NZTCA Franklin Branch Dec 2014 Newsletter

NEW ZEALAND TREE CROPS ASSOCIATION FRANKLIN BRANCH NEWSLETTER

In this edition...

Volume 35, Issue 5 - December, 2014

A Food Forest in Franklin? seminar

Forthcoming events...

A useful tree crop

Christmas treats...

Franklin Branch Notice of AGM

Sunday February 1st 1:30 pm - Branch AGM and Field Day at Pinewater

Notice is given of the 2015 Annual General Meeting of the Franklin Branch of the NZ Tree Crops Association. The AGM will precede our February Field Day at Pinewater.

Feb 14 - 15th - Organics NZ Conference “Food Matters”, Wellington

Date: 1:30pm on Sunday 1st February 2015

Feb 19th - Organics NZ Speaking Tour Auckland Saturday March 14th - “Beyond Organics” Fri 20 to Sun 22 March - NZ Tree Crops Assoc. AGM and National Conference

Reminder All TCA members are welcome at other meetings so look at the web site to see Events coming up www.treecrops.org.nz Articles appearing in this newsletter may be reproduced in whole or in part provided that credit is given to the Franklin Branch of the NZ Tree Crops Association and the Author.

TCA Branch Newsletters

Each area Newsletter Editor receives a copy of the other branches Newsletters by email. If you are interested in getting these forwarded to you, please let Heather Douglas know at email: heather.douglas12@gmail.com

Welcome to New Members: Kirsten McGhie, Alfriston Cameron Smith, Devonport

Address: Brian and Alison Haslip’s property at 153 Saddleton Road, Waiau Pa.

Field day: Pinewater Organic Feijoas & Limes Immediately following the Branch AGM, we will explore Pinewater, a 6.25 hectare fully certified organic orchard overlooking the Taihiki Estuary on the upper reaches of the Manukau Harbour.

Pinewater is owned and run by Alison and Brian Haslip with the help of their son, Warren, and his partner, Anita. Various animals keep the grass down on the land not planted in feijoa and lime trees or set aside as wetland and native bush revegetation areas.

NZ Tree Crops Assoc Notice of AGM

Notice is given of the 2015 Annual General Meeting of New Zealand Tree Crops Assoc.

Date: 1:30pm on Friday 20th March 2015.

Address: Showgrounds, Barge Park, Maunu, Whangarei

2015 NZTCA National Conference

Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd March, at Showgrounds, Barge Park, Maunu, Whangarei The theme for next year’s conference is “Biological Growing” and includes expert speakers and workshops on organic agriculture, bio fuel, seaweed-sourced fertilisers soil food, moth pheromones and apples, herbs and plants to attract beneficial insects.

Field trips to a Kiwifruit & Avocado orchards, and a sub tropical nursery & gardens.

There is a small group going from Franklin which will include some of the organising committee for the 2016 conference being hosted in Pukekohe. Want to join us?

Skilled in organising conferences?

The 2016 NZTCA National Conference is being held in Pukekohe. An organising committee of 6 - 8 people is needed. We have four branch members already appointed to the committee: Heather Douglas (Chair), Jean Douglas (accommodation), John Allen and Val Pearce. We need someone to fill the ever popular roles of Secretary and Treasurer. Can you help?

James Samuel & the Franklin Forest Franklin seminar

Franklin TreeCroppers TCA Franklin newsletter

istmas r h C y p p a h a We wish you nch committee a Franklin Br Some things to note...

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Privacy request

December, 2014

The next issue of our newsletter will include a list of the Branch members, their phone numbers and the town they live in.

This list is published for networking opportunities.

If you DO NOT WANT your name published, then please let us know by emailing the branch secretary at franklin@treecrops.org.nz

News F lash We have just been advised of the success of the Branch’s funding application to the Auckland Council’s Environmental Initiatives Fund.

That’s $2,000 to purchase trees for the Franklin Food Forest project.

The initial phase of this 10-year+ project starts in February next year.

Supporting excellence in our local schools

Our Branch have for a number of years now, supported students at the three local High Schools in the Franklin district by awarding a prize to the top horticulture student.

We congratulate this years winners: Pukekohe High School:

Daniel Brewster (top year 12 horticulture student) Tuakau College:

Tokowhiti Matena-Rapihana (year 12 student)

and...

Franklin Branch are hosting the 2016 NZ TCA National Conference and AGM. An organising committee of 6 - 8 people is needed.

Can you help?

We have four branch members already appointed to the committee.

These are:

Heather Douglas (Chair), Jean Douglas (accommodation), John Allen and Val Pearce.

We need someone to fill the ever popular roles of Secretary and Treasurer.

Waiuku College:

name not available

Patron’s Post Conference Tour of the North From our Patron, Jennifer Hutson Are you are intending to register for the 2015 conference in Whangarei and sample the interesting program Northland Tree Croppers are organising? If so, an opportunity awaits to spend a few more days and travel to some wonderful gardens, tree crops properties and tourist spots in the north.

This tour is a bit short on detail yet but here are some of the proposed options.

