The Weekend Lifestyler, December 2nd, 2022

Continuing the appeal

u by Amy Fifita

St John Store Kaiwaka, the Mangawhai St John ambulance station, Maungatūroto Farm Source and Wellsford Hammer Hardware are stepping up again with the annual St John Christmas Tree Fundraiser.

“The Kaiwaka St John Store began its Christmas tree appeal on November 30 and has plenty more on the way,” says Kaiwaka St John Store manager Dianne Wright.

“The first stock arrived a day before sales began ready for people. Many people prefer to buy real trees because the smell leaves a beautiful aroma throughout their house. We get them fresh at least twice a week.

“We were lucky to sell fresh pines last year because we didn’t sell our trees from the station. Profits will be given for the Otamatea area. Prices will start from

year to help St John. We are open seven days, so it makes sense for us to sell them,” says Hammer Hardware co-owner Rebecca Martin.

“We opened Hammer Hardware three years ago and have enjoyed becoming involved in the community.”

St John Wellsford is currently working on training cadets to be part of the team and is unable to do the appeal this year.

“Last year was our first year of selling Christmas trees to raise money for the organisation as St John was unable to sell them from the station due to Covid restrictions at the time. St John is an

$45 and will be sold from the Kaiwaka St John Store and at Farm Source in Maungatūroto. We use the money for St John purposes.

“Last year, some people were disappointed because we ran out, and they didn’t want the artificial ones, but we have planned to have enough this year. It is a way for members of the community to give a donation to St John, and it creates happiness. We always see smiles on faces.”

The Kaiwaka St John Store is located at 542 State Highway 1, Kaiwaka and is open 10am to 3pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 2pm on Saturday.

“Mitch and I are selling the Christmas trees again at Hammer Hardware this

integral part of our community. We need to support them.

“Last year’s Christmas tree drive went great. We sold 140 trees and raised $2,632, of which all went to St John.

“It has been a good year. Wellsford is great rural town with a strong sense of community, and that’s what we do in small rural towns, we support one another.”

There are similar appeals throughout Northland. Starting December 1, St John ambulance Mangawhai is selling its trees from the container donated by Mangawhai Engineering at 191 Molesworth Drive. The large ones need to be ordered, but the smaller size will be available. ¢

p Mitch Martin at Wellsford Hammer Hardware with part of the batch of fresh pines on sale to raise funds for St John

“Last year’s Christmas tree drive went great. We sold 140 trees and raised $2,632, of which all went to St John”

Small

u by Ann van Engelen

“My mum, dad and I have a habit of growing things,” says Leo.

“It started when dad planted some watermelons last year, and they were pretty good, and then I tried planting corn, and they grew well too. Recently, I thought we could sell some seedlings to other people because we are really good at planting seeds, and both have green thumbs.”

Leo and Holly got to work and planted 192 seeds last week.

“We put in things like capsicums, a variety of beans, lettuce, zucchini, cucumber, basil and watermelon. We are planting corn in the next couple of days.

“I believe you should grow your own vegetables because it saves you money

and time because it takes time to go to the shops, grab what you need, and come back.

“Sometimes the shops don’t have what you need when you get there, and if you have a bean plant on your deck when they are ready, you walk out, pick the amount you need, and it’s very fresh, and you didn’t have to leave home.

“At times, you might only want one zucchini, and you have to buy a bag full. When you can spend a little bit of money to grow a plant, you can pick how many you want at the time.

“Homegrown is fresher and better for you as well, you may buy tomatoes at the store but don’t realise they were shipped all the way from the USA, so

they aren’t fresh and use lots of fuel to get here. When you have a garden, you know where your food is from, and it goes from your garden to your plate.”

Leo’s favourite plant is watermelon.

“Sugar Baby watermelons are my favourite. They can take up to 120 days to grow, but they are really big and so tasty.

