Enviro events in our region

The South Kaipara Food Revolution’s monthly harvest market is happening again this Sunday in the grounds of Te Whare Oranga ō Parakai. Live music and lots and lots of delicious, locally grown and produced kai… www.facebook.com/SouthKaiparaFoodRevolution

The Kaipatiki Project have several short practical edible gardening classes coming up in the next couple of months. There’s Fruit Tree Pruning on Sunday the 28^th of June from 10.30am-12.30pm ($25 per person) This will be an on-site workshop at a private home orchard in Takapuna. Tutor Dee Pigneguy will walk participants through basic pruning skills and techniques for bountiful fruit trees including apple, pear, plum, peach and nectarine. On Sunday 13^th, 20^th & 27^th  of September from 10.30am-12.30pm ($45 per person) there’s Top Ten Spring Crops. A series of three workshops held at Kaipatiki Project's teaching gardens in Birkdale. Dee Pigneguy shows how to prepare your patch for growing organic veggies at home this spring and get a great summer yield including tomatoes, peas, beets and baby potatoes. More info on both available here…http://kaipatiki.org.nz/courses/gardening-bites/

Quite a few of you provided input to Emma Pilkington during the development of the new Animal Management Bylaw. The new Bylaw comes into effect on the 1^st of September. You can find it online here... http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/licencesregulations/Bylaws/Pages/animalmanagementbylaw.aspx  If you have any questions or queries regarding the new bylaw you can address them to Emma directly at: Emma.Pilkington@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz  

Ooooby or Out of Our Own Backyards is an enterprise on a mission to transform our food system. They’ve very recently started delivering locally sourced food boxes to the good people of Matakana and Warkworth. Ooooby pay their producers 50% of the total retail value of their produce. If you’d like to get involved either as a producer or a customer check out the website here… https://www.ooooby.org/auckland/

The Auckland Tree Crops Association are having a Tree Sale at Auckland Botanic Gardens in Manurewa on Saturday the 11^th of July. Gardeners, lifestyle and small block holders, farmers and nurseries are all welcome. You can buy and sell, look, talk trees and ask questions. More info here… http://www.treecrops.org.nz/branch/auckland/first-annual-tree-and-plant-sale/

Julia Milne spoke beautifully and passionately about the Common Unity Project at our Kai Auckland Hui at Kawai Purapura last year. A report from yesterday’s NZ Herald gives an update on this fantastic community asset. "Through coming together as a community to meet the basic needs of our children and our families, we become powerful and discover the meaning of true wealth"… http://www.nzherald.co.nz/fonterra/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503785&objectid=11454339

Virgil Evetts will be delivering a smart planting workshop at the Devonport Community Garden on Saturday the 6^th of June. Speaking from personal experience Virgil is a hugely knowledgeable and engaging speaker. Well worth the trip if you’re interested…

A great opportunity for someone passionate about community and local food. The Grey Lynn Farmers’ Market are looking for a new Market Manager…http://dogoodjobs.co.nz/jobs/farmers-market-manager/

& speaking of the Grey Lynn Farmer’s Market Rob and the crew from Heirloom Organix will be delivering a Winter Gardening talk at the market on Sunday the 7^th of June from10.30-11.30am. This is the first of a series of talks through June and July…  https://www.facebook.com/GreyLynnFarmersMarket/photos/a.181155511925004.39049.179353298771892/968954663145081/?type=1&theater

There’ll be a Kai Auckland presence at the Browns Bay Our Amazing Place tomorrow. Minette Tonoli from Nature All Kids http://www.nature-all.co.nz/ will be there too delivering a fun workshop for any young green thumbs who may pass our way. Come and say hello if you’re around.

Finally the public consultation on Auckland Transport’s new northern networkconcept opens on Tuesday the 2^nd of June… https://at.govt.nz/projects-roadworks/new-public-transport-network/new-network-for-north-shore/ There are a series of events across the North Shore where you can feed back on what is being proposed.

Thank you, worms!

The proceeds from recent worm liquid sales have been counted (thanks to Room 12's Kikorangi maths group) and the total is $176. 

Well done, Greenhithe School worms! 

We have used some of the money to buy items to help our vegetable gardens grow:

- trowels for the children to use
- garden lime to increase soil pH and help plants take up nutrients from the soil
- flower bulbs 
- rainbow carrot seeds
- beetroot seeds
- Impatiens seedlings and a plant called Platycodon for a hanging basket outside Room 12
- pea straw mulch to stop the garden drying out
- new hose fittings (better quality this time - the last ones broke!)

Quinn, Fletcher and Jackson proudly display some of the garden goodies

Our new murals are coming!

A few of the painting team at the Saturday 'painting party.'

Did you know that a painting team from the Year 6 students has been designing a pair of murals for our school? Amy Ruiz has kindly been helping a group of students with all the aspects of planning, design and painting. Many thanks too, to Marsha Smith for her expert painting advice. 

In this photo the two murals are placed together. Can you see the join? They will be displayed side-by-side, but separate.

We can't wait to see the finished result!

- Mrs Barker

Progress in Greenhithe School gardens

Our children are proud of their work 

in our school gardens!

Some of the gardeners

Calendula keeps pests away

Swiss chard - rainbow silverbeet

Winter growth

Camellia

Under the plum tree

The flaxes are growing

Strawberries

Broad beans

A few of the worm farmers

Installing our new compost bin

A delicious harvest from our school garden

Well, it is that time of year again,
when we harvest the cauliflower.

Some of the Green Team children 
- with several hungry extra recruits from Room 12 - 
went down to the gardens and picked an enormous cauliflower.

  

Even bigger than last year!

The children then took the cauliflower back to the classroom where it was washed, briefly but lovingly displayed... 


then chopped and eaten raw with cheese. 

Delicious.

Retro up-cycling

Yesterday Cole brought in a clever craft his Mum made at home out of old vinyl records.

Impressive!

Welcome, new worms, to Greenhithe School.

By Room 12

Our school has just welcomed some new tiger worms

 - 500 grams of wriggly wonderful squirmy tiger worms!

To settle the worms into their new home, we followed the instructions on the box they came in - via the post - 
from Worms R Us.

Room 12 got a spare worm farm out of storage and set it up - but you can use anything that has a drainage hole: an old bath, a bucket, even a large bottle. It is easy to make your own worm farm to compost your scraps faster. You can also use the worm liquid and castings on your garden.
Just remember - you need composting worms. The ones you find in your garden soil are not the right sort!

How we set up our new worm farm

By Caitlin and Mischa

1. Get a bucket and 2 trowels
2. Get a quarter of a bucket of soil
3. Fill up the bucket with shredded newspaper about halfway
4. Sprinkle in about half a cup of water to dampen everything
5. Put the mixture into your worm farm. You can add damp, dead leaves as well.
6. Gently put the worms into your worm farm and cover them with the mixture so they are in the dark.
7. Add a layer of damp newspaper to 'tuck them in'. Worms like the dark and to be covered. They will also eat the newspaper.

Damp newspaper and compost-rich soil from the vegetable garden

We read a book with Mrs Barker about how to look after the worms.

Lots and lots of worms

Adding the compost and shredded newspaper to a bed of damp leaves

Then add the worms - gently. They don't like vibrations or being pushed around

We covered the worms with more compost and then a layer of damp newspaper. 

We gave them a welcoming gift of two half-eaten apples and a rotten banana skin, 

and put the lid on the worm farm to keep it dark