Sustainability Options

Over the last few months the kindergarten has been monitored for its energy use by Phil and Nik Greg from Sustainability Options. They also visited our teachers at home to give advice on how they could be more efficient. This has been interesting and we have made changes at home and made a plan for the kindergarten from the information they have given us. They are now offering their services to our community.

If you are interested in a free visit please phone:
07 544 1882
phil.gregg@so.org.nz

*They are an altruistic business with community, social and environmental concerns as key priorities.

Enviro group meeting

Envirogroup meeting is on the 31st October

straight after morning session

bring your lunch

all welcome:)

Bee Aware Month

September is BEE aware month
There are lots of things we can all do in our own backyard that protect the bee natural environment:

• planting plenty of sources of nectar and pollen for bees in your garden such as lavender, rosemary and wildflowers plus a wide variety of fruit trees and native shrubs.
• Limit spraying with chemicals when plants are in flower or when bees are present, or choose organic options.
• Provide fresh water in the garden for the bees to drink.

Ecofest 2014 Omanu School and Gwen Rogers Kindergarten

On Sept 4th, Gwen Rogers was proud to host over 100 people from the community; parents, children, former students, teachers and extended family alike. It was a fantastic opportunity to show everyone what has been going on 'over the fence'! The gate between the school and kindy was opened and lots of people wandered through the grounds, admiring all the beautiful work that has been done in the past few months in the gardens. You made us all proud to be a part of it. Great job!

Flower Fairy Musical

Thought this might be of interest...The Flower Fairy Musical "Looking After the Environment and Each Other" will take place from October 1st - 4th with shows at 1:30 and 6:30 (at Mount College?). For more information on participating or attending contact: Amanda Sloan 575 2911 or dance.amanda@vodafone.co.nz.

CATERPILLAR FEET

Andrew, Macie and Anna on the Walking School Bus

We started with the Walking School Bus shortly after Maggie (Andrew’s older sister) started at Omanu Primary last year. Andrew was still in the buggy because it was too far for his little legs to walk! It started with a few families and has grown over the past year – we sometimes have 17 children on the bus, with 11 families participating on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

We live on Ascot Rd between Gwen Rogers and Bayfair so it’s a fair distance for these troopers, especially in the rain! This is a parent-led program sponsored by Tauranga City Council as part of City on it’s Feet. We join other Mums on our road and ‘pick up’ children along Ascot Rd, Aintree Place, Links Ave and Golf Rd then walk through Waitui Grove to Ranch Rd to get to school.

The obvious benefit is that the children get some exercise on the way to school but there are less obvious ones. We learn about road safety; when it’s safe to cross (especially on Golf Rd), Sneaky Driveways, watching out for cars turning, awareness of other pedestrians, wearing helmets, and staying with the group. More importantly, we have met many families on our street that we never would’ve known so there is a real sense of community. I appreciate the change of pace; rather than rushing to get into the car, the busy roundabout at Golf and Maunganui Road and looking for a park around the school, we walk at our own pace and chat most of the way. It’s lovely getting to know these kids while getting some fresh morning air.

We practise being:

ü  a Friendly Freddy when show courtesy to pedestrians

ü  a Persistent Percy when go the whole way to kindy without giving up

ü  a Confident Cody when we walk together as a group and making friends

ü  an Organised Olly when we get our school bags ready to be on time for the bus

ü  a Thinking Thelma when we look left and right before crossing the road

The preschool version of the Walking School Bus is called CATERPILLAR FEET. In the next few weeks we will be putting up a map of the area for parents to take a look at and decide if they are able to walk one morning a week along a route that leads to the kindergarten with another family. We will also put a big Caterpillar on the wall and the children that walk will stamp their own caterpillar every time they come to school. Keep an eye out for the Caterpillar and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Happy Walking everyone!

Recycling Baby Furniture

My wee guy is out of his cot so it's time to clear out the baby gear. Finding an opp shop that takes things like high chairs (due to their Health & Safety policies), is tricky, but try these options that could make a huge difference to a family in need;

Families Achieving Balance Charitable Trust
They need quality donations of children & men's clothing, tricycles, scooters, prams, buggies & household items.  

