Workshop Weekend at the Farm

 The kitchen and barn were abuzz at Ambury Farm last weekend, with local participants attending preserving and Bokashi workshops run by Friends of the Farm members.  Inspired by community ideas generated at our Sweet Talks event earlier in the year, the workshops were advertised around the Mangere Bridge area, through our new Facebook page, email tree and at community WasteWise presentations.  A total of 20 people attended a workshop and, without exception, gave excellent feedback.

The preserving workshop, facilitated by Sharryn Park, gave participants hands-on experience making orange marmalade, pineapple marmalade, lemonade, rhubarb and ginger jam, lemon honey and meringues (to use up the spare egg whites!).  The friendly, laid-back atmosphere of the workshop provided the perfect setting to get to know each other better and swap cooking tips. And the results were particularly well received, with each person taking home a couple of jars of the finished product. Sharryn’s tips on presenting a jar of jam as a gift inspired us to start planning our Christmas hampers now!

The relaxed, hands-on experience continued the following day at the Bokashi workshop, with our environmental educators Meredith Fountain and Caroline Walmsley showing participants how to construct their own systems using repurposed paint containers and buckets.  People appreciated the ‘know-how’ of the facilitators and went home with practical skills to get their own Bokashi systems up and running.  Some also had Christmas on their minds and were making plans to give Bokashi systems away to family and friends.

In general, the workshops contributed to our community’s growing knowledge about how to reduce waste in our households, through using what we don’t want (fruit and food scraps) to create things we do want (preserves and compost).  Having our timeline showing how long it takes waste to break down in landfill on display outside the barn captured the attention of workshop participants, as well as many other visitors to the farm, and reinforced our “WasteWise” message.

Participants’ children spent the afternoon exploring the farm and having fun together and we all appreciated the lovely homemade afternoon teas provided by Friends of the Farm member Caroline Walmsley.  Special thanks to Jacqui Geux, who documented the workshops for us through the beautiful photos below.

The weekend generated lots of ideas for future workshops, including making vegetable preserves (e.g. chutneys and sauces), cooking $10 meals, and composting/worm farming.  If you have an idea about a workshop you would like to attend or run, please contact us by email at justineskilling@gmail.com or through our Facebook page www.facebook.com/FriendsoftheFarmMangereBridge

 

WasteWise Community Presentations

Our WasteWise team has been out and about in the community this month, raising awareness about waste issues, providing education on recycling and inspiring people with our vision for a “wastewise caring community”. With some ongoing funding from Auckland Council, we’ve been able to contract a Project Manager (Sharryn Park) and Project Leader (Justine Skilling), making it possible for us to offer to speak to groups or organisations in our community about waste issues and the work we’re doing.

We were fortunate enough to be given a slot at the Mangere Bridge Residents’ and Ratepayers’ AGM last week, where 58 people were in attendance. Our presentation began with a brief history of our Friends of the Farm group and how we’ve become so passionate about waste.  We shared our vision for Mangere Bridge and showed photos of the work we’ve done to date in growing awareness about waste issues, developing waste champions, supporting households, groups, community events and village businesses to divert waste from landfill, creating opportunities for people to participate, putting community ideas into action and recording inspiring stories. 

Meredith (our Environmental Educator) delved into a rubbish bag and talked about some of those items people are unsure about and which are often sorted incorrectly (e.g. plastic bags, polystyrene meat packs, moulded plastic without numbers etc).  She drew attention to our soft plastics display, encouraging people to bring their stretchy plastic bags and milk bottles to the Mangere Bridge Village Market on Sunday mornings to be upcycled.

To finish, we highlighted some of the opportunities we’ve created for people to participate, including being involved in Friends of the Farm events, becoming a “waste champion”, volunteering, or attending one of our upcoming workshops on Preserving and Bokashi.  Four people signed up to one or more of these opportunities and we also had invitations to speak at Brownies and Rotary.

A smaller group of 10 Mangere Bridge Playcentre parents received a similar presentation last week, with five people requesting to participate in the project at some level.  We’re thrilled to be able to visit local groups in our community where and when they meet, and to not only share our knowledge but also give people the opportunity to contribute to our wastewise vision for Mangere Bridge.  If you would like us to present to a group you’re involved with, please email Justine at justineskilling@gmail.com

Special thanks to the Mangere Bridge Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association for their ongoing practical support and for their commitment to our community work.