Community orchard working bee

Around 16 Mangere Bridge locals gathered at the “Feijoa Patch” off Wallace Rd on the weekend, armed with gardening gloves, spades and lots of community spirit!  Our mission; to add 13 new fruit trees to the existing patch of established feijoas, creating a community orchard for us all to enjoy for years to come.  The fruit trees, purchased by Friends of the Farm, included four varieties of mandarin and two each of limes and oranges.  Our plan is for the trees to fruit at different times, so there will be a constant supply of fruit and enough to share with the wider community.

The group spent a happy and productive couple of hours digging holes (and pulling out some very large rocks!), adding sheep manure and compost and then mulching around the planted trees.  Both young and old, human and canine got stuck in, making it possible to get a lot done in a short space of time.  At the end of our labours, the workers were treated to a cold drink and delicious home baking, thanks to Ella Walmsley.  

Special thanks to orchard neighbours Rose, Richard and Joseph for their vision for the orchard and huge contribution to making it happen.  They are our kaitiaki for this patch, supported by Friends of the Farm and Auckland Council.  Thanks also to Auckland Council for supplying the compost for the trees.  The compost was created from the food waste collected in the trials of a new food bin collection system.  And of course we couldn’t have achieved much without the ever-efficient co-ordination of our Park Ranger Janine Nillesen, who organised the resources and gave us all jobs to do.

Friends of the Farm will co-ordinate ongoing working bees in the orchard, with a view to extending the patch to other areas in and around Ambury Farm as well.  There’ll be opportunities to help with pruning, mulching and manuring the trees as Spring approaches, so look out for invitations to join in on our Facebook page or Friends Updates.   The orchard will take a while to get established, so there’s no fruit to pick at this stage.  Once it’s in production, we’ll let the community know.  Thanks so much to everyone who came down to help on the weekend- your efforts have created a community treasure!