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!”