Community Garden News 

Well, we have just about recovered from the excitement of being part of the Martinborough Medical Centre’s, Community Health Award, awarded last week by the Minister of Health. It is a good time to acknowledge Pam Shackleton, and her dedication to health initiatives, including the  Community Garden.

We would also like to thank Andy Sutherland for the very generous load of top soil that has enabled us to complete the filling of our new planters.

As depths of winter approach, there seems little of great excitement in the garden. That is, if you are not enthralled by the formation of Brussels sprouts; the heartening of cabbages and the ‘blooming’ of caulis. All of these vegies now need a good feed, if you have not yet given them one. We will hopefully be planting a second brassica crop in our newly prepared beds over the next couple of weeks.

We have spent some of the colder days working to improve our compost, which is fundamentally the life blood of the garden. … Continue Reading

Cooking Corner

Bakewell tart

Ingredients 

Pastry:

140gr plain flour

85 Gr cold butter 

a pinch of salt … Continue Reading

Council Notes

From the 12^th July we enter the pre-election period for the local government elections, which are being held on the 12^th October 2019.  During this time, Council will provide a monthly column to keep you updated on Council activities. Nominations to stand open on the 19^th July and close on the 16^th August 2019.  If you are interested in standing as a local council election candidate, then please do, and to find out more information, you can contact the Electoral Officer at the Council offices, or go along to the Candidate Briefing at the Waihinga Centre, at 7pm on 10 July.

To be able to vote for those candidates who are standing for office, then being enrolled is a must.  Please check that you are on the electoral role; if you are, well done; if not then please register so ensure you don’t miss out on having your say. Check you are enrolled at www.elections.org.nz. … Continue Reading

Deep plastic

The depth of the Mariana Trench makes it impossibly hostile to surface-dwelling life. Water pressure is more than 1000 times that at sea level, and temperatures rarely rise above 4 degrees Celsius. Humans have been there only four times, yet in May of this year researchers from Japan’s Global Oceanographic Data Center found a plastic bag at its bottom.

This bag has the dubious distinction of being the deepest known piece of plastic waste. Yet it is only one of