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Community Garden News

We are opening up again and the garden needs some community love after being shut down. Everyone is welcome to the Monthly working bee this Sunday 31 May 11-1pm. Bring your own gloves and respect social distancing.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1158752637804965/

As part of the Regenerate now Farmers in the field program Growing Point did a very interesting mentoring session with three mentors, who gave us very valuable feedback on our soil test:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq-OR8Tui2sLKMzcFWMP3uQ

We also did an Instagram take over posting a video every day for a week. You can see Ellen do a history of the site and a walk around introduction and Ange on how and why to make protozoa tea and poly cropping with high density planting and bio diversity:

https://www.instagram.com/regenerate.now/

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Recycling tips

Here are some tips for recycling from a recent article on stuff – please recycle mindfully.

Reduce. It’s energy-intensive to recycle something, so it’s best to say no to recyclable materials if you don’t need them. For example, you could refuse a paper bag or put a no junk mail sign on your letterbox.

Clean. Leftover and spoiled food, drink or cosmetics in containers can leak through and send a whole load of recycling to the dump. Give all items a quick rinse before placing them in your recycling bag or bin.

Toss small items. Even if made from recyclable materials, tiny things such bread tags and paper scraps can’t be recycled, but they can jam sorting machines. Anything smaller than the palm of your hand is better off in the trash.

Don’t “wishcycle“. If you’re unsure if something is recyclable, check your council website or give them a call. Don’t simply toss it in the recycling bin.

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Dignan Street Community Garden – March 2020

Garden events coming up for TTPC – finally the refurbished pizza oven is up and running 🍕😋

March 13th and 20th Shared Kai Friday 5-7pm

A Growing Point, shared kai at Dignan Street Community Garden. Come along and enjoy the garden, bring friends and whānau and some kai to share or koha towards the firewood. The Pizza oven will get fired up about 6pm. We’re a zero waste event so bring all you need to eat and drink with and take it all away, unless we can compost it.

https://www.facebook.com/events/200882787629784/

March 18th 12.30- 1.30pm (runs after next weds gardening group)

Analysis and improvement of your soil workshop

A Growing Point workshop run by Ange Fleming, a molecular biologist hosted at Dignan Street Community Garden. Ange will take you through some easy steps to analyse your own soil and offer ways to improve it. Please bring along a jar half full of your own soil. Free for garden members and a koha for others.

https://www.facebook.com/events/514420846166644/

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Garden events

The community garden got a grant from Waste Minimisation Innovation Fund (WMIF), which means we can expand our capacity. We have called the social enterprise, Growing Point and our Kaupapa is Growing soil, food and community.

We do a shared kai at the garden every Friday night during daylight saving. We also have the BBQ going from 6pm and when the pizza oven refurbishment is finished (hopefully not too far away), we’ll do pizzas. We are running 3 workshops a month and all the events are on our calendar.

Update 05 February:

Seed Saving Workshop
at 
Dignan Street Community Garden
Friday 7th Feb, 4-5pm
25 Dignan Street

Ellen is running a fun Growing Point Workshop that shows you how to save your seeds, what and when to harvest, and how to plan succession planting. If you’re a beginner or an experienced gardener there will be something to learn for everyone. The workshop is free, but if you’d like to take some seeds home they will be $5 each person. It’s a zero waste event so bring your own small bags or envelopes. Everyone is welcome to stay on for the shared kai that we have every Friday night 5- 7.

More information on Facebook and Neighbourly.

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Bike Auckland for Point Chevalier 🚲

Auckland Transport is making it easier to be a Transition Town in Pt Chevalier, with safer streets making it easier to move about by foot and bike. It’s important to submit before 20 December to show how important this is to us. Here’s AT’s project page, and Bike Auckland has a full article about it. 🚲:

  • Support the great protected bikeways – and if you like, talk about what they will mean for you and your family! Both in your feedback and on social media!
  • Support the repurposing of car parking and the painted median where necessary to make the project safe and functional for all ages and all kinds of travel
  • Support the new raised and signalised crossings, and the raised tables over the side streets – safe walking is so important, and these will be great for kids, Selwyn Villagers, and people catching the bus!
  • Ask for a full deal, with raised crossings too for the entrances of the Bird Streets on the south side of Meola Road, and Faulder Road off Garnet Road.
  • Support the new peak hour bus lane on Pt Chevalier Road – for faster, more reliable buses when we need them most.
  • Support the replanting on Meola Road’s south side, which is needed to make the project feasible.
  • Support the traffic signals at Pt Chevalier / Meola – and ask for them to be on a raised table (to slow down red-light runners) and with wider paths around the edges for walking and biking.
  • Ask for more bike parking as part of the plan: especially at shops and bus stops. (The sports fields/ MOTAT precinct will need dedicated bike parking, too; that’s a separate convo, but one worth mentioning here).
  • Ask AT to work with the Local Board to connect these routes to Point Chevalier School on Te Ra Road – there are existing plans and discussions, but the kids deserve timely delivery!
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TTPC Community Garden in Dignan St

Spring has arrived at the Dignan St Community garden with abundant produce and beauty. Our keen gardeners have increased in numbers to up to 16 people on a Wednesday morning and ranging in age from 1 to 70 plus. With our diversity of cultures and talents it is a lively hub of social, creative and learning activities in an environment that we are in constant awe and appreciation of as we work with nature’s bounty and beauty.

Everyone is welcome:
Wednesdays morning 09:30-11:30
Thursday evening 16:30-18:30
2nd Sunday of month 14:00-16:00

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Here Comes the Sun: A Point Chev Play Street

When? Friday 1 November 2019, 8.00am – 8.00pm

Where: Te Ra Road, Point Chevalier, Auckland

Here Comes the Sun is a community play street event, brought to you by Bike Pt Chev and Point Chevalier School with support from neighbours and community groups. An inspired combo of School Streets and Play Streets (as seen overseas) this is a first for the Chev, and maybe for Auckland, too!

On Friday 1 November, we’re transforming Te Rā Road into an all-day play space from 8am – 8pm!  The fun begins before school, with a wide open traffic-free street where children can play, scoot and bike, while parents and teachers share coffee and chat.  

During the school day, Te Rā Road becomes an open-air classroom for fun and creative learning, with visits from other schools, kindergartens, and community groups. And after school, everyone’s invited to come and meet on the street! As afternoon rolls into evening, the street will fill with old-fashioned fun and games, music, and food trucks from 5pm – 8pm, for a family-friendly vibe until sunset.

Leave the car at home, and come out and meet your neighbours! 

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Who will you vote for?

“Business as usual” won’t transform our city to be a low-carbon, sustainable one. Nor will “business as usual” voting!

So dig in to the details and find out who is actually going to lead us out of our climate emergency. Council and even the local board are critical to implementing a good plan; moves from central government will filter through in the medium term but this steady march towards climate catastrophe requires some immediate action which only Council can take.

Here are four sources of information about the candidates in our local area based on answers given to questionnaires.

Transition Town Pt Chevalier

Generation Zero

Bike Pt Chevalier

The Spinoff

Happy voting!