Drop at Totara House, 1428 Cameron Rd, Greerton, Mon - Thurs, 10am- 4pm, or 
phone 543 3194.

Tauranga Women's Refuge 
They always need quality household goods to help set up new homes for families from scratch, such as blankets and linen, beds, furniture and whiteware.

Drop at the Community Centre, 60 Pools Rd, Greerton, Mon - Fri, 9-4pm, phone 541 1910.

Gardening by the Moon

We watched  the calendar and decided to plant our garlic bulbs on June 23rd, before the new moon started.  This loosely tied in with Matariki as a good time to plant root vegetables.

A Gardener's Guide to Matariki

With our donated bulbs, the children gathered to break them up into cloves. Then we counted them out in rows of 10 to get 20 cloves, with a few thrown in for good measure! We needed to clear some space in the garden bed so our 'gardeners' pulled out some rocket, shaking the root system and putting all that good soil back into the ground. (The rocket was washed and put on the sharing table - we hope someone had a nice salad or stirred it through some pasta!).

 

We made 3 trenches with the trowel and then the children put their cloves in (pointy end UP), spacing them apart and giving them lots of room to grow.  Their gentle little hands moved the dirt over the cloves and covered them up. I think they got watered. If not, Mother Nature did her part later in the afternoon with a light drizzle!


Then the children designed their own envelope and put the garlic inside, ready to go home and be planted.A great team effort by the children of Gwen Rogers. We're all looking forward to garlic at the end of the year!

Can't fit cardboard in your recycling bin?

Make the most of the recent weather & leave your awkward shape & sized boxes out in the rain- no problem squishing them in then ; )

Kindy has recycling bins outside for our use also.

Citrus Harvesting

Hi again,

If your (or your elderly neighbour's), citrus tree is overrun with fruit at the moment or if you just won't get around to picking, call on the Community Fruit Harvesting charity.  They collect fruit that would otherwise go to waste then give the fresh produce and preserves to other charities and schools who share it with those in need.

If you have a fruit tree ready for picking, or if you can volunteer to pick or make jam, visit www.pickfruit.co.nz, call Martin Stewart on 021 184 1018 or check them out on Facebook.com/fruittauranga

Just recently they saved just under a tonne of kiwi fruit from going to cattle feed- good stuff (sorry cows).

Garlic planting

Thanks to Mel for helping with the planting Garlic cloves with children. We love parental involvement with a sense of community working together. Children were encouraged to count the cloves we devided from 17 bulbs and help out in putting them individually into the soil. It will be our first Garlic crop and hopefully we get lots of Garlic to share in the Xmas this year :)

Saving water tips

Hi- my first ever blog so just seeing if this works...

My 2 water saving tips follow-

• Don't let out the kids' bath water; use it to water the house plants (& the garden in summer).  It will amaze you how much water is in there.
• Put the plug in the sink when rinsing your dishes, then pass the water from one dish to the next instead of leaving the tap running.

Happy growing!

Busy Hands and Feet

GARLIC GALORE

Now is the time to plant garlic and shallots. Prior to planting garlic add some compost and bulb fertiliser to the soil bed. It can be planted into the vege garden or in amongst other plants (like roses). Garlic will help to ward off insect pests too.

Step 1: Split the garlic bulb into individual cloves and plant at 5-10cm deep, about 15-20cm apart. Make sure the weeds don't take 

over and water regularly without overwatering (particularly prior to harvest).

*3 good fat bulbs will split up enough to be able to produce about 1kg of garlic!

Step 2: Lift at about the longest day and dry the garlic with the stems on. You can lay them out  or plait them into a long bunch and hang them up. Or store in the hot water cupboard (not with the linen). Keep healthy this winter, keep the vampires away and get that garlic in now.

(Cut out of last week's Bay News)

How to Plant Garlic

Happy planting!

WELCOME TO THE ENVIRO BLOG!

A big thank you to everyone for making last week's EnviroGroup meeting - in the sun! Hard to imagine it given this week's weather. Lot's of great ideas were shared, including a discussion about having a place to share ideas, see pictures and get the gist of what's going on in the garden. Presenting...the blog. Stay tuned for details to come and getting our GARLIC project off the ground, too.

Happy growing,

Mel Young (Andrew's Mum)