Mount Eden Village People

Great things are happening in Mt Eden Village. The Mt Eden Village Centre is now online and on Facebook The centre is located in the heart of our community and offers a range of rooms that can be hired for events, workshops or classes.

We were excited to hear of a number of street parties related to neighbour day and want to acknowledge all those who organised the events. It is a great way to build community as people get to know one another.

Scott Thiemann, a resident from Mt Eden and the man behind the CCS master gardening program is moving back to the United States. Several of the Village People have attended his master gardening program at the CCS Disability Centre. He has been an inspiration for many in our and other communities and we wish him all the best.

We are very excited that we will soon have a farmers market in our neighbouring community in Sandringham.

We need help with our battery recycling as Sony in Newmarket does not accept our large quantities anymore. Any ideas and feedback would be much appreciated

Finally, if you want to get involved in one of our subgroups or would like to start your own subgroup to work on a project you are passionate about, please contact us. If you want to connect with other groups in our community, we have prepared a list of not for profit community groups in Mt Eden.

Working towards zero waste in Mt Eden Village

– turning waste into valuable resources.

Battery recycling: local recycling stations
We are desperately trying to find a way to continue with this free service. Sony at New Market cannot handle the volume we collect anymore (10-15kg each month) and have asked us to stop using their free drop off. We are hoping that we can get support from council or our local board to find an alternative. Meanwhile we would like to encourage people to continue to collect batteries and drop them off at Sony in Newmarket themselves. We also want to encourage you to make the change to rechargeable batteries if you haven’t already done so.

Hungry bins: taking care of our food waste
A hungry bin was set up at the Mt Eden Village Centre. The centre now offers composting for people that hire the venue and is part of our initiative to work towards zero waste in Mt Eden. The next Hungrybin will be set up at the Community Garden in Poronui St. If you don’t do composting at home and would like a bucket to collect vegetable scraps so you can deliver them to these bins please let us know.
Soft plastic: new recycling station
A big thank you to Les Jones, one of our zero waste group members, for building a frame for our bag to collect soft plastic in our community. Plastic bags and other clean soft plastics (like gladwrap and soft plastic packaging) can soon be dropped off at one of our local shops. The plastic collected will be recycled in New Zealand and turned into plastic cables.
Coffee grounds:
The coffee grounds from our local cafes are still helping the home gardens of our waste minimisation team. Let us know if you want to join us collecting coffee grounds or in another of these schemes.

Fruit trees for Auckland:
We would like to thank the following groups and individuals for their kind donation and support that help us to bring our vision of 1000 community fruit trees for Auckland a life:

Grey Lynn 2030, Hamish Stewart Catering, Post Haste Couriers, Move to Improve, Printcost.com, Pallet Lock Ltd, Gideon Geldenhuys, Joe Left.

We also would like to thank everyone who has registered on our fruit tree website. So far we have 103 schools and 48 individuals wanting fruit trees and 17 suggestions for planting in parks and reserves. We are still waiting for the outcome from two funding applications to see how many trees we can order for this year. More news about the final number in June/July newsletter.

Sustainability workshops: learn how to grow your own food in the city

The next sustainability workshop we offer is about fruit tree pruning and grafting.

We are looking for a garden close to Mt Eden Village that has a selection of small fruit trees that need pruning. Anyone keen to get their trees pruned by master pruner Ken and are happy to have a group of 10-20 people going through their garden, please contact us.

Community Garden:
The Mount Eden Community Garden has had a successful summer with vegetables growing to abundance. It has been a warm, wet summer which helped. As we are now into Autumn and have harvested all our crops, tomatoes, zuchinni, basil, beans, lettuce etc. We are now preparing our raised beds for winter with the addition of compost in preparation for the winter planting. We are still looking for like minded gardeners to come and join us. We meet most Sundays between 2 and 4pm. If you are interested we would love to see you. We are tucked away behind the Mt Eden Bowling club via the Poronui St entrance. If you still cannot find us you can contact Michele on her mobile 021 216 1684.

The Mt Eden Village Centre
The Mount Eden Village centre is now online and on Facebook. This is a unique location in the heart of our community where you can host your events, workshops or celebrations. You can find events at the centre such as adult classes, art exhibitions, concerts and support groups on the centre’s website as well as a selection of pictures from the different rooms to hire. Please help to spread the word about the centre and visit us on Face Book.

Connect with your community - Other community groups in Mt Eden:
You can find a list of other community groups around Mt Eden on our website If you know of any other not for profit organisation in Mt Eden, please let us know.