Omaio garden, Nymet garden, Ballard;s garden, Butler Point, Monto Garden, Wharepuke Sub-Tropical Garden, Palmco Display gardens, Wairiki Point and Kokinga Pa, and Ngauhua.

Andrew and I are spending a couple of weeks in the area In early December visiting all these places and making arrangements. The Patron’s Post Conference Tour of the North will be a drive yourself arrangement with some specialty places where we can arrange for the owners to speak to us at certain times. Accommodation suggestions will also be made.

If you are interested please email me at ajhutson@xtra.co.nz to be on my list or to make further suggestions. This does not commit you to attend. There will be no charge for the tour but there may be fees at the gates of each property.

Field Trip report: What to do?

A very social outing was our October field day at Graham and Jill Wheeler’s Runicman property.

Franklin TreeCroppers TCA Franklin newsletter 3

Graham and Jill are developing a small scale food forest and there was much discussion on the suitability of his various fruit trees to that system of growing. Careful design was the key and to not worry about ensuring all of the seven traditional layers of a food forest.

Many organic growing principles were deployed, from raised beds and mulched paths to a large scale compost heap.

Many of the older fruit trees had carpet rings under them to act as a mulch and Graham felt that this would help to limit codlin moth damage.

Wiltshire sheep grazed their paddocks, leaving many clots of wool that the birds used to line their nests.

A row of shelter belt trees had been recently cut down, creating much bark chip and fire wood.

We had a close look at Graham’s top bar bee hives and his workshop in which he was manufacturing some for supply to members of the local beekeeping club.

Graham’s finely crafted of home-built kayak was skinned from Paulownia trees, the wood being easy to work, strong and light.

December, 2014

Having enrolled on the ‘Go Organics’ course last year, Graham is changing the focus of his property so there was much to discuss as we explored the new developments.

Franklin TreeCroppers

Field Trip report: Franklin Food Forest a hit with locals.

TCA Franklin newsletter 4 December, 2014

The idea of a Franklin Food Forest has resonated with many judging from the turn out for the Saturday seminar at Pukekohe High School.

If the answer does indeed ‘lie in the soil’, then it is a solution available to each of us to act on to improve the sustainability of our food production systems.

Dubbed an event for growers and homeowners to learn more about food foresting, the seminar focused more on the learning objective than it did on exploring the needs of homeowners and growers.

Sustainability is a much over-used and ill-defined term. It means different things to different people and is too often defined from a single perspective.

That was appropriate given that food foresting means different things to different people.

Designing a food forest for the specific needs of homeowners and growers will come out of having a local demonstration facility.

Feedback on the seminar was supportive judging from the number and variety of comments made and questions asked. Guest speaker James Samuel of Food Forest New Zealand ably answered the many questions.

One contentious issue raised was around the declining nutrient content of our food. The subsequent interchange of ideas confirmed a concern with our present food production practices.

This concern is an aspect of the industrialisation of our food production and distribution systems raised in the build up to the seminar.

Food forests are also seen as part of the solution to bee colony collapse, and as an alternative agricultural system that makes a difference to climate change.

As real as these issues are, food foresting is but a part of the solution and not a panacea .

A farmer may first and foremost, use the term to justify a focus on the economics of their business. This is not to say that they are not concerned about their environment. Farmers have to be for that is the root of their business.

A business owner may be concerned only with the economic sustainability of their business, and insufficiently concerned about their environmental or social impacts. Coal mining and cigarette marketing are examples that come to mind.

A ‘greenie’ may use the term focused solely on environmental matters, saying that if we do not look after the environment, then we will one day not have an economy to sustain us.

These differences in perspective are understandable but in their exclusivity, are not acceptable.

All this is a bit like a natural forest really. Could the puriri tree have got its root-hold without the covering shelter of nursery plants like manuka? Could the kereru survive without the fruit of the puriri?

A well-designed food forest seeks to mimic similar interdependencies found in nature.

It is a way for homeowners to supplement their food gardens and to learn well-grounded ecological concepts.

By allowing nature to supply nutrients and the means for disease prevention through species diversity, it is a way for small-scale growers to minimise inputs and so maintain economic sustainability.

By taking a systems design approach, it is a way for commercial orchardists to create a healthy and ecologically sustainable food production system.

It is also a means for communities to add to societal sustainability, in a way similar to the community gardens approach.

So many benefits are wrapped up in the objective of a Franklin Food Forest of developing a community education and demonstration facility.

John Allen

Franklin TreeCroppers Our Christmas field day was more than a treat to a selection of fine foods shared beneath the cool trees of Sue and Pat Tetley’s picturesque garden last week.

Their wind breaks, tall, thick and effective, were an envy to many.

Over 200 lime and 600 avocado trees bore plentiful yields behind this hedging.

Those trees were pollinated by the bees of their commercial honey operation that also worked Sue’s garden in which she grew a selection of the herbs used in her naturopath practice.

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The donkeys enjoyed the shelter too.

TCA Franklin newsletter

Field Trip report: A Christmas treat

Lois’ Florentine Slice proved a hit so the recipe is below.

