Bridge Court Village Games Day

Written by Denise Balmain

 Despite a few minor setbacks, the Bridge Court Village Games Day was a success for all involved. The Friends of the Farm team again proved their willingness to connect with others in our Mangere Bridge community by continuing to include, involve and educate residents through events. And most of all to have fun!

 

The Senior Citizens Hall is a perfect venue, and when the residents arrived, they were thrilled to see both older games they were acquainted with (checkers, scrabble and cards), and newer games (Connect-4), and the response was pleasing for all involved.

 

 

 The participants were eager, even without the promise of a delicious afternoon tea provided by Friends of the Farm. Particularly pleasing was the arrival of Naadja and Nicollette, whose youth and enthusiasm added to the atmosphere.

 Although we would have liked to have seen more Bridge Court residents come, those who came clearly enjoyed the afternoon and left with promises to spread the word and attend further events.

New connections were made and suggestions on further events will be followed up. Thank you so much to Friends of the Farm members who took time out of their busy Saturdays to help.

Another Pop Up Clean up! 8th November 2015

Written by Janine Nillesen

Around 21 people popped up to the mountain to pitch in and give the area a quick spring clean earlier this month.  Our set up is always simple and we make the timeframe short- just two hours, or less if you want. Our motto is "come on by and help care for our patch" – of paradise, right here in Mangere Bridge.

 

Kids arrived on bikes and scooters, the lure of course being the skate park.  So while they were distracted, some very committed parents put their efforts into removing glass from around the playground.

Most locals who came this time also attended our first Pop Up Clean up. This is very encouraging, as it is obviously striking a chord, and people are seeing it as a very simple and effective way to make a difference in our community. Along with a few new faces too – yahoooo!

It was a glorious day on the mountain! We managed to rescue 30kg of recycling that was trapped under trees and in long grass around the mountain and sports field. Unfortunately the 28kg of landfill waste we collected was unable to be diverted. This consisted mainly of plastic, soft plastic and packaging, fireworks and a boogie board.

Thank you to those who came along – caring for our environment!

 

 

Mangere Bridge Community Picnic

The inaugural Mangere Bridge Community Picnic hit the Farm last weekend, with around 60 locals gathering in the sunshine for food, fun and friendship. 

  Picnickers had fun trying out the range of physical activities on offer, including disc golf, volleyball, relay races and working out in a junk-yard gym.  Others went for the more sedate pastimes of finding gold in the hay, taking selfies with the horses, and guessing whose poos belonged to who.  The picnic finished with a tug of war, pitting adults against children and boys versus girls, and ending with a pile of happy people!

The day was simple, relaxed and fun to organise and we’re hoping for it to become a Mangere Bridge institution.  This year, we were lucky enough to have the junk-yard gym and relays courtesy of Mangere Bridge local Ian Campbell from ASAP Fitness.  Next year, we’d love to have other contributions from locals too, so let Friends of the Farm know if you’re keen to run an activity.  Thanks to everyone who came and made the day such an enjoyable one!

 Written by Justine Skilling

Tote bag sewing at the Farm

A group of Mangere Bridge locals gathered at the Farm this week to try our hands at creating a stylish tote bag from recycled material.  The workshop was hosted by Friends of the Farm and facilitated by the very talented Stacey Pinique, a Mangere Bridge resident who champions craftiness in the wider Auckland community as co-founder of the General Collective Market in Ellerslie.

Stacey sourced the material for free from Nick’s Fabrics in Otara and pre-cut the tote bag pattern to give us a head start on the night.  While measuring, cutting, pinning, sewing and drinking tea, we managed to fit in convivial conversation, swap neighbourhood gossip, and share ideas for possible future crafty workshops.  By the end of the evening, all 11 of us had managed to produce beautiful lined tote bags that will help us reduce the need for plastic bags in our lives. 

Thanks Stacey for the wonderful evening and for all the hard work you put in voluntarily to making it happen!  The workshop fitted beautifully with our Friends of the Farm vision of fostering a wastewise, caring, connected community.

Written by Justine Skilling 

Sustainable Coastlines Hui

Friends of the Farm members recently took part in a hui facilitated by Sustainable Coastlines, an organisation that mobilises and trains people around New Zealand to run beach clean ups in their local areas.  The organisation is looking to co-ordinate a huge Manukau Harbour-wide clean up in March 2016, to coincide with Sea Week, and arranged the hui to gauge interest from local groups.