Other news in and around Mt Eden:

Food production on a small scale – one year in Ken Clarks garden:
For those of you who have been to one of our Square Foot Garden workshops, you will know that you don’t need a lot of space or time to produce some of your food. Ken Clark, the master of the Square foot garden technique has kept a diary of the amount of food he produces on his 830m2 section in Waiheke. This is what he harvested: 34 bunches of asparagus, 37kg tomatoes, 8kg courgette, 4kg beans, 214 cucumbers, 277 capsicum, 456 passion fruit as well as ongoing supply of lettuce and silver beet

Transition Town Sandringham:
News from our friends in Sandringham:
Raw milk Co-op starting on 16th April if you are interested there is room for more members Contact Anna basutcliffe@yahoo.co.uk
Sandringham farmers market: Do you want to be a part of Sandringham's first Farmer's Market? Contact Lisa lisa@lisaloveday.com or join the group on facebook
Mt Eden Maungawhau Village Centre Society AGM May 31
The AGM of the Society will be held at the Centre on May 31 at 7.30pm.

The VCS represents the community in the three way partnership trust which runs the Village Centre - church, council, community. We'd love to see you there, and hope you are able to come along and keep in touch with the Village Centre Society. Please pass this on to anyone you know who may be interested in the Village Centre.

The Friends of Maungawhau have two meetings scheduled:
Wed 9 May: Committee meeting, 7:30pm at 53 Prospect Tce, Mt Eden
Thurs 5 June (Arbour Day & World Environment Day):

Annual General Meeting and presentation, Time, venue, and agenda to be advised.

Members and supporters are welcome to attend both meetings. Come along to our committee meeting if you'd like to find out what we've been doing and contribute ideas or lend a hand.

Volunteers work on the maunga every Tuesday morning. We may start a Saturday group if there is sufficient interest.

Please get in touch if you would like to attend the committee meeting or would like more information about our activities: info@maungawhau.co.nz

Create a Greener Mt Albert
Thursday 10th May 2012, 7.00pm, Oakridge House, Unitec by Gate 4 139 Carrington Road Mt Albert.
Want to be part of creating a Greener Mt Albert - then join us for a community discussion to share ideas on how we can do this. Everyone welcome - refreshments and venue kindly provided by Unitec. For more information contact: Viv Heslop 021 848847 viv@vivacityco.nz or Carolyn Cox 021 911 697ccox@unitec.ac.nz We are local residents interested in working with others on Green Initiatives in Mt Albert.

CCS Master Gardening program Winter 2012
The next Master Gardener course begins 9 June. To register contact Scott Thiemann E: Scott.Thiemann@ccsdisabilityaction.org.nz

This course brings together experts with a wide range of experience in organic gardening and permaculture. The course aims to provide participants with the knowledge to be successful in creating an urban garden that co-exists with nature.

Auckland Permaculture Workshop and design certificate:
Auckland Permaculture Workshop (APW) offer a wide range of workshops that engage and inspire people in developing sustainable living solutions. Participants learn design skills that integrate the environment, people and technology to create resilient ways of living for themselves and their communities.

The Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) is a 72-hour internationally recognised qualification. Certificates are achieved when participants complete 12 workshops and a design project.

News from Ponsonby
Shared workspace for change-makers open now!
The Kitchen offers an inspiring work environment and event and collaboration space. Their core focus is on social entrepreneurs, not-for-profits, and those working for more than profit, but they also welcome freelancers and small businesses of many stripes. They are situated in Maidstone St

Farmers markets:
Farmers markets offer a selection of fresh and local products, are often much cheaper than the big supermarkets, support small suppliers and this is why we would like to support them.

Grey Lynn Farmers market:
The Grey Lynn farmers market as an example now has a stall with free range and rare heritage breeds meat all killed on-site. If you are not a vegetarian but don’t like the fact that animals have to travel a long distance before they get killed and the amount of hormones they get injected before you eat them, this is the right place for you to do your meat shopping.

Also new to the market is a German organic baker with sourdough from real sourdough starter, spelt and rye breads, gluten free breads, pastries and pretzels. And always a pleasant surprise is the community trading table where you can buy produce brought by backyard growers from the neighbourhood. The stall changes every week with the seasons, but they have locally grown fruit, veggies, leafy greens, seedlings, eggs and flowers. Payment is through an honesty box system.

When: 9am - 12.30pm Sunday mornings (except the last Sunday of the month)

Where: Grey Lynn Community Centre
510 Richmond Road, Grey Lynn

Other Farmers markets:

Parnell Farmers market:
When: Saturdays 8am - noon
Where: 545 Parnell Road, Parnell

French market:
When: Sat 8am-3pm; Sun 9am-2pm
Where: 69 St Georges Bay Road, Parnell

The Royal Oak Market:
When: Sun 20 May, 10:00am–2:00pm

Where: CCS Disability Action, 14 Erson Avenue, Royal Oak
ends

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