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.