Groups from all around the Harbour attended, including people working and living in Mangere, Otahuhu, Waikowhai, Hillsborough, Titirangi and Waiuku.  A common love for the Harbour was shared by all, including some that belonged to Mana Whenua groups with several centuries of connection to the area.   Grief and sadness was expressed by many at the way the Harbour has been abused and polluted in recent times.

Sustainable Coastlines plans to contact local schools towards the end of October to offer education and training, in preparation for the clean up next year.  The training includes a powerful presentation showing the impact of rubbish on sea life and, consequently, on us, as we are at the top of the food chain.  It is hoped that children will play an active part in the clean ups through participating schools.

Local groups are committing to partner with Sustainable Coastlines to facilitate  a clean up of “our patch” of the Harbour, so Friends of the Farm will focus our efforts on the Mangere Bridge waterfront from the bridge to Ambury Farm.  We’d love for as many Mangere Bridge residents and groups, as well as our local schools to get involved in this.  We hope this event will give people a real sense of guardianship of the treasure that is our Manukau Harbour and that it will send a strong message of our desire for the Harbour to be cared for and respected by the wider community.

 Written by Justine Skilling

Mangere Bridge Household Waste Pilot

By Justine, Meredith and Frances

Following on from our Sweet Talks event earlier in the year, Friends of the Farm are now developing a Household Waste Pilot Project as part of our wastewise commitment.  Our trained mentors live in the community and are working alongside Mangere Bridge households to find ways to reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill.  This might include:

·     Learning more about what else you can recycle along with what you’re already doing.

·     Trying a Bokashi or composting system to deal with food waste

·     Finding out where to dispose of other household items.

A mentor is available to answer questions along the way about certain kinds of packaging or other things you’re not sure how to get rid of. We’re also measuring the volume of waste diverted over a number of weeks so households can appreciate the gains they’re making.

Several Bridge families gathered together earlier this month to kick off the programme. They brought along their waste for the week and after weighing and photos, the bags were emptied into a common pile  and sorted. By sorting together, our friendly mentors were able to focus on the particular kinds of waste produced in each household and target their advice to meet individual needs and questions. After sorting, the remaining waste to landfill was weighed again. Everyone was amazed by the result.   We’d been able to divert a significant proportion of what was originally in the bags away from landfill.

We then looked at some options for dealing with food waste (composting and Bokashi) and discussed miscellaneous questions.

Each household was asked to keep a record of their waste weights and volumes, and take photos over a three month period, to measure the change.  Mentors, Caroline and Meredith, let the group know they’re only a phone call away if participants strike any problems or have further questions.

All families involved in the project are volunteers. We hope the project will grow organically by word of mouth and that some families may wish to share their knowledge with their own friends and family.  Our mentors are open to suggestions and ideas, and will use what we've learnt going forward.

Pilot participant Frances Hancock gave this feedback on her involvement to date:

Our family of three signed up for the Household Pilot project because we knew we could be doing more to divert waste to landfill but didn’t know how. At the first meeting our black sack of rubbish weighed 2.8 kilos.  Meredith, our Friends of the Farm mentor, went through the rubbish with us and reduced it to .8 kilos!  To level the playing field, she also brought along her very modest bag of weekly rubbish, which we also  sorted and reduced even more. That told us that the pilot project is about ‘doing better’ rather than aiming for perfection.  Meredith’s friendly, encouraging and informative approach left us inspired to change our behaviour.  The following week instead of putting out a black sack, we put a small supermarket shopping bag at the gate; it was so light it didn’t register on our scales! Whereas before we composted uncooked food, now we’ve got a Bokashi system up and running to accommodate left-over cooked food as well.  Now we’re looking at what we’re purchasing as a way to reduce waste further.  I’ve called Meredith a couple of times to ask her questions about recycling particular items. She is always  incredibly enthusiastic and encouraging, and keen to hear how we’re doing. Caroline is developing practical resources to use in the pilot and also working closely with another group. We encourage other households in Mangere Bridge to sign up to the project. Our experience shows that one hour with a trained mentor can make a huge difference.

Before

After

Eventually Council plans to charge households to take away waste destined for the landfill, so there’s an added incentive to reduce as much waste as possible, to save money down the line.  

We’re now looking for more households willing to take part in the project. So if you’re interested, please send us an email (friends@fof.nz), and we’ll connect you up with one of our trained mentors. It’s a small time commitment – just an hour to get started - that will produce a real sense of satisfaction.

