Grey Lynn 2030 Transition Community

• Grey Lynn 2030 Monthly Community Meeting
• Grey Lynn Farmers Market
• Focus Group updates
• Have your say on the Super City – Our Auckland Campaign
• Community Composing Facility at Wilton Street Community Garden
• Bring it together symposium
• Sustaining Auckland – the role of Trees
• and more…..

What an amazing turn out!

Grey Lynners who took part in the May Day March of tens of thousands were first treated to free coffee and bread & butter pudding at The Little Grocer. Well done James Samuel & Finn Mackesy who took part in one of the most creative elements of the march with the CRAPping protest. Check out the photos and read more about this form of ironic anti -protest on James’s blog here.

Submissions on the Government’s mining proposals are due by 26 March. It just takes a minute to send a submission here.

The major disruptions caused by the Icelandic volcano with the unpronounceable name has given us the opportunity to reflect on the vulnerability and resilience of our own community. Read the post here from Transition Culture on this theme. Interested in up skilling and developing practical knowledge of how to develop and improve local resilience? Check out details of the Community Resilience workshop here.

At a local level there are so many interesting ways to get involved and take action. Through our focus groups there is the potential to have an impact in our community with urban design, traffic calming, waste & water management, the arts, gardening – anything you think adds to the vibrancy of our neighbourhood. Also this month Grey Lynn 2030 is hosting:

• Bringing it together symposium
• S#!T happens – deal with it! May monthly meeting with Waste Away on 12 May ;
• FREE bokashi and worm farming demonstrations at Garnet Station on 19th May (Neville Burt will also be at the GLFM this Sunday); and
• together with the Grey Lynn Community Centre a fairtrade cuppa with an Oxfam Coffee Break on 13 May (Kokako will be providing the coffee)

Would your networks like to know about Grey Lynn 2030 or enjoy reading this month’s community news? Please forward it on.

This month the Waste Away group present an informative and entertaining meeting of ideas, tips and practical advice on dealing with waste.

Guest Presenters
Sunshine Yates “Household Waste & Recycling in Auckland City”
Dorte Wray “Towards Zero Waste”

With updates from the Wasters on a range of exciting new initiatives

Be in to win the Waste Away raffle with a fabulous range of goodies including Bokashi bucket and Zing donated by the Waste Away group; Solar Monkey – portable solar charger for sml digital devices donated by PLANIT EcoStore; String bags and produce bags donated by ReThinkNZ Big picture.

Why not bring a long a friend to the meeting? All welcome

In other WasteAway News

Calling all Bokashi Bucket fans and those keen to learn about this novel way to process household foodscraps…..at this Sunday’s Grey Lynn Farmers’ Market, Neville Burt an organic farmer and Director of Bokashi Ltd based in Christchurch, will be at our market from 10 to 10.30am to answer any questions or queries you may have about the foodscrap Bokashi Bucket composting method. Come along this Sunday to meet Neville and members of the WasteAway team.

Worm Farming and Bokashi Composting at Garnet Station
Garnet Station in conjunction with Grey Lynn 2030 Wasteaway invite you to a FREE introductory demonstration of Worm Farming and Bokashi Composting at Garnet Station Café.

Wednesday, 19 May
Sessions start from 08:30 and run throughout the day.

Reduce Foodwaste and enrich your garden !

Did you know that the idea to set up a Grey Lynn Farmers Market came out of one of the first community meetings of Grey Lynn 2030? Access to locally sourced food is a really vital part of our vision of a sustainable community so it was great to see the market get established so quickly through the efforts of a small team committed to practical action.

The Market has been in operation since September 2009 from 9am-12.30pm every Sunday, except the last of the month, at the Grey Lynn Community Centre (the permanent home of the market). At the grand opening there were queues out the door but now a visit to the market is a much more relaxed occasion with plenty of room for mingling amongst a large variety of stalls selling Japanese & French pastries, home made pies, fresh breads, seasonal produce, ginger beer, preserves, cheese, honey and much more. There is also a fabulous play area outside for the kids, and story telling with Phineas Phrog each week.

The Market is community owned and operated so needs continued local support to survive and grow. A common misconception of the market is that it is expensive which has put off potential shoppers. Regulars however will tell you that a switch to seasonal shopping at the market results in big savings. Recent examples include 10 golden delicious apples for $2, 10 large avocado for $7 and masses of bargains from the Ooooby stand where you can take excess produce from your garden to sell.