“It takes up to a month for some seedlings to mature, so we don’t always have plants on hand, but people can order what they want for when they are ready on our 440 Seedlings Facebook page.

“Some people can’t grow from seeds, so it is nice to know they can get our baby plants and enjoy seeing them mature and get good food.

“I go to Mangawhai Beach School, and my mum and I can deliver seedlings to locals in Waipū, Mangawhai and maybe Kaiwaka, and we are going to try to go to the local markets when we can.

“Our idea is small now, but I think it will grow because people have been very encouraging to me, and I like seeing how excited they get when they buy my seedlings.” ¢

Waipū’s nine-year-old Leo Parkes has been growing seedlings with his parents Andrew and Holly

live a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

p Leo loves that his chickens help keep the bugs down in the family garden

p Leo enjoys watching his seeds sprout and turn into little plants that he can share with others

“My mum was an artist and introduced me to watercolours when I was in my 40s,” says Annie.

“At the time, I had four children and needed something to do for myself. We lived in Matamata, and mum was getting classes from a lady there and invited me along.

“I found I love working with watercolour paint. I tried other mediums but kept returning to watercolours. I love the effects you can get and the happy accidents that happen that can make or break a painting.

“You mix the colours on paper and can’t be sure how it will turn out — it is quite a journey. Sometimes you know what will happen, but other times you get what I call a happy accident.

“I never started selling my works until I retired. We moved to Whangārei in the early 80s and came out to one Tree Point around 15 years ago and loved it, and we ended up moving here.

“I try to do a workshop once a year as a way to hone my skills alongside others, and I joined the Bream Bay Combined Arts because it is a place artists can come and work together. We look at each other’s works and ask questions.

“This year, I have extended myself by illustrating a book for a friend. He is selfpublishing, and I did a course on urban sketching to be able to do what he needs. Urban sketching uses watercolour and pen. It is a great illustrative style, and the book is being published this year, which we are very excited about.

“Watercolour is known to be serene — you either like them or you don’t. The art needs to be framed and glassed because they are on paper and can be easily destroyed by vermin such as flies.

“You can get some very good effects. It is all about being brave enough to try. I like to try everything, but not everything works. Living by the sea I do

a lot of seascapes, and I enjoy painting animals too, like cows and elephants. The cows are fun because they have quirky little faces.

“I have my art for sale at the Land and Sea Cafe in One Tree Point, and they are very supportive. I don’t do prints. Everything is an original work, even my little cards. To me, painting is a hobby

that I enjoy, and anything I sell, supports my hobby.

“Watercolours are my happy place. They say in painting, if you work with acrylic or oil, it is like playing a single instrument in an orchestra, but with watercolour, it is playing a whole lot of different instruments to get the effect you want — it is an amazing medium.” ¢

u by Ann van Engelen

p Annie joined the Bream Bay Arts Group to be able to share the creative experience with other local artists

A new beginning

u by Ann van Engelen

After many years in the concreting industry, Ants and Ema Beard are now offering bespoke,

tops at their new business Cast.

“We moved to the area seven years ago and owned Coastal Concrete Solutions but wanted a better lifestyle,” says Ants.

“We wanted to have more family time, and go surfing and fishing, but I got busier, and it didn’t happen, so we recently sold the business. Because concrete is all I have really known since school 20 years ago, we decided to find something less demanding where I could still use my skill set but not worry about staff.

“I stumbled across the glass fibrereinforced concrete idea for making things like bench tops, hand basins and baths. I did the training and loved it. The

system is big in the USA and Australia, and it is still taking off here.

“We launched Cast at the beginning of September, and we are currently waiting on our bath mould to arrive, which we designed ourselves. Our benchtops are proving to be more popular than we first anticipated because concrete is the look people want now.

“You have more colour and size options than stone and granite, and we love that you are only limited by your imagination. We can make any shape, size and configuration.