Bridge Court trip to Ambury Farm

By Carol-Anne Armitage

Some of our older Mangere Bridge residents had a fabulous day out at Ambury Farm today, thanks to the vision and hard work of several members of our Friends of the Farm group.  During our presentation to Bridge Court residents earlier in the year, we heard that many had never visited the Farm and were keen to find a way to get there.  Carol-Anne, Natasha, Denise and Caroline were determined to make this a reality and set to work making the visit as worthwhile and enjoyable as possible.

Carol-Anne takes up the story from here:

Seven residents made the journey to the Farm, with transport assistance from the Friends and other community volunteers including Bridge Community Network.  The visit began in the milking shed, where we saw two cows being milked. Caroline then taught us how to make butter. We tested our muscles shaking the containers to separate the buttermilk and make the butter, which we then enjoyed spread on pieces of bread. Afterwards, we moved outside to feed broccoli to some of the cows and then to the Barn for morning tea.  Thanks to Caroline and Natasha for preparing the lovely eats and to Denise who helped make the drinks. 

From there we headed to the shearing shed.  Bridge Court resident Blue was very interested in this, as it brought back memories of working on a farm in his younger years.  He explained to me how the press worked for bailing the wool.  Caroline showed us how to ‘card’ wool and then we all had a go at spinning.  Working in pairs we slowly twisted and stretched the wool.  Blue and I had the longest piece and actually managed to make it into two ply!

We then moved out into the farm to feed the bigger sheep and to bottle feed the lambs- at twelve noon on the dot.  There was a large crowd along the fence line but most of the group was able to join in this activity. Vaine looked so excited as she fed her lamb. Not only did Carita get her biggest wish, which was to pat a lamb, but she also got to hold one – she was thrilled!

We then checked out one of the new Clydesdale horses. Being tall, Blue stood looking at it eye to eye and seemed quite enthralled.  From here we followed the trail to see ducks, roosters and a turkey, and then on to the very large resident Kunekune pig, and a visiting sow with nine piglets.

Despite her sight impairment and difficulty moving around, Carita managed to get all the way around the Farm using her walking frame.  She was thrilled but no doubt will need a long nap to recover, as will a few of the others.  Thanks Denise for being Carita’s helper while I kept an eye on the ground for dips and inclines.

Everyone had a great time and the good weather added to the enjoyment of the trip. Those of us who organized the visit enjoyed the day as much as the residents, and were happy to be contributing to our vision of building a caring and connected community.

A whopping 192 kilos of rubbish collected from the Manukau Harbour foreshore shows “WE CARE”

By Frances Hancock

Forty-five local residents collected a whopping 192 kilos of rubbish near both Mangere bridges on Saturday 29 August.  Over a two hour period we clocked up an impressive 75 volunteer hours!

The major waste problem continues to be plastic in all forms including bottles, cups, containers, shopping bags, lolly wrappings, food containers, bottle tops and plates.  Sadly, beer bottles thrown into the harbour and fast-food packaging were also abundant.  Two of our teenage wastewise champions found a pallet on the rocks and lugged it over the reserve, while another helped with sorting. Others found a bright orange traffic cone stuck in the mud, the odd jandal, clothing, part of an old tire, a large sign from a previous community event, cardboard, and a lot of paper.  Particularly worrying were the small pieces of plastics too numerous to count and which can so easily get lodged in a bird’s throat or entangle our fish.

Friends of Farm arrange working bees on a regular basis and we hosted this one at relatively short notice.  We’re working hard to encourage an “our patch approach’, where by Mangere Bridge residents take on greater responsibility for caring for our local environment.  A short notice event allowed us to test the effectiveness of our social media networks and word of mouth contacts. These avenues are our main means of advertising and we were thrilled with the turn out.  We use our own Friends of the Farm Facebook page, the Neighbourly website and the Mangere Bridge community noticeboard, all of which are well supported locally. 

 

Many familiar faces – including retired residents and school age children – pitched in to help. A number of new families also demonstrated their commitment to cleaning-up the foreshore. It was particularly encouraging to see so many children and teenagers attend the working bee with their parents. Maja Skilling came along to help with her mother, Justine.  "It felt good to be helping the planet and making a difference, small as it is, in my own backyard" says Maja.  Check out Maja’s inspiring video about the issue of floating islands of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean. 

Working bees are a great opportunity to meet new people living in our area or catch up with other residents you know already. People share stories and pass on local news.  One long-time supporter arrived with bags of lemons she and her daughter had just picked from her neighbour’s laden tree. “My elderly neighbour wants to share the fruit with other families,” she said.  