As well as supporting the market by shopping there for your weekly supplies, the Management Committee is looking for volunteers who can assist for no more than a couple of hours a week. The market also welcomes new members who contribute $30 per year and receive 10% off produce. Check out the website (www.glfm.co.nz) for details or visit the information desk at the market.

Green Screen
There is a dedicated team keen to make Green Screen happen again on the last Friday of the month but unfortunately Green Screen is without a home. If you can help with a venue email Pania at greylynn2030@gmail.com

Traffic Calming
What do you think would make our community more enjoyable for pedestrians and cyclists? a few ideas:
- 40 km speed zone through the West Lynn shops
- traffic calming on Dryden Road (and other streets with speeding problems)
- improved pedestrian crossings
Email the action you would like to take to Pippa greylynn2030@gmail

Water
We would like to see more water fountains so there are less incentives to buy bottled water (seen the movie Tapped ? We’ve put details on our website about all the reasons NOT to buy bottled water).   Anyone know how we go about installing one and how we source the water? Please contact Pippa greylynn2030@gmail.com

Urban Environment Group
A new Grey Lynn 2030 focus group with the aim of:

• protecting the unique and special heritage and character of our historic city suburbs (the largest remaining concentration of edwardian/victorian wooden houses in the world)
• advocating for urban design that promotes sustainable and healthy communities (eg by encouraging active modes of transport, restoration of our natural and cultural heritage and better urban planning)
• supporting urban design projects that positively contribute to our environment and our community

Want to get involved? Email greylynn2030@gmail.com

Photocopies of the ballot paper are welcome, and completed papers can be sent to Our Auckland, The Aucklander, PO Box 32, Auckland Mail Centre. Ballot boxes will also be available at libraries in North Shore City and Rodney District, Ponsonby Community Centre.

The Auckland Community Development Alliance

The Alliance hosted workshop last week was attended by an incredibly diverse range of organisations, communities and community development passionate people from right across the Auckland Region (including Grey Lynn 2030). See here for story and workshop summary reports on key themes and recommendations on the proposed Social Policy Forum.

The Wilton Street Community Garden recently completed construction of our new Community Composting Facility. Located in the garden at the top of Wilton Street, the facility consists of three large wooden bins designed to turn local organic waste into usable garden compost.

The bins are easily accessible and designed to be user friendly. Now we would love people to start using them – shops, households, offices, gardeners – anyone who has organic material currently going to ‘waste’. The bins are labelled 1,2 and 3, and only one will have the IN sign on the front at any time. This is the bin to tip your waste into, when this bin is full, the IN sign will be shifted to another bin.

The system is a trial so we would appreciate it if you would support this community facility and spread the word to others. We don’t want to encourage rats or the spread of weeds so please;

WE WELCOME

• organic green waste only – such as grass clippings, garden waste, vegetable matter, coffee grounds, non-meat food scraps.

WE DON’T WANT

• meat or fish, plastic, oil, glass, or large woody tree prunings
• no pest weeds such as oxalis, wandering jew or jasmine.

Anyone who has questions or requires a plastic bucket to transport scraps please contact: Mandy

Grey Lynn Community Garden – find out more details here. ‘Growing Together’ every Sunday afternoon 4pm~6pm in Autumn.
Contact: Christine

The Symposium will be led by experienced, local facilitators Carl Chenery, Maya Nova, Crea Land and Peta Joyce. Registrations are now closed for but please email Carl if you would like to be notified of future events.

Find out more at http://awakeningthedreamer.org/

The Tree Council presents a not to be missed event, ‘Sustaining Auckland – The Role of Trees’, to mark Arbor Day and World Environment Day.

Urban tree protection and planning legislation has been in headlines over the past year. Why is it that people feel so strongly about trees? How complex and sustainable is Auckland’s urban forest? How can the planning system be used to improve the vitality of our treescape? Find out more how trees contribute to our physical and mental wellbeing.

More details of the panel of speaker here Plus panel discussion and questions, and afternoon tea.

You need to RSVP by 2nd June to help with catering.
http://www.thetreecouncil.org.nz/

We received feedback that a lot of locals didn’t know about the Street Party & Twilight Market in March. The whole event was organised on a budget of only $100 so any publicity was just what we could get for free (thanks Martin from Ponsonby News). We also rely on our supporters to help publicise our events. Please encourage your local contacts to get on our email list by sending their details to greylynn2030@gmail.com. Hopefully next time the whole community will know when the party is happening!

