Games and Afternoon Tea at Bridge Court

Despite the cold, wet weather on the day there was a good turnout of Bridge Court residents for this twice-yearly event run recently by Friends of the Farm.

Some residents just popped in for a quick cuppa and others enjoyed learning new games and establishing friendships with fellow residents they hadn't met before. With 72 units, and just like any other neighbourhood, they tend to know only those who live near them.

 There was lots of fun and laughter throughout the afternoon especially when Carol-Anne Armitage introduced her selfie stick to take some photos.  Cheese and crackers and the scones baked by Denise Balmain went down a treat, and residents are already looking forward to the next event!  

 Written by Denise and Carol-Anne

Friends of the Farm would like to say a special thanks to Carol-Anne, soon to depart from Auckland, for all the time and effort she's put into making these events happen at Bridge Court. Her excellent organisational and networking skills, and her selfie stick, will be greatly missed!

 

Pop-up Clean up (Nov 2017)

Our November Pop-up clean up down by the old Māngere Bridge saw a fabulous turn-out of volunteers, thanks to support from Māngere Bridge residents, Papatūānuku Marae and their Kai Oranga gardening course, as well as Māngere Mountain Education Centre.  30 volunteers, adults and youngsters, pitched in with enthusiasm and smiles and made short work of the area around the reserve and bridge, even wading into the mud to retrieve rubbish lodged in the mangroves.

As usual, lots of broken glass and bottles were collected, as well as single-use packaging and  larger dumped items, including a wooden pallet and a large plastic tray.  In all, 17 bags of rubbish were collected, to be disposed of by Auckland Council. 

It was great to see lots of new faces alongside our faithful, long-serving volunteers this time around.  Ane Karika-Nuku from Mangere Mountain Education Centre was excited to support Friends of the Farm’s work in this area, as it aligns with the centre’s mission to be kaitiaki for our local environment.  "It was a blast hanging out helping to tidy up. Thanks for this awesome event whānau", said Ane. The Kai Oranga gardening course from Papatūānuku Marae also enjoyed being involved with some hands-on mahi, caring for the environment.  As one participant said “we can’t plant food until we’ve cleaned up the land”.

While these clean-ups may feel like a drop in the ocean, in terms of the amount of rubbish that’s still out there, they’re always a great opportunity to educate our young people about the importance of looking after our environment. One youngster at the clean-up said he felt good to be cleaning up the harbour and to be protecting the birds and sea life from harm.  These hands-on experiences will stay with our children and hopefully influence the way they treat the environment as they get older.

A huge thanks to all the wonderful people who gave their time and energy to cleaning up around our harbour, especially those who travelled from outside Māngere Bridge to join with us.  "It was great to catch up with old friends and enjoy a good laugh with new ones. There's so much to learn about our place and we get much more done when we work together," said Frances, a local resident and member of Friends of the Farm. 

We look forward to working together again to care for our beautiful moana! 

Eco Body Products Workshop

By Ella Walmsley

In a bid to reduce the huge amount of plastics in the world and as a bit of a home science project, some 13 community members joined Friends of the Farm on Saturday 18 November to learn how to make eco body products.  The workshop aimed to show participants how to make deodorant, lip balm and toothpaste, using mostly household ingredients.  By making our own products, we'd be reducing the need for packaged products in our homes and could add our personal touch to what we were making.

As we got started melting beeswax and coconut oil and mixing everything together, workshop participants had a chance to get to know each other and talk about other ways they could be waste wise.  The first product we tried was the lip balm.  We poured the mixture into silicon moulds and put them in the fridge so we ended up with lots of 'lollipops' of lip balm.

Next we made deodorant, starting with the same beeswax and coconut oil base and adding arrowroot powder, baking soda and a selection of flavours.  Vanilla and rose geranium were on offer  at the workshop, and many more flavours could be added at home.

The final product we tackled was the toothpaste.  It was definitely not like your shop bought toothpaste but fabulous none-the-less.  This was the easiest to make, using only coconut oil, baking soda and peppermint flavour.