Janine, whose vision it was to create a Friend’s group, coordinated the effort and made sure everyone knew what they were doing and kept safe. Meredith, our environmental educator, weighed the rubbish, which Jack helped to sort and carry to the drop-off spot, ready for Council contractors to collect.  Jacqui, our local photographer, was also on hand to record the experience. 
  

Our Friends’ group has organised many of these events over the past few years and we now feel confident our growing team of hardy volunteers will turn out because  “We Care!” 

Mangere Bridge School’s WasteWise Warriors

A lot’s been achieved in the five years since Mangere Bridge School created the role of Environmental Educator.  Deputy Principal Jan Bills, a long-time advocate for sustainability within the school, saw the need for a dedicated staff member to have this responsibility and passed the mantel to teacher Don Biltcliff.  He’s tasked with role modelling sustainability, spearheading new initiatives and considering the bigger picture of where they might go in the future as a sustainable school.

 Back in 2010, Don’s first action was to implement the school’s commitment to the Council’s WasteWise Schools programme. This initiative provides mentoring and hands on support to schools with sorting out their waste systems and incorporating waste reduction into the school’s processes and curriculum.  Also in 2010, children studying ecology visited the Visy recycling centre in Onehunga to find out what happens to rubbish after it’s picked up from the kerbside.  “At that time, the Caretaker took the rubbish away before children got to school. The children didn’t understand the process”, says Don.  A waste audit was conducted of the rubbish being produced at school and they discovered that a lot of things were being thrown out that could be reduced, reused or recycled.  The children analysed the data and presented their findings at a school-wide expo at the end of the term.  

As a result of their work, lots of changes were made around the school.  “Turn It Over” bins were set up in every class for scrap paper. Food waste and recycling bins were put in the classrooms.  Worm farms were revived.  Assembly items and staff training was run, building knowledge on how to reuse and reduce rubbish. And a system of incentives was created across the school, to reward classes and individual students who made a special effort to reduce waste.  As a result, children started to show a general thoughtfulness about where rubbish goes.  Don remembers that this increased awareness and behaviour change “made a significant impact on how much went to landfill” from the school. 

Don believes the secret to the success of these measures was that they were done primarily “through the children”.  Don’s class, for instance, is responsible for inspecting rubbish bins across the school to look for “contamination”.  The children give classes rankings depending on the state of their bins, bestow WasteWise certificates on classes with well-sorted rubbish and award the sort-after “Tidy Kiwi” to a star class each fortnight.  Some children are even reaching out into the community with their passion for waste reduction, providing helpful suggestions to the on-site preschool on how they might reduce waste as well.  “All of this has been quite empowering for the kids”, says Don. “Certain kids really pick up on this and become leaders.”   

    

Families have also benefitted from their children learning about waste reduction at school. In his own class, parents have reported seeing their children turn into “waste champions” at home, ensuring that everyone knows which bin to put things in and educating family members on how much rubbish gets thrown away in Auckland each year.  The school is keen to keep encouraging families to provide “litterless lunchboxes” for their children and is looking at ways to support this further. “Even if 10% of our kids become passionate WasteWise Warriors out there we’re off to a good start!” believes Don. “That’s 10% more than before.”

For other schools keen to embark on a similar journey, Don would highly recommend finding ways to build WasteWise thinking into everyday learning in an authentic way and to make it part of what teachers already do in classrooms rather than an add-on.  “Getting people to believe it is important, and also the biggest challenge- management, teachers, parents and children. Ideally everyone would see the purpose and want to take part.”  Using local resources and building relationships with people in the community with knowledge, expertise and time was invaluable.  Don makes special mention of school parent, Ambury Farm Ranger and Friends of the Farm member Janine Nillesen, who’s provided hands-on support for the school at shared lunches and gala days.  “If only every school could have a Janine!” he says.

Mangere Bridge School has now officially graduated from the WasteWise Schools programme and wants to tackle other areas of sustainability.  Energy and water are next on the list, with dreams of using solar power and collecting rain water.  A fruit tree orchard is being developed.  Don is eyeing up the berm on Taylor Rd as a potential planting spot for edibles.  His enthusiasm and energy is infectious and it’s not hard to see how he’s managed to achieve such impressive results in such a short space of time.  “The future of the planet lies in the hands of the kids I teach today”, believes Don. “How we live is ultimately unsustainable, we have to make some changes, and as I tell the kids, if we think global but act local we WILL make a difference.” 

By Justine Skilling