“We have come up with 10 standard colours and produce custom colours too. The basins are not thick, and being

concrete reinforced with glass fibre make them a much higher flex than traditional concrete. The acrylic additives increase its strength. I took to one with a hammer to test its strength, and it took a few whacks before I could crack it, so I am pleased, but you still need to be careful.

“Our items are very stylish, and we try to leave pinholes and imperfections on the outside because people don’t want flat and boring anymore. We display our basins one at a time at Caro with Love at 104 Moir Street, and people love them.

“We are currently researching outdoor furniture too because we live on top of a hill where it is windy and a lot of tables are just fibre cement board and break

easily. We love working together in our workshop and finally having a work-life balance. We are no longer controlled by weather and staff, and suppliers. We are in charge of our own destiny, and we don’t know of anyone else in Northland doing this.

“It is a new innovative product, and we love working with our customers and providing a personal experience. Our castcreativeconcrete.co.nz website is underway, and we love the satisfaction of building our own designs.

“We are Mangawhai locals and love it here. We enjoy people bringing us their ideas because it lets us create outside of the box.” ¢

We create beautiful and functional outdoor living spaces to enhance your home and lifestyle.

Whether you’re extending a family living area or creating a space for entertaining, our proudly New Zealand designed and manufactured roofing system is specifically made for the New Zealand coastal environment.

We are based in Bream Bay and offer services around Northland.

Please get in touch if you want us to help you create a beautiful outdoor room at your place.

We have numerous satisfied customers happy to showcase their structures to interested people.

p Ants and Ema Beard are enjoying their new creative business making concrete items such as benches and hand basins in Mangawhai

p Ants has 20 years of concrete industry experience and is loving the slower-paced lifestyle he and Ema have created

Art of the cut

u by Liz Clark

Years ago, I decided my rather rampant mass planting of French lavender was in need of a prune.

After taking to them with the shears and secateurs, they ended up being perfect little boxes. Each year, I carefully trimmed the excess growth and developed a rather pleasing look. Topiary, however — it wasn’t. It was more a low hedge than anything else.

Topiary is the art of trimming and training a shrub into the desired shape, such as a ball, pyramid or even something more adventurous like a dinosaur or even a dragon if one was expert enough.

Shapes for topiary include balls or cubes, obelisks, pyramids,

cones, or tiered plates and tapering spirals. The art has been around for centuries in countries such as Japan, China and throughout Europe, including England.

The most common plants used are evergreens such as conifers, Buxus, bay trees, yew and less commonly, privet, which is not recommended for New Zealand gardens. Even natives with careful pruning can be trained into topiary shapes.

Topiary ball

First of all, obtain some young Buxus plants that have good root formation

from a local nursery or commercial grower. Next, repot them into larger pots, ensuring a good quality potting mix is used.

There is no quick fix for plants getting root disease because of poor-quality potting mix. Liquid feed your new plants and keep them well watered for maximum growth rate. Note that patience is required — it takes two years to develop the desired shape.

After two months, obtain a large, heavy pot, then place your young plants into a group inside it. Space them

closely, so they grow into each other — pinch out the shoots to encourage dense growth. Liquid feed the plants to prevent the leaves from browning. Do not allow it to dry out under any circumstances. Once new growth has reached two to three centimetres, then clip them off with a sharp, clean pair of secateurs. Continue to gently trim and shape your topiary ball twice yearly and keep regularly fertilised.

For more ideas and tips, search online or talk to your local garden centre. ¢

Passing the baton

u by Ann van Engelen

The

“Joe and Stacey have moved to the Kaikohe Four Square, and we came from Mahora in Hastings and are honoured to be following in Joe and Stacey’s footsteps,” says Ollie.

“We have been involved in Four Square for nearly five years and owned our store in Mahora for more than three years. We wanted to come north because Tayla’s family is in Warkworth, and we are expecting our second child.

“Tayla is originally from the Kerikeri area, and I grew up in Auckland, so this was a great opportunity for us. I enjoy playing golf, and we are looking forward to fishing, surfing and family time at the beach.