The Ooooby berm bomb outside 101 Richmond Road is doing really well. It has got the neighbours talking to each other and provides a conversation starter for people waiting at the bus stop.

The Council’s mowing contractors have so far been avoiding the vege garden. Ooooby are at the market each week. Check out details of the launch of the Ooooby- Versity in Grey Lynn here.

• Grey Lynn 2030 Week – photos and updates
• Grey Lynn 2030 Monthly Meeting
• Grey Lynn Farmers Market
• Waste Away update
  
• Local Government – feedback on Local Boards
• Wilton Street Community Garden
• Not only but also….

Will your networks like to know about Grey Lynn 2030 or enjoy reading this month’s community news? Please forward it on.

Ooooby Berm Bomb Flashmob
The guerilla gardening event that unofficially kicked off Grey Lynn 2030 Week. A flashmob (ie a group who responded to the call to just turn up) transformed a weedy new section of berm on Richmond Road into a handsome vegetable garden that continues to be tended. A small symbolic act of gardening to raise awareness about land use, local food production and Grey Lynn 2030′s intention to plant local berms with fruit trees and bee friendly flowers. Ooooby are at the Grey Lynn Farmers Market every week.  You can see more photos from the berm bomb on Facebook here.

Tapped the Movie
We were very fortunate that EcoMatters Environmental Trust, Oxfam and TAPAC all came on board at late notice to ensure were were able to screen Tapped on World Water Day. As an introduction to the movie, Katherine Mason from Oxfam gave a moving presentation about Rosita and her family in East Timor whose lives have been transformed through the introduction of a clean, regular water supply made possible from donations to Oxfam’s Water for survival programme.

Grey Lynn 2030 and EcoMatters have been able to make a modest donation to Oxfam from the ticket sale proceeds.  However, our supporters may wish to do more especially if you missed World Water Day on 22 March. Please consider making a donation online to the Oxfam Water Appeal or by calling 0800 400 666.

The DVD can be rented from EcoMatters. More details about the movie are on our website.

Art Studio Tours
What a treat to visit the studios of our many talented local artists on two days during the Week.  We were generously invited into their work places to see firsthand  an impressive range of creative styles.

If you missed out but would like to take a future tour please contact Jan-Claire. Many thanks to all the artists involved. And to Nextbike for making available rental bikes for free. You can see more photos from the tour here.

Also if you missed the Introduction to Meditation Classes at the Auckland Buddhist Centre there is the opportunity to join new classes starting in April.

Urban Garden Tour
Thanks to GLFM supporter and NZ Gardener editor, Lynda Hallinan opening up her urban garden to a large group during the Week we raised $110 koha. This money will be put towards future berm planting and community gardens.

Kelmarna Organic City Farm

The Week provided an excellent opportunity to visit an urban oasis that has been tucked away on the boarder of Grey Lynn for almost 30 years.   Adrian Roche, who shared his extensive knowledge on the tour, extends an invite to drop by anytime – even if the gate is shut (it is amazing how many locals have never been there). Thank you to Adrian and Kelmarna’s bee keeper Carol Downer.  You can find Carol and Lynn at the GLFM each week selling their Grey Lynn honey.

West Lynn Street Party & Twilight Market
Suzanne posted her thoughts the next day:

“There was a party going on around here last night. What a great evening it was! People were out in force on the streets of West Lynn enjoying the lovely autumn night. The Harvest car parking was taken over and turned into a street lounge. The bunting was up and the shops looked great.
Apart from bumping into loads of locals… mates, I really enjoyed:

• The Hakanoa Handmade Ginger beer cocktails and groovy tunes at Monterrey
• The delicious (and cheap) Indian food from the dairy next to Harvest – apparently they always have them frozen in the freezer.
• The generous, delicous Free wine from The Wine Vault
• Seeing all our weekend Farmers Market stall holders supporting the event
• Our own talented local musicians – it was like being at Womad (Sam from the Longdrops and music coordinator can be seen performing in this vid by Dim Pivac)

The kids loved the Easter Egg hunt at the GL Neighbourhood Law Office Thanks, thanks for those who got involved and made this such a special community event.”

Check out the video of the Street Party by Pascal and the official photos taken by Diya on Facebook.

