped out this year, we couldn’t do it without you!
See you Friday or if not have a happy and safe Christmas and see you in the New Year.
Chris
Posted: 12 December 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
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
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