“This store is a great progression for moving from a small to medium shop to a large store. We have only been here for a week, and have found the team to be really great to work with, and the people we have

met so far have been very friendly and welcoming.

“We are looking forward to doing what we can to improve the store and add to our customers’ shopping experience. We want people to have a full supermarket offering and an enjoyable experience.”

Ollie and Tayla aim to continue delivering the three Four Square customer promises — Fresh Favs, Everyday Essentials and Great Local Service.

“We want to help develop our employees further, so they can expand their careers in Foodstuffs or other organisations in the future, especially the young local youth. I am really looking forward to getting involved in community events too.

“It is enjoyable to work in a new store. Joe and Stacey are looking forward to their new challenge as well. For both of us, a new store means new challenges,

different demographics and customer bases.

“Joe and Stacey left a great reputation here in Wellsford, and we are privileged to be passed their baton to continue on their legacy. With Christmas just around the corner, we are looking forward to helping provide our customers with a fresh range of products, and we want them to be able to get all their daily or weekly needs here. We want to be a one-stop grocery shop.

“We are very fortunate to have taken on a team of people that share our passion to deliver these customer promises day in and day out, and we look forward to meeting more community members in-store over the coming weeks.

“We are currently organising a giveaway competition to introduce ourselves to the community. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for further details.” ¢

Wellsford community welcomed Ollie, Tayla and Jacob Johnson to the Top Shop Four Square last week as they farewelled Joe and Stacey Dodd.

p Ollie and Tayla Johnson with their son Jacob at the Wellsford

Top Shop Four Square

A floral touch

u by Ann van Engelen

Originally from Sweden, Mangawhai ceramic artist Lena Nelson now enjoys creating her beautiful works of art at her Mediterranean oasis.

“I married a Kiwi and we immigrated to New Zealand in 1991 with our daughters,” says Lena.

“We ended up going our separate ways, remaining friends, and in 2016 I left Auckland and moved to Mangawhai for a change of lifestyle. For many years, I had worked in several homeware and gift stores and ran my own art gallery in Kumeū, curating and exhibiting works by artists I approached.

outdoor necklaces. Although my grandma and mum did ceramics, I had never tried.

“I am obsessed with flowers and started playing around making them with hobby clay, but it didn’t work because the clay turned mushy, so I decided to do it properly and did a pottery course in Whangārei.

natural materials, and blond colours. It took me around two years to figure out how to make the flower, add the stainless steel wire, and get the wire to stick.”

The ceramic necklaces are works of art and look great on walls or hanging in gardens.

“Over the years, I have kept my hands busy and done a variety of creative things such as knitting, designing gardens and painting furniture. I enjoyed experimenting with different paint finishes, made jewellery and did upholstering.

“Around 10 years ago, when I owned the art gallery, I started making custom jewellery, and four years ago, I came up with the idea of ceramics and making

“I joined the Ruakākā Pottery group and had a bit of help from other members there too. I didn’t have a kiln, so I was going to Whangārei to fire my works. It was taking two weeks to get my items back, so I advertised for help in Mangawhai. Kay Airey, another local artist, responded, and not only did I get access to a kiln, but I made a new friend.

“I didn’t realise there was so much to learn when you do pottery, and have been working on perfecting my creations. I am self-taught and prefer straight lines,

“I think I enjoy making flowers because I am a gardener and I love white flowers the most. It is very time-

consuming, and I have had lots of failures experimenting. One day my partner Joel Cayford was planning an exhibition with his photography and asked me to join him with my ceramics.

“He gave me five months’ notice, and having Kay’s kiln to use was a huge blessing. My daughter helped me hang a whole wall full of white flowers for the exhibition, and it looked spectacular. It was a really successful event.