And of course the Street Party & Twilight Market wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance of so many Grey Lynn 2030 volunteers and the support of local businesses and community groups.  We’ve posted full details here of everyone we wish to thank and lots more photos.

We are delighted to have as our guest speaker this month  Richard Main, project manager Gardens4Health. Find out about the benefits of community gardens and planting for health.

The aim of the Gardens4Health programme is to make growing your own fruit and veg the normal thing to do. The programme is starting with community gardens in places like the Marae, schools, churches, public open spaces etc., so people can re-learn how to grow fresh veg – and enjoy eating cheap veggies. From that it is hoped they will go home and plant a few in their own back-yard

We will also be hearing from from our local community gardens at St Columba, Wilton Street and Grey Lynn Presbyterian Church and Kelmarna Organic City Farm.

All welcome. Entry by koha.

Come along and get some fresh autumn produce, sample the market goodies, and treat yourself to some delicious pastries and a steaming cup of coffee. Why not make it a proper picnic while you’re there?

Bring along the kids to Phineas Phrogg’s Storytime Show at 10.30am in the Oval Rom. It’s only $3 per child ($2 for members)!

If you have any excess produce from your garden, drop it off at the Ooooby stall and they’ll display it for sale. Remember to bag and label it!

See you there!

Please bring your shopping bag.

The Waste Away group is present at the Farmers Market each Sunday (except the last of the month) with information on worm farms and bokashi and you can also contact us via email for more information or to express interest in joining the group – greylynn2030wasteaway@gmail.com and on now also on Facebook

Altogether, we visited 5 henhouses – in Stanmore Road, Richmond Road, Browning Street and Sackville Street.  All the owners were very gracious in giving their time and answering our many questions.  It was very interesting to see the variety of hens and setups that people had in their backyards.   Many were homemade and quite informal, the hens all looked happy and healthy and the owners reported that they had no problems with rats, cats or dogs.

It was lovely walking around the neighbourhood together with people having time to enjoy the day and chat to each other while walking between hen stops..

Thanks to the hosts, those who attended and especially the hens for making the event such a great success!  You can check out more of the tour photos here.

If you missed out and would like to go on any future tours please contact Susie.
Wilton Street Community Garden enquiries contact: Mandy

Grey Lynn Community Garden – find out more details here.  ‘Growing Together’ every Sunday afternoon 4pm~6pm in Autumn.
Contact: Christine

BioBlitz is a scientific race against time. It is educational. And it is heaps of fun! Everyone is welcome to participate.  BioBlitz is a free event and is a rare opportunity to meet all sorts of scientists and experience the astonishing array of nature living in our city.

Saturday 17 April, 10am – midnight
Sunday 18 April, 5am – 3pm
Auckland Domain with Base Camp in the Museum’s Auckland Atrium
No charge, bookings not required.  All welcome. Find out more here

First Tuesday Sustainability Speakers Series

Interested in living more sustainably? Then come along to the “First Tuesday” sustainability speakers series and hear from a stunning line-up of experts on environmental sustainability in the urban environment. This series aims to highlight the ways that people in the city can still have a positive impact on the environment.

Where: The talks will be held at CCS Disability Action, 14 Erson Avenue, Royal Oak.
When: The first Tuesday of every month
Time: 7pm – 9pm
Cost: $5 koha at the door – refreshments provided
Contact: scott.thiemann@ccsdisabilityaction.org.nz

Grey Lynn 2030 Week 21 – 27 March
Grey Lynn Farmers Market
Waste Away update
Not such a super city – Local Government
Community Gardens
Also happening Locally
Heard us on the Radio?

We are now just days away from the start of the Grey Lynn 2030 Week. A huge variety of events are confirmed for every day of the Week which features the now established Grey Lynn Farmers Market together with new activities and a local approach to marking the international World Water Day and Earth Hour. A highlight of the week is the West Lynn Street Party & Twilight Market on Thursday 25th March.

There are so many positive things going on in our community that are contributing to our long term vision of a sustainable community that we thought it made sense to showcase them together as a Grey Lynn 2030 Week. Check out the schedule and mark the date. There really is something for everyone – all happening locally.

• Bring the kids along after school to a tour of Kelmarna Organic City Farm or Lynda Hallinan’s local urban garden
• Mark World Water Day with a special showing of Tapped the movie at TAPAC
• Try something new with introduction to meditation classes
• Celebrate the Autumn Equinox
• Treat yourself to a tour of local artist’s studios
• Find out how to raise chooks in your own backgarden
• Learn how to save money and water with Laurie Dee at the Grey Lynn Farmers Market
• Visit local community gardens
• Enjoy the last of our summer evenings with family and friends at the West Lynn Street Party & Twilight Market

For the full details of each event and how to make reservations that are needed for some of the tours click here.

