Soil & Health
Association of New Zealand Inc (est 1941) Healthy
Soil - Healthy Food - Healthy People |
New Zealand's leading source of information on Organics & Sustainable Living
Levin Branch February March 200801-02-2008Organic Growing News Newsletter 247 AGM and visit to Riverslea Retreat Sunday 30 March at 1.30pm For our first meeting of the year we visit Riverslea Retreat, 733 Otaki Gorge Road. Hosts Chris ands Lilian have created a natural venue for groups to meet and relax, surrounded by lush native bush where kereru and tui abound. A stand of beech trees overlooking the river, makes for a peaceful spot to enjoy the natural surroundings. The Otaki Gorge offers walking tracks, sheltered picnic spots and swimming. A large room with a log fire is ideal for workshops or conferences. Chris and Lilian have a long-term goal to make Riverslea a fully self sufficient and sustainable operation, by partnering with the surrounding natural environment and caring for its ecosystems. Whenever possible they cook with local, organic and spray free produce. Some of the projects they have already implemented include recycling and compost-making, using environmentally-friendly cleaning products, bush regeneration projects, removal of pest plants, and energy and water conservation. Other projects currently being implemented include installing solar heating, generating their own power, building organic gardens, creating a predator-proof bird-nesting environment, using only eco-friendly materials for all future building projects, and using only sustainable and reusable resources in their general operations. Riverslea Retreat is well signposted, about 10 minutes from the intersection of Otaki Gorge Road and State Highway 1, south of Otaki. There is no gate charge for the AGM, but bring some money for the sales table, raffle and the Organic Garden Calendar. ORGANIC RIVER FESTIVAL 2008 Although the 2008 Festival seemed quieter than previous years, our stall still attracted a lot of interest and did very good business. Congratulations to Barbara especially for the layout and appearance of the stall, which I think was the best in my experience. Thanks to all of our volunteers, who did a fantastic job engaging with the public as they came through. Thanks also to the many sponsors who donated products for sale or the raffle – Kiwibackyards who donated the first prize garden bed, Val Nicol who donated the bokashi bucket system for second prize, Farmlands who donated a range of products for third prize, Paul Knight who donated a calendar for fourth prize, Common Property who again donated many plants for the stall, and Dave Treadwell of Eco Seeds who donated seeds for sale on commission. Thanks also to Peter Brake, who donated about ten olive trees for our display and to sell. Peter has over 1600 organically-raised trees for sale, with varieties ideal for our region. He can be contacted on 09-408-7979. The raffle was won by Paul Hansby of Levin, ticket 219. Second prize went to ticket 129, Trish Clifford-Marsh from Featherston. Third was Jamie Milne of Wellington, ticket 322; and fourth went to ticket 254, Sue Kast of Otaihanga. PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2007 2007 was another busy year for the Levin branch of the NZ Soil & Health Association. Our first event every year is also our biggest – the Organic River Festival at Kimberley Reserve, Levin. This is not only our main fundraiser for the year, but also the main opportunity to meet and hopefully educate the public. National spokesperson Steffan Browning spent a lot of time at our stall pressing the flesh and spreading the word, and I was interviewed and had a couple of sound-bites on National Radio. Thanks to a Community Post grant, we were able to mail our January newsletter to an additional 200 Soil and Health members from Wellington, Wanganui and Wairarapa. We received a lot of feedback at the stall from those members, who are now aware of our existence and activities. Our AGM in March was held at Tony Robinson’s Rambler’s Flowers. Tony told us of his latest work with bio-active compost tea. Members of Farmers Unlimited also attended. In April, we returned to Common Property in Te Horo for a compost-making demonstration with Rochelle Hopping, including an EM compost with Dave Johnston. In May we visited the home and garden of Barbara and Hille van der Valk in Te Horo, featuring raised vegetable beds and an ingenious first-flush rainwater diversion device. Sandra Eckert of the Environua