“It takes me a good hour to make each flower before it goes into the kiln”

p Lena Nelson creates her ceramic necklaces in a variety of colour combinations to be displayed inside or out

“Joel is a very creative photographer and takes stunning photographs. He always has a purpose for his work. For the exhibition, he displayed photos showing the character of old baches in Mangawhai. It was a beautiful exhibition to be a part of, and afterwards, I ended up with eight commissions, which was really encouraging, and I have been frantic making the pieces.

“It takes me a good hour to make each flower before it goes into the kiln. It comes out, and then I glaze it before it gets its second firing.”

Lena also likes to collect stones, shells and rocks from the beach.

“I like to use what I can find and enjoy collecting stones, shells and rocks from beaches. When I was making my jewellery, I used all-natural materials then, too, like wood and stone, but ceramics take up a lot of my time now.

“I love bright colours and, at times, drill holes in rocks and wood and paint them before adding flowers, so they all work together in harmony on the necklace. I don’t copy flowers from

the garden as such. My creations are more of a fantasy flower. I make white necklaces, red necklaces and necklaces that only hang vertically.

“I use colours that I like or that I think people would like, for instance, the blue goes with the sea, red is vibrant and white goes well with black. Each flower is made with stainless steel wire so they can be hung outside in the elements.

“I have them in my garden, and they work really well with the harsh climate we have here. Ceramic is a pretty safe bet to go for because it doesn’t change, and the sun doesn’t fade the colours. It is really interesting.

“Each flower can have balls, cubes and rods, and people choose what it is they like, the colour of the flower and the inner bits. I also make hearts, stars and engraved birds — they are all interesting.”

Lena had her garden on display at the recent Mangawhai Garden Ramble.

“I have a Mediterranean-style garden, and it was my first time being in the ramble. It was a different experience, and I had more than 200 visitors come

along. Visitors wanted to know things like what each plant was and the names of the hedges. I had hung my necklaces throughout the garden and was selling ceramics at the same time. I am convinced people really like pottery because they were really happy.

“I got the Mediterranean idea from travelling from Serville in Spain up to Madrid. Alongside the motorways, instead of a forest they have olive trees planted and it was beautiful. I thought that the look would work really well here in Mangawhai and now have about six different olive hedges. The variety I grow don’t produce fruit because you are constantly clipping them.

“With making my flowers, I do get a few failures, and I feel I am still a beginner. I am finding at present, with the amount of rain and the dreadful November we have had with storms, that the clay is drying too quickly, and that is affecting the drying process, and they are breaking.

“There is so much to learn with pottery and ceramics. Kay and I are

looking at holding classes next year at the Mangawhai Artists Gallery workshop. People can contact me via email at lenanelsoninnz@gmail.com for any enquiries.

“My most favourite creation would be my 1.4-metre-long white necklace. It is called Black Swan because it has black in the centre. I may not be doing flowers for the rest of my life and might move on to another subject in the near future.

“I really encourage other people to try ceramics or other art. It can be incredibly challenging, but it is very rewarding. With ceramics, there is so much to learn, and every time you open the kiln it is exciting because you don’t really know what you might get.

“I love being in Mangawhai — the community and the art community are wonderful. We have some very talented and experienced artists here that work with different mediums. It is a very creative, vibrant community and a lovely place to settle. I am very grateful to be able to live here.”

“Each flower can have balls, cubes and rods, and people choose what it is they like, the colour of the flower and the inner bits. I also make hearts, stars and engraved birds — they are all interesting”

p Each flower is made by hand, with Lena selecting colour combinations that she believes people will enjoy

p Lena has a love for white flowers in particular

p The ceramic holds the vibrant colours well, and Lena says they look great displayed throughout a garden

p Each necklace is individual and can have a variety of shapes alongside the flowers, including balls, squares and triangles

A thankful patient

“The chances are I wouldn’t be alive today without that intervention,” she says.

“As a 12-year-old farm girl, I was infatuated with horses and forever heading out on the family farm by myself to hang out with them.”