December, 2014

Florentine Slice

This slice recipe comes from the bakery at Queenstown’s Mediterranean Market via, and with thanks to, Annabel Langbein’s recipe book “The Free Range Cook” .

Prep time is 20 minutes with a cooking time of 30-40 minutes.

Oaty Base • 1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour • 3/4 cup soft brown sugar

• 3/4 cup rolled oats • 180g butter, chilled & diced

Nutty topping • 3 eggs • 1/4 cup soft brown sugar • 1 tsp vanilla extract • 3/4 cup thread coconut • 2/3 cup walnuts • 3/4 chopped dried apricots • 2/3 cup flaked almonds • 3/4 chopped dark chocolate • 3/4 raw almonds and chopped dates Preheat oven to 150 degree C fan-bake. Grease the sides of a 23cm springform cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

To make the Oaty Base, place all ingredients in a food processor and whizz until the mixture resembles a fine crumb, or grate the butter into the dry ingredients and work with your fingers until the mixture resembles a fine crumb. Press evenly and firmly into a prepared tin.

To make Nutty Topping, mix all ingredients in a bowl. Pour over uncooked base, press down firmly and bake until golden (30-40 minutes). Allow to cool fully in tin, then chill for at least half an hour before slicing into wedges to serve. Store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to a week.

Franklin TreeCroppers

Field Day driving directions.

AGM and Pinewater Organic Feijoas & Limes

TCA Franklin newsletter

Franklin Branch Committee

1:30pm on Sunday 1st February 2015

Chair Raewyn Jarkiewicz 09 292 5051 Email rjarkie@gmail.com

@ Brian and Alison Haslip’s property, 153 Saddleton Road, Waiau.

Hon Secretary franklin@treecrops.org.nz Lois Allen Ph: 09 2381357 Hon Treasurer Ian Laing Ph 09 236 3796

From the intersection of Kingseat Road and Glenbrook Roads. drive north on Kingseat Road (go 1.3 km), turn left to Waiau Pa Road (go 5.5 km), left to Saddleton Road.

From Kingseat, drive east on Kingseat Road (go 1.5 km), at the round a bout, take second exit to McKenzie Road (go 4.3 km), left to Waiau Pa Road (go 0.3 km) right to Saddleton Road.

Go 1.5 km on Saddleton Road, #153 is on the left.

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Newsletter Editor Heather Douglas Ph 09 232 1103 Email heather.douglas12@gmail.com

December, 2014

Membership Coordinator Stephanie Coles 09 236 3554 rosscoles@xtra.co.nz Field Day Convener: Stephanie Coles 09 236 3554 rosscoles@xtra.co.nz Committee: Ian Cooper Ph: 09 238 6400 coop.family@clear.net.nz Keith Dixon Ph: 09 235 2453 keithdixon@xtra.co.nz Dorothy Dixon Ph: 09 235 2453 keithdixon@xtra.co.nz Lisa Abernethy Ph:0275 321 222 g.l.abernethy@gmail.com Tara McFarlane Ph: 0272 681 692 personalgrowth@orcon.net.nz The date on your NZTCA newsletter label shows the renewal date of your membership.

To log on to the membership section of the web site http://treecrops.org.nz, you will need your membership number which is also given on the newsletter label.

A Field day at your property?

This can be useful if you have something you would like to show us, some problem that we can discuss and help with, or you need ideas of what to plant.

Please have a chat with someone on the committee or just let us know that you would like us to include your place, and the best time of year for you.

SAFETY DECLARATION. For the purpose of Field Days, the properties we visit are designated as work places. As there are multiple hazards, please take particular care.

Parents are responsible for their children.

Fr a n k l i n T r ee C rop p ers Not ic e s Buy Se ll & Swap

Franklin TreeCroppers to ad ve rt is e h er e, fr ee to m em b er co n ta ct H ea s, th er D o u g la s at H ea th er @ co ld o u

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TCA Franklin newsletter 7

2015 in Speaking Tour, 9-20 Feb NZ k’s Rutherford Room Auckland: Alexandra Par February 2015 @7.30 -10.00 pm on 19 den poisons?” - A “Culinary pleasures or hid f and a scientist. dialogue between a che food rving seed integrity and Dr. Vandana Shiva “Prese sovereignty”

Member web sites: Do you have a Web site that we can put a link to on the Newsletter? Please email us and we can add it on the next Newsletter. Include a short note on what the web site is about.

RuralConnect.org.nz Assisting rural people and businesses in the broadband society

December, 2014

nference Food Matters Aotearoa Co major Cities,

In this edition...

Advice of Field Days in February, March 2015

NEW ZEALAND TREE CROPS

Reports on the October Field day, Food Forest

FRANKLIN BRANCH

Seminar and our Christmas do.

Membership phone list Snippets from other Branch’s newsletters 2015 NZTCA Conference 2016 NZTCA Conference organising committee

NEW ZEALAND TREE CROPS ASSOCIATION FRANKLIN BRANCH NEWSLETTER Secretary: P O Box 1200, Pukekohe 2340