August 16, 2018
Do you want to get your milk in glass bottles?
A couple of Eketahuna farmers (Steve and Pip Olds) are setting up a dairy processing plant to produce milk in glass bottles for possible delivery to households in Wellington. They will initially sell their full cream milk at weekend local markets in Lower Hutt and Central Wellington, run as a refilling station.
They are also gauging interest to see if a home-delivery service will also be viable, and if so in which suburbs. If you are interested in home delivery (and/or the bottle refill option at the markets) you can read more about it and register your interest here. (link not current) You can also listen to their RadioNZ Interview.
Kae Miller Trust founder’s day planting
Founder’s Day for the Kae Miller trust was celebrated on July 21. Twenty four plants donated by the Forest and Bird Nursery were planted in the nearby Peace Grove to infill between the flax plants. Afternoon tea was held at the lodge including some of the Trustees and two of Kae’s grandchildren, with a surprise visit from two Maori women, one of whom had stayed in the lodge just after her baby was born at the Tapu te Ranga Marae in Island Bay.
They had come to bury the whenua of her son who is now 17 months old. They planted a small manuka near the blue seat, and sang a haunting waiata into the beautiful blue horizon.
The headland is special to many people, and over the years there have been plantings for whenua, memorials and dedications to International Peace. Not all are strictly ecological plantings, so please be aware that they have meaning to someone and treat them with respect.
Guardians of the Bays
The Guardians of the Bays group had their AGM on August 1. This resident’s group is opposing the airport runway extension proposal on social, cultural and environmental grounds. An extension would also have a visual impact on a reasonable number of our local people.
The minutes report that they have had a quiet year while the resource consent is on hold, but have still been working on the case.
Fruit Tree Plantings
Three Fruit Tree Guardian groups turned up at Innermost Gardens on August 12 for a fruit tree planting workshop organised by The Sustainability Trust, and to collect their fruit trees to plant on public land in and around Houghton Valley.
The fruit tree sites near the school welcomed a new apple and a replacement feijoa for one that had died.
Three feijoa trees made their way to Te Kawakawa Commons. Also two fruit trees were planted near the top of Sinclair Park, no pictures as yet.
Forest restoration in Australia
One of our dedicated tree planters was recently on holiday in Northern New South Wales when he stumbled upon a very successful community led coastal reforestation project. He was making his way down to the beach at Fingal Head and couldn’t help but notice the beautiful bush on the track. It was around dawn and there was a noisy chorus of Australian birds. He discovered that the place had been extensively sand mined in the 1960s and was left as a wasteland. A community led planting initiative started in the 1980s and the results have been nothing short of spectacular.
He bumped into a couple of blokes who were involved in the project and spoke at length with them about it. He found it heartening to see such a successful community led initiative. Planting trees is a simple but positive action that we can all take to help mitigate the damage we are doing to our planet.
(170 recipients, 98 opens)