One day, Laura didn’t come home, sending her family into a frenzied search

of brain damage if they put plates in, but they managed to get stitches in and behind my ear. I had a brain bleed which was of concern as well.

deep into the night. Eventually, her sister stumbled upon her, and from there, it was an emergency dash to medical care.

“Due to my head trauma, I have no recollection of what unfolded,” says Laura.

An ambulance took her and her mum to Whangārei Hospital before they were flown to Starship Hospital by the Northland Rescue Helicopter.

“I had a fractured skull. It was pretty brutal. They were going to put in metal plates, but there was a high likelihood

“After a week in Starship, I was transferred back home, where I was able to recover quietly from the noise and bright lights of a busy hospital. The weeks and months that followed were clearly tough, and I have next to no memory of that time.

“There were three to four months where I just don’t know what happened, but I do remember being very stubborn and angry. I wanted everyone to leave me alone and be allowed to go back to school and for things to go back to normal.”

Due to the extent of her head trauma, Laura was surrounded by medical specialists and had plenty of attention from an occupational therapist. When she returned to school, it was for two hours a day, and she was not allowed to play any sports.

“I don’t know whether it was stubbornness that helped with my recovery, but it was quite a lonely journey through that period. Am I still suffering from the injury to this day? I don’t know. I was back on the horse with a helmet

within six months of the incident. Based on my experience, I may not be alive if not for the Northland Rescue Helicopter, and I would not have experienced having a child — two-year-old Odie.”

Laura encourages Northlanders to support the Northland Rescue Helicopter by donating at nest.org.nz/ donate. ¢

u by Ann van Engelen

With the Northland Rescue Helicopter fundraising campaign underway, Laura Thompson is encouraging local communities to give, as she still struggles to recall specifics around her encounter with the service back in 2004.

p Laura Thompson is a firm advocate of the service and encourages Northlanders to support the Northland Rescue Helicopter

Petty, unimportant (8)

Small group of trees (5)

Erupting mountain (7)

Nuance, finer point (6)

Principal actor (4)

Cocktail (7)

Veer sharply (6)

Wandering aimlessly (10)

ACROSS: 1 Bench, 4 Speak of the devil, 14 Haiti, 15 Diary, 16 Sacrosanct, 17 Sushi, 19 Elk, 20 Pivotal, 21 Cafeteria, 22 Precis, 25 Adaptable, 27 Steady, 28 Spaced, 33 Motorcycle, 35 Tea, 36 Uppity, 37 Surf, 39 Hem, 41 Idiotic, 42 Bikini, 43 Enchilada, 44 Lured, 45 Knothole, 50 Hi, 51 Footwear, 55 Aside, 58 Piecemeal, 59 Liable, 60 Station, 61 Rip, 63 Kids, 64 Walrus, 65 Fad, 66 Triumphant, 68 Vienna, 69 Kernel, 71 Emphasise, 76 Aching, 77 Virtually, 79 Winning, 81 Lot, 84 Sugar, 85 Opposition, 86 Weepy, 87 Image, 88 Make mincemeat of, 89 Ferry.

DOWN: 2 Elixir, 3 Curio, 5 Peak, 6 Airmail, 7 Oyster, 8 Tense, 9 Entwine, 10 Else, 11 Insure, 12 Sides, 13 Pickled, 14 Hiccups, 18 Cappuccino, 23 Catch, 24 Adapted, 26 Dropout, 27 Swahili, 29 Courage, 30 Cordon, 31 Staid, 32 Stucco, 34 Epic, 36 Umbra, 38 Flair, 40 Fist, 45 Kapok, 46 Overdue, 47 Heed, 48 Leeway, 49 Tiers, 50 Helpful, 52 Optimistic, 53 Watches, 54 Around, 55 Alerted, 56 Bawdy, 57 Clot, 62 Right, 67 Enthuse, 68 Villain, 70 Nairobi, 72 Militia, 73 Enigma, 74 Balsam,