Pānui Māehe |
March Newsletter

Manaaki whenua, manaaki tangata, haere whakamua.

Care for the land, care for the people, go forward.

Kia ora koutou,

Many of us have been feeling a lot of grief for our whenua and our moana these past couple of weeks, with the wild weather and the (literal) hundreds of millions of litres of sewage flowing into the precious moana and marine reserve. Mana whenua, Taranaki Whānui have said in their statement, “Historic infrastructure decisions made without kaitiakitanga at their core have directly contributed to the environmental and cultural harm we are now witnessing.” We agree and reckon we need to urgently think differently about how we relate to our ‘waste’, and how we’re taking care of the moana and the whenua. This is an interesting article about kaitiakitanga and how it’s a different approach than ‘conservation’.

The storms directly impacted us at the māra as well, with a tree coming down on top of our harakeke and worm farm and some damage to our new tunnel house. If you have a few spare bucks and care about this mahi, it’s times like these (well, honestly, all the time haha) that we particularly appreciate you making a donation - our donate page is here, you can buy one of our fundraising tea towels or come along to the MOON quiz in March as we’re charity of the month (more details below)! 

As always, action, community and getting your hands in the soil are good antidotes to the grief - Kaicycle is always open to have a walk around or a chill, or you can come along to one of our volunteer sessions or upcoming events listed below.

Ngā mihi, 

The Kaicycle team

March Community Open Day, Local Food Week edition! Saturday 7th March

We're really excited to be teaming up with Seeds to Feeds to bring you an extra special Community Open Day for Local Food Week. We'll be working in the māra, brewing up a special batch of community chutney, sharing a kai, and having a wānanga about the basics of seed saving. Full details on our website.

• 9.30am-12:30pm - Working bee - do some mahi in the garden - could be weeding, planting, sowing seeds, sifting compost or more, depending on what the māra needs at that time! Register and find out more here.

• 12.30pm-1:30pm - BYO picnic lunch to eat or some kai to share! 

• 1pm-1.30pm - Farm tour - If you haven't been to our urban farm before, this is a great opportunity to find out what we're all about and how our farm and community composting works.

• 1.30pm-3pm - Koha workshop -  Introduction to Seed Saving.

Introduction to Seed Saving Workshop                        Saturday 7th March, 1:30pm - 3pm

Join us for this introductory workshop on seed saving. Seed saving is an ancient practice and an essential tool in creating a circular and resilient food system and enabling kai sovereignty. It also allows us to select for seed that will thrive in our micro-climates, strengthening crops year by year. We'll wānanga about the importance of saving seed, understanding the whakapapa of seeds and plant reproduction, and what you need to know to start saving seed yourself. Details here.

Registrations required - email community@kaicycle.org.nz to sign up.

Neighbours Month - Mahi in the Māra                            Friday 20th March, 10am-1pm

Māehe / March is Neighbours Month, so we’d love to invite you to join us for a working bee in the māra / garden, followed by a shared veggie lunch, featuring veggies harvested from the farm! All welcome. We'll do some gardening activities - planting, weeding, sowing seeds or other tasks as needed at the time.

Registrations essential so we know how much kai to prepare - sign up at kaicycle.org.nz/volunteer and choose the Friday 20th March 10am-12pm session.

Any pātai / questions, or dietary requirements?

Email us on community@kaicycle.org.nz.

Outside Kaicycle

There are also many other events happening at this time of harvest and abundance:

• Seeds to Feeds has an epic line up of events over the next few months, from pickle parties to community feasts.

• WCC’s Local Food Week is in the first week of March with a line up of great events all over the city.

PĀNUI | NOTICES

Kaicycle case study

We were lucky enough to receive funding from the Wellington City Council’s Climate and Sustainability Fund - and they’ve written up an awesome case study on our mahi - check it out here (and the other amazing recipients of the fund too).

Kaicycle license renewal

Wellington City Council is looking to renew our license to use 5 Hospital Road for our urban farm, and last week they voted to progress this to the next stage of consultation (more info here). Our very own Rose and Liam got the opportunity to speak to Council at this Committee meeting, to share our story and what sort of impact we’ve been able to make with a license over the past 10 years (and by extension what another 10 years would enable us to do more of!). Check out our presentation here at 12 min 30 seconds.

Team experiences

Did you know you and your workplace could come down to the farm to have a team experience? With a workshop, opportunity to get your hands in the soil and even tea and cake, this is a great chance for team building and a fun, educational day - all while contributing to a local climate justice project. Check out pricing and more information about the possibilities here.

FREE climate change course

Feeling that climate anxiety? Want to feel more empowered to take action? The University of Canterbury is offering this course on how to get communities working together against climate change, free of charge.

Food Insecurity in Aotearoa

We found this article by Catherine Knight fascinating on how New Zealand is extremely vulnerable to food insecurity. Local farming and composting? Yes please.

MAHI WAIRĀKAU | COMPOSTING

Compost hub coming soon to Aro Valley!

We’re excited to announce that a new Kaicycle compost hub will soon be popping up in the Aro Valley Community Centre. If you aren’t able to compost your food scraps at home, then this is a convenient and affordable way of taking tangible climate action. Click here to read all about how our food scrap drop-off subscription works and where our other hubs are located around Pōneke. While mahi is underway to get everything set up, you can join the waiting list by emailing us at compost@kaicycle.org.nz to stay updated of when the hub is open. Watch this space!

Calling all garden centres & distributors

We’re on the lookout for local businesses interested in selling our handcrafted compost in bulk. If you can help connect us with someone, let us know at compost@kaicycle.org.nz.

MAHI MĀRA | Crop talk - On the farm

We’re bursting at the seams with tomatoes right now! Did you know you that we sell some of our veggies through a local growers co-op CoShop.nz? You can order online between Saturday - Tuesday, by selecting Hauora Kai Central Park as your hub, then pick up on a Thursday morning from Central Park apartments. Get some of our organically, regeneratively grown local tomatoes in ya life!

A reminder that we are a registered charity!

This means that when you donate $5 or more to support us, you can claim tax credentials.