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 newsletter24-05-2006On Sunday 28 May we visit Cackleberry Organics poultry farm - 243 Wallace Road, LevinJeff and Christina Paulin were urban dwellers but gave up life in Palmerston North 2½ years ago when they bought their 7 acre property north of Levin. The Paulins run 1100 laying hens on half their property, producing about 800 eggs a day. They also raise poultry for free range chicken meat, pieces and pies. The farm is audited by Agriquality, the SPCA and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority. To get there, take the Levin-Shannon highway (SH 57) north of Levin. Turn right into Wallace Road opposite Ihakara Hall. Keep to the right and do not take the Loop road. No 243 is near the end on the left with an Organic sign. Please park on the roadside – no parking on the property. Gumboots or stout shoes are advised. No dogs please. $2 gate charge includes afternoon tea, and there will be a sales table with produce and plants. Starts 1.30 PM sharp. APRIL MEETING REPORT About 25 people attended our April meeting on a beautiful autumn day at Leslie and Barbara Bowen’s property in Waikanae. Included in the crowd was Hannah Zwartz, organics correspondent for the Dominion Post. Here is her article from Saturday 6 May: Where there’s muck Sheep and chicken manure has been the salvation of Leslie and Barbara Bowen’s soil From the street, the Waikanae garden of Leslie and Barbara Bowen doesn’t scream “organic”. There are traditional standard roses, shrubs and bulbs for year-round colour – but all grown without artificial fertilisers or toxic sprays. And round the back, past the 200-odd potted fuchsias, is a 5m-by-8m model organic vegetable garden. Moving here 12 years ago, after gardening on Wellington rotten rock and Raumati sand, the Bowens expected great things from the Waikanae silt. But growth was disappointing, and diseases rife, till they built up the soil with manure and home-made compost. “Luckily, we had access to a sheep shearing shed, and we dug out manure from under there three years in a row,” says Leslie. The Bowens still buy in chicken manure (from a farm that doesn’t use unwanted additives in their chicken feed) and age it for six months before adding it to compost, or spreading it twice-yearly under citrus trees. “You have to cover it with compost or the neighbours complain about the smell.” They also use rock dust – it’s expensive, but has brought good results, says Leslie. [Not very expensive, and a little goes a long way. Our local distributor is Ann Storey at Imago Orchards – see her ad on the back page. Singa] The Bowens grow most of their vegetable requirements, along with herbs for teas and cooking, and much of their fruit (lemons, grapefruit, a 2m lime tree, pepinos, guavas, currants and blueberries). There are three compost bins on the go, providing about 3m2 a year. Grass clippings also go straight on the soil as mulch, with a sprinkling of blood and bone underneath to keep up nitrogen levels. There’s a tiny glasshouse where potatoes are sprouting and seeds vulnerable to rot, such as beans, peas, broad beans and garlic cloves, are started off before being planted out. All the seeds originally come from Kings Seeds, though the Bowens save their own where possible. This year a rogue self-sown runner bean plant cropped better than all the others, so Barbara’s saving that seed to replant. I visited the Bowens’ garden on an open day organised by the Levin branch of the Soil and Health Association. The $2 cover charge included a talk, tea and refreshments, and a chance to look round, ask questions and share experiences with a wide-ranging crowd of likeminded gardeners. A very practical way to learn more about organic gardening. Some of Leslie’s tips
MOON PLANTING GUIDE FOR JUNE First quarter 4th Full moon 12th Last quarter 19th New moon 26th
Ray Bourn JUNE MEETING On Sunday 25 June we will be visiting Ann Storey at Imago Organic Orchard for our winter pruning demonstration. Colin Spicer, President of the Central Districts Tree Crops Association will be in charge of the sharp stuff. Further details in the June newsletter. “The criteria for a sustainable agriculture can be summed up in one word – permanence, which means adopting techniques that maintain soil fertility indefinitely; that utilise, as far as possible only renewable resources; that do not grossly pollute the environment and that foster life energy (or if preferred, biological activity within the soil) throughout the cycles of all the involved food chains.” Lady Eve Balfour, The Living Soil, 1943 |
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Soil & Health
Association of New Zealand Inc (est 1941) Healthy
Soil - Healthy Food - Healthy People |