Trust addressed our June meeting at Thompson House. Sandra told us about the Second Nature waste-recovery centre and shop in Sheffield St, Levin. In July we attended the Wellington-Horowhenua branch of the Tree Crops Association for their annual pruning demonstration. Tony Robinson addressed us again in August, this time on the subject of using weeds to identify soil conditions. This meeting generated a lot of interest, with over 60 people attending Thompson House. Our final indoor meeting was in September, when Gary Williams gave a talk on nanotechnology and its implications. Our October meeting was another popular one, at the home garden of Paul Knight in Levin. Finally, we rounded off the year with our annual social meeting, this year with Deirdre Kent and Malcolm Murchie in Otaki Gorge Road. Our other major activity for the year was the printing of our Organic Garden Calendar for Kapiti to Manawatu. This project was inspired by a bequest from long-time member Johanna Oderkerk some years ago. We commissioned local organic gardener Kath Irvine to interview local organic growers each month over the course of a year. Kath asked them what they were planting, what pests and diseases they encountered, what remedies they used, how they were preparing for the coming seasons, and so on. As well as monthly planting guides, the Organic Garden Calendar includes detailed sections on compost, EM, pruning, storing the harvest, mulch, watering, and more. Illustrated by Ali Statham and Emily Williams, the Organic Garden Calendar is an attractive and useful guide for local organic growers, and we hope that it becomes a standard reference in years to come. Thanks to NZ Community Post and the Oxford Tavern Levin Sports and Educational Trust for their grants towards this project. Thanks also to Hannah Zwartz, organics writer for the Dominion Post newspaper, who featured the Organic Garden Calendar in her column and who also wrote an article on Tony Robinson’ weeds talk that generated a lot of interest from the general public. As always, a vast team effort is needed for any successful organisation. I would like to thank the committee for their work throughout the year, and for the particular tasks that each of them performs behind the scenes. I would also like to thank the various members who volunteered their services, at the Organic River Festival, at branch meetings and at field days. We have a vibrant and active branch because we have vibrant and active members, so thank you one and all. UPCOMING MEETING On 27 April 2008 we visit Debbie Laing’s 16 acre lifestyle farm at 98 Derham Road, Te Horo. Further details next month. CHINA’S LEAP INTO ORGANICS China’s massive tenfold expansion in organic agriculture in only one year will create a major impact worldwide on both organic and conventional produce, says environmental scientist John Paull. In articles in the December issue of Acres Australia, he analyses the significance of the inaugural Bio-Fach China Organic Expo and Conference which he attended in Shanghai last year. Here are some of the point he makes: China’s huge top-down organic initiative contrasts strongly with the situation in Australia where producers struggle with what appears to be the indifference of the Australian government to organic agriculture. Mr Paull said that of all the countries in the world, China is “awesomely motivated to fix up tis pollution problems and at the same time to enrich the country, and here you have an organic strategy that does both of those simultaneously.” In 2006 the amount of land under organic management increased from 300,000 ha to 3 million ha. It is such a big country with such a wide climatic range that it can produce just about anything it puts its mind to. “The strategy of converting to organics as a nation is top-down and it’s a strategy we haven’t seen before.” He said they have three interlinked food standards – Organic Food, Green Food and a third standard that translates into - Safe Food. They go into farms and certify them to use less pesticide, and control what pesticides they can use, and test the produce so it can be stamped with the appropriate standard. “In the end whether Chinese organic is as good as Australian organic or any other organic produce will be determined in the market place, provided that the labelling is transparent in regard to provenance – that is, if manufacturers stop hiding behind “made with local and/or imported ingredients” Mr Paull said the organic industry is better placed than any other sector of the food industry to label where the product comes from because there is a traceability system. “If it’s not traceable it’s not organic”. He said that producing food with chemicals is just a blip, or fad, in the 5000 year history of food production. People go to farmers’ markets because they can put a face to the food. - Ray Bourn See www.acresaustralia.com.au MARCH AND APRIL IN THE ORGANIC GARDEN from the Organic Garden Calendar by Kath Irvine March Sow miner’s lettuce, corn salad, lettuce, spinach, brassicas, spring onion, peas, broad beans, radish, carrot, beetroot, parsnip, sweet peas, honesty, nigella, primula, aquilegia, alyssum, snapdragon, wallflower. Plant out brassicas, peas, lettuce, silver beet, spinach, salad greens, celery in the greenhouse, perennial herbs, calendula, heartsease, Spring bulbs into well prepared beds – cut in green crops and add compost, rock dust, worm castings, and dolomite or lime. You need to feed up your Winter crops for good strong growth before the cold weather slows them down. Harvest apples, potatoes, pumpkin, kumara, walnuts. For storage techniques, refer to the book! Feed citrus and passionfruit. Cut comfrey for Autumn compost and liquid feed, and to spread around currants and broad beans. Catch codlin moth caterpillars in cardboard collars. April Sow last of the Winter salads, also onions, broad beans, stock, poppy, bluebell. Clean up the orchard, and prepare garden beds for the coming Winter. For detailed tasks, and what to do with end-of-season crops, see the book. MOON PLANTING GUIDE March April 8th – New moon 6th – New moon 9, 12, 13 – leaf crops 8, 9, 12 – leaf crops 14th – First quarter 13th – First quarter 16, 17 – fruit crops 19 – fruit crops 22nd – Full moon 20th – Full moon 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 – root crops 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28 – root crops 30th – Last quarter 29th – Last quarter Dates in bold indicate best days for working with particular crops, dates not in bold are also auspicious. Aspartame – what is it? It is a controversial artificial sweetener, cheaper and about 200 times sweeter than sugar. It appears on labelling as number 951, its scientific name being L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine-methyl-ester. It comprises two amino acids – aspartic acid and phenylalanine – bound together with methanol. Occurring in natural form these are bound up, but in aspartame they are not, breaking down readily to formaldehyde (accumulative and known to cause cancer), formic acid (the venom in at stings) and DKP (a known brain tumour agent). Aspartame is in more than 6000 products worldwide: sugar-free and diet products, eg NutraSweet and Equal; chewing gums; sweets eg Mentos, Extra and Smints; some Eta potato chips; Yoplait Diet-Lite and Weightwatchers yoghurts; Jarrah, Weightwatchers, Nestle and Ovaltine drinks; sports drinks; dietary supplements eg Redoxon, silver top Berocca, Healtheries products including chewable children’s vitamins; and 124 medicines (including 81 for children), eg Lemsip, Panadol. Products containing aspartame often don’t mention it. They might just have the warning “Phenylketonurics, contains phenylalanine” or its food number, 951. Dietary supplements and medicines don’t have to be labelled with their ingredients in NZ. According to independent (non-industry funded) doctors and researchers, aspartame can cause a range of symptoms ranging from mild and transitory to debilitating and life-threatening, eg headaches, memory loss, vision loss, depression, seizures, coma and cancer. It can worsen or mimic the symptoms of such diseases and conditions as MS, lupus, ADD, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It interacts with drugs and MSG, and induces carbohydrate cravings (=weight gain). The methanol in aspartame affects the dopamine system of the brain, causing addiction. Methanol, or wood alcohol, is classified as a severe metabolic poison and narcotic. If you are having aspartame regularly and have unexplained symptoms, try the 60-day no-aspartame test and see what happens. See www.safefood.org.nz, www.mpwhi.com, or contact Safe Food Campaign, PO Box 9206 Wellington, ph Alison 04-476-8607. - Safe Food Campaign The next committee meeting will be held on Monday 14 April at 10am with Liz Baucke, 169 McLeavey Road, Ohau. All members are welcome to attend. |
|
Soil & Health
Association of New Zealand Inc (est 1941) Healthy
Soil - Healthy Food - Healthy People |
