First visit was Monique who firstly apologised for not cleaning her house yet but thought I would be there in the afternoon. I laughed like anything and said I hoped she’d never come to inspect our place which most often looked like a bomb had gone off, but secondly I didn’t care at all what her house looked like we were heading to the garden!
The garden area was very overgrown. We looked around firstly at what was growing there and I pointed out Poison hemlock (a highly toxic plant) and the Moth plant which are two plants she should look at removing before they release new seed pods. Monique took pics immediately and was going to speak to Kainga Ora and TRC for help as these were coming from a neighbor’s side. I assured her they were everywhere and it needed an effort from everyone. We chose a spot and she will clear and lay cardboard down ready.
Then Trish, who has a HUGE grassy backyard. She lives with her Mum who HATES chickens! We chose a back corner and she said she will put out a panui to the whanau and see if anyone can help her get a fence up. We talked about the plastic mesh you see around as being short lived and not strong or high enough. She’s sure whanau will help. I’ve attached a pic. She’s lovely and looking forward to chickens.
Then the workshop: NB: This was to link in with tech activation on Kai sovereignty and sustainability with The Good Fale for homeschooling families. We had about 10 children and about 5 adults participate.
Drawing a diagram I first discussed how a seed grows, understanding that to grow good quality, nutritious food, we must first have a healthy seed and healthy soil. This was a natural lead on to the relationship between soil and plant.
We planted Dwarf Massey pea seeds into 6 cell punnets, and then looking at root structure, we went on to transplanting lettuce seedlings into paper pots we made there. We then discussed fertilisers and made some potassium rich fert each to take home, using banana skins in a jar of water.
Lastly we got ‘Billy the chicken’ out of her cage and discussed feathers, flight, egg production, wing clipping, care, lifespan and death of chickens.
I asked each at the end, what was the most interesting thing they learned today. A few said the electromagnetic field a healthy plant emits which draws in minerals from the air.
A few said the microbial activity under the ground and how plants talk to each other supplying each other with different needs.
A couple said the humane way to kill a chicken which has been hurt.
One said how to trim a hens’ flight feathers. He had heard the term ‘clipping feathers’ but assumed that mean’t using a peg or a clip of some sort to clip the feathers back and hold them there.
The difference between school children and homeschool children, who more naturally think and question, was marked for me today. So many great questions and no fear of being wrong in a lively discussion. Some bright sparks in there too. Hugo knew bananas were potassium rich!
The engagement level was high and the children all eagerly became involved which I thoroughly enjoyed.
After lunch I saw Rachel who has been living there for 52 years. Firstly as a child, then a parent and today she had two moko there. It amazes me that people have these HUGE HUGE backyards and no veg gardens. I admired the ancient Apple tree which has been there as long as she has and it’s laden. We talked about ways to quickly and easily process them into apple pie for the freezer. She is super excited to share the spoils with her whanau and neighbours. Rachel works M-F normally, so it may be a mission to make a time with her. Likes everything except Silver beet but when I described the variety ‘rainbow lights’, she thought she’d try it. She has a huge choko along her shared fence line but saw it as a pain and had never tried them. I promised to share recipes and she’s now keen to try.
Jackie has a large section with some garden beds already. She is following Patchwork gardens and keen to learn more. She had sprayed a strip along the fence line to extend her gardens, but now feels this is the best space for the chickens. I have suggested being a long length needing more fencing she might consider relocating her veg garden to the fence line and making the current garden, which is the back end of her property, the hens space. As the section narrows the end bit is less to fence, (just side to side) but still big enough for the hens and already has fencing on the other three sides. May take some time to find fencing and get sorted. She will let Jo know.
A full on day with the workshop but got through so much today. Looking forward to next week.
Rākau Tautoko 