All in all, the workshop and experiments were very successful.  Everyone came away with new ideas and skills.  New friends were made and lots of fun had by all.  And the barn kitchen had a pleasant lingering odour of rose geranium, mixed with a pinch of peppermint and vanilla, and just a smidge of coffee and brownies (morning tea!).

Community orchard pruning workshop

Did you know that Mangere Bridge has a community orchard?  Tucked away in a quiet corner of Ambury Farm off Wallace Rd, the orchard has been home to a grove of feijoa trees for many years, and was extended by community volunteers last year to include a range of other fruit trees for all to enjoy.  This year, the trees were well overdue for a prune, so Friends of the Farm organised a workshop to get the job done, while building our local pruning skills. 

The 12 participants included neighbours of the orchard, Friends of the Farm members and a handful of other locals, keen to hone their pruning skills.  All had fruit trees of their own at home and wanted to learn how to increase their harvest and look after their trees better.

After a bout of heavy rain, the weather cleared just in time for the start of the workshop.  The group got straight into it in dramatic fashion, removing ten feijoa trees with a chainsaw to create more space for air flow and light and to help with pollination.  Local arborist Peter Bruce and Matt from Tree Botanics came along with a chipper and pruning expertise, and guided the group through some basic principles.

“It was a great opportunity to learn and then pitch in together to prune all the remaining feijoa trees, many hands making light work”, said FOF member and Ambury Park Ranger Janine Nillesen. Rose said the workshop helped to demystify pruning.  Rebecca, who’d been too scared to touch her own trees, felt she now had the confidence to prune them, and to teach her husband how to as well.

The group are keen to get together and prune again, and ended the day with coffee and cake and talk of starting up a pruning club in Mangere Bridge.  As one participant expressed it, “it’s exciting to be part of a community orchard”, and a great opportunity to learn and help each other out as well.

Pop-Up Planting on the Esplanade

A little piece of Mangere Bridge paradise got a makeover this month, thanks to the hard work of some lovely locals, our Ambury Farm park rangers, and a group of young men from Mt Richmond Special School.  On noticing that some of the gardens along the Esplanade were in need of attention, Friends of the Farm got in touch with the local Sports Park Ranger, who was happy to supply 600 native grasses for the community to plant.

While the turnout for our initial pop-up planting event was small (4 adults and 6 children), the group gave it their all and managed to plant 380 grasses in just two hours!  “It’s always rewarding to be head down, bum up, planting in a beautiful location, where many people walk and bike daily”, says Ambury Park ranger and Friends of the Farm member Janine Nillesen.

The remaining grasses were planted during Mt Richmond Special School’s regular Wednesday volunteer session at Ambury Farm, along with rangers Janine and Hamish. There are still plenty of spots along the Esplanade that could do with more plants and weeding, so keep an eye on the Friends of the Farm Facebook page for future pop-up planting sessions. “These events are a great chance to do something together as a family while caring for our patch”, says Janine.

Take a bag, Make a bag

 A quiet revolution is underway in Mangere Bridge.  In a bid to reduce the number of plastic bags in our environment and community, Friends of the Farm and lots of keen locals are helping to make it easy for us all to opt for reusable bags at the Mangere Bridge shops.   The ‘Tote-all Recall’ initiative will see cloth shopping bag collection spots dotted around the village shops for people to borrow and return bags when they’ve forgotten their own.

Before launching the initiative, 1000 bags are needed, and several dedicated home sewers have made a start by whipping up 150!  To boost the collection, our first community sewing bee was held at Ambury Farm last weekend.  As advertised, participants were invited to make two bags during the workshop- one to take home for themselves, and one to add to the community collection. 

The sewing bee attracted 11 enthusiastic locals, including adults and children. Some were expert sewers and some complete newbies keen to have a go. The afternoon proved a great success, with 25 bags made for the community, and lots of connections made between participants of different ages over fabric and afternoon tea.

A huge thanks to everyone who's made a contribution to our community initiative so far!  The next sewing bee will be held on the 16th September, 1.30pm at Ambury Farm.  Check out our Facebook page for more details.  If anyone would like to sew at home, recycled fabric can be collected from Mangere Floral Studio and completed bags can be dropped off there too.