And during the week why not take the Grey Lynn 2030 pledge to go low carbon: For example:

• Leave the car at home
• Walk/cycle to school & work and for all local trips
• Compost (Waste Away can show you how)
• Check out further actions you can take here

And if you are driving in residential zones we like to think Grey Lynn 20-30kms!

Contact details for the week

Week organiser: Pippa at pippacoom@gmail.com/ mob 021 926 618  (not too late to include an event or get involved)

Twilight Market enquiries: contact Paul at bellaespressonz@gmail.com/mob 0275 323 618 (we have tables available for stalls at the Street Party)

Musicians or Performers  who would like to entertain at the Street Party: contact Sam sambenge@hotmail.com/ mob 21 213 7614  (we have spots for busking)

Grey Lynn 2030 Waste Away: Organising the waste recovery for the Street Party

Photographers for any of the events
Sign making and decorating West Lynn for the Street Party

Please help us publicise the event – invite your neighbours, whanau,  friends, work colleagues. Blog, post, forward, text, chat, facebook, tweet the details. Anyway you can would be great.

The Grey Lynn 2030 Week on Facebook

Check out Laurie Dee’s rain harvesting demonstration at 10am and Trevor Carpenter with Autogro, a self watering kit-set garden.

Eion Scott, Auckland City Council’s eco design advisor will be on hand from 10 -12pm to answer questions about eco-friendly water devices for the home.

Plus as always, you’ll find lots of fresh fruit and veges, and other quality foods to stock up for the week ahead. Your excess garden produce can be sold at the Ooooby stall!

Bring the kids along for Phineas Phrogg STORYTIME show in the Oval Room at 10.30am, for only $3 (or $2 for Grey Lynn Farmers Market Members)

Please bring your shopping bag.

Garnet Station Café on Garnet Road will be hosting a display at the café with information and examples of worm farms and bokashi systems.  We also plan to hold workshops there around the various composting systems.

The Waste Away group members are playing a key role at the West Lynn Street Party & Twilight Market on Thursday 25 March (part of the Grey Lynn 2030 Week).  We are working with local businesses in order to provide a means of collecting recyclables and food waste separate from general waste disposal during the party.

You will also find us at the Farmer’s Market each Sunday (except the last of the month) where we are available to talk to you about methods of composting in order to keep food waste out of landfills.

Feel free to drop us an email with any questions, comments, information you may have around waste, in particular food waste – greylynn2030wasteaway@gmail.com

Particular concerns were raised at the meeting about the corporatisation of the new Auckland Council functions, the transfer of control to Council Controlled Organisations and the failure of the 3rd bill to specify the powers and responsibilities of the new Local Boards. There is also the very likely prospect that the privatisation of strategic assets will be permitted from mid 2012 before voters get a chance to have a say at the 2013 local elections.

Musician Kirsten Morrell brought a unique perspective to the meeting, raising the need to engage with younger voters not about “politics” or “local government” but about genuine issues of concerns like the environment and climate change and what the new Council can do for them.  It was great to hear that Kirsten, who came along with her mum as a visitor to Grey Lynn, is happy to use her celebrity influence in the lead up to the October elections to get the message across.

Penny Bright, anti- corruption campaigner was also at the meeting advocating more direct action in the form of a rates revolt to stop the super city. You can contact Penny at waterpressure@gmail.com

Attendees agreed that it is crucial for Grey Lynn 2030 to play a role highlighting the importance of voting, debating the issues, networking with other community groups to influence the outcome and support candidates who share our vision.

If you would like to be involved with the Grey Lynn 2030 local government group please email Greylynn2030@gmail.com. We will next be providing feedback on the Auckland Transition Authority’s discussion documents on Local Boards of the Auckland Council and  on the Council-controlled organisations due by Friday 26 March.

On Thursday (11 March ) Local Government Commission announced the final boundaries for the Auckland Council (we are in the ward of Waitemata – Gulf with one councillor  and our Local Board is called Waitemata with 7 board members).

The intention of this Garden is for it to be a place where people can build a sense of community and connection with the earth and seasons. Permaculture and organic gardening are the main approaches applied in the garden. We have about 14 allotted areas where members tend and are guardians of ‘their’ plot but we also have communal areas within which we all share gardening activities.

We are very open to new members and invite people to enjoy and learn more about gardening by coming along to our Sunday ‘Growing Together’ gatherings to meet us and have a look at our gardens.. ‘Growing Together’ Sunday afternoons times are 5pm~8pm in Summer, 2pm~4pm in winter and 4pm~6pm in Spring and Autumn. This is also a special Growing Together Gathering happening on 21 March as part of the Grey Lynn 2030 Week at 4pm.
Contact: Christine

Wilton Street Community Garden

Our big news is that the community garden now has a water supply!
John Watson and Brenda came up with the idea and donated the funds for a
special ‘gizmo’ that has been inserted into the storm water downpipe on the
roof of the Gypsy Tea Room.  This gizmo diverts the rain water from the
spouting into an ordinary garden hose which goes into the water tank on
site.

John has installed the gizmo and it is working.  We are now working with
Tanks Alot to adapt the tanks they donated to the new system.

Thanks to Brett from the Gypsy Tea Room, Tanks Alot and John & Brenda we now have a sustainable and affordable solution to our water woes. Now all we need is some decent rain!

You can check out the Garden at a special tour as part of the Grey Lynn 2030 Week. Come along 11am – midday on Sunday 21st March to meet the Gardeners. The Garden will be open for a visit on the night of the West Lynn Street Party and the meeting point for the Walking Tour of Back gardens with chooks at 10am on Saturday 27th March.
Contact: Mandy

We have also recently discovered there is community garden at the Grey Lynn Presbytarian Church on Great North Road created by Ioane Iosua.  We hope to bring you news  from this garden in the next update.

A chance to take a tour around these organic inner-city food gardens including the Food Forest as well hearing about Transition Towns and Permaculture New Zealand.

Time to meet and connect with other like-minded people in our community.

Where:          Unitec Horetcology Sanctuary, Gate 3 Carrington Road, Mt Albert

Bring:             Blanket, food, drink

Motion in the Ocean Clean up day
Sunday 14th March 10am-2pm
Join students from Western Springs College  on a full circuit creek clean up of Motions and Meola creek, with a free tram ride and talks from MOTAT, Waicare, and staff from the zoo.

Meet in the Western Springs College carpark at 10arn with rubbish bags from home to conserve our local biodivensity, gloves provided.
Come with covered shoes, snacks, food contributions to the shared lunch and wear BLUE.

This is a free family event, and all are welcome.  It would be great to get some support for these students and give the creeks a clean up after the Pasifika festival. Contact:motion.ocean@hotmail.com 021 1 528294

And from our friends at Mt Eden Village People
Workshops:
The Square foot gardening workshops got off to a great start in February with Ken Clark from Waiheke. Both workshops well attended and it is great to see that growing your own food is so popular. Our next workshop is all about chickens. Gail will teach us on the Sun 14th March all you need to know to keep your chickens  in your backyard and how to hatch them from an fertile egg.

Community garden:
Michelle Doanvan joined us recently with a wonderful project to set up a community garden close to the village. We are now in the process to get approval for the site. The Mt Eden Community Gardening Group and the Hand Weavers and Spinner Guild submitted the lease application to the Auckland City Council at the end of February.

Fruit tree planting for our community:
We would like to thank the community board for the funding of 108 fruit trees for our wider community Mt Eden, Mt Albert and Epsom.
The planting of fruit trees in parks, playgrounds and reserves with Auckland City council on council land will take place in July 2010/2011. A lot of people have been involved in this project we started 2 years ago and we would like to thank everyone for their work such as collecting suitable sites for council and supporting our vision.

Connecting with our community:
Thanks to Suzanne for teaching us the first steps in WordPress. We are now online: http://www.mountedenvillagepeople.co.nz and on Facebook: MountEden VillagePeople

Also thank you to Simon Miller for the opportunity to appear on the bFM Green Desk on 9 March to promote Grey Lynn 2030 Week. You can hear his interview with Pippa here.

Grey Lynn Farmers Market & Grow n Show
March Meeting
Waste Away update
Grey Lynn 2030 “sustainability” week
Supporting sustainable business
Mt Eden Village People – workshops for 2010

Many thanks to Tania Miller, Manager Grey Lynn Community Centre, Senior Constable Philip Crawley, Thomas from CAB, Sarah Cole, Community Services Advisor, Manogi Tavelia, Grey Lynn Neighbourhood Law Office and Community Board Members Kate Stanton and Paul Stevenson for sharing the evening with us.

Mayor Brown also popped by to check out what we are up to and offer encouraging words of support.

Photos from the event are included in this update. As always there is heaps happening so please read on….

Also, there’s still a chance to win one of our hampers filled with fresh market goodies. Enter your name and contact details at the information desk.

Membership costs $30 for the year and gives you a 10% discount on your purchases, plus voting rights on how the market is run.

If you’re interested in helping to guide this market, have a chat with Judith or Paul at the market’s information desk, or send us an e-mail at admin@glfm.co.nz.

(note Kraftbomb is on Sunday 28th February )

Plus, save the date: Grow N’ Show, Saturday 27th Feb from 10am to 3:30pm at Kelmarna Gardens, 12 Hukanui Cres, Herne Bay
Features:
- Grey Lynn Farmers Market
- Ooooby
- Judging home grown and home made produce with fun categories
- Talks on how to get growing
- Workshops for kids
- Cooking demonstrations
- Practical gardening advice and support
- Food stalls
- Bouncy castle
- Picnic area

See you there!

Come along to a meeting to discuss the latest Super city developments (will we be located in a ward called Maungawhau?!) and the role that Grey Lynn 2030 should play in the lead up to the elections in October .

This year the Waste Away group also plans to work with the Grey Lynn festival organisers to look at how the festival waste is handled and propose recycling options. An audit was completed during last year’s festival, which has provided useful information on the quantity and types of waste generated.

We are part of the recently formed ACZWA (Auckland Community Zero Waste Alliance). This alliance of food waste action groups from around the Auckland region is looking to connect with and have a say on waste matters within the new Super city.

We have a stall at the Grey Lynn Farmers market on Sundays providing information and sales of the bokashi system and worm farms (complete with worms!). Come and see us there for information on how you can help reduce waste from landfill!

Contact Lynn

It will include our regular events – the Grey Lynn Farmers Market and Green Screen – plus a whole lot of new, exciting intiatives. A highlight of the week will be the West Lynn Street Party & Twilight Market on Thursday 25th and events to mark World Water Day on 21st March and Earth Hour on Saturday 28th

During the Week look out for:
Autumn Equinox Celebration at St Columba
Tours of local gardens with chooks and bees
Tours of our community gardens
Tour of Lynda Hallinan’s urban garden
Competition by school students to create art from rubbish
Art walking tour of local studios

A full calendar of events will be finalised in early March.

Contact Pippa if you are interested in being involved or have an event for the programme

Our first approach has been to the Principal of Wellpark College, Philip Cottingham who is enthusiastic about engaging with local residents to resolve parking issues and encourage students to consider travel options that keep their cars at home.

Did you know the College, which has a long association with Grey Lynn, has a vegetarian cafe open at lunchtimes? All organic waste from the cafe is composted as part of Wellpark’s committment to waste reduction.

This is also a good opportunity to welcome Raw Essential’s new Animal Holistic Centre just opened behind Harvest Wholefood. The centre includes a clinic run by small animal vet Lyn Thompson who promotes animal health and well being through a raw meaty bones diet. Lyn is a qualified homeopath and takes a very holistic approach to her cases. You can just pop in and have a chat about your pet’s needs at 401B Richmond Rd.

If you would like to be involved in a sustainable business focus group or have news to share contact Dianna Tawharu.

We would also love to see a similar iniative like that operating in Pt Chev for businesses in support of the community supporting our local schools. Thinking about making this happen? then please let us know.

They are hosting practical, hands -on workshops which demonstrations from each tutor to create your own food garden in the city. Mt Eden Village People organise these workshops for the community to help people to make the change to a more sustainable lifestyle.

Square foot gardening: Sunday 28th February 2010, Tutor: Ken Clark

Sustainable home improvements: Sun 14th March 2010, Tutor: Johann Bernhardt

Keeping chickens in your backyard: Sun 23th May 2010, Tutor: Gail Batten
Beekeeping: Sun 6th June 2010, Tutor: Kerry F McCurdy

Fruit tree pruning: Sun 15th Aug 2010, Tutor: Ken Clark

Grafting: Sun 29th August 2010, Tutor: Ken Clark

Contact Judith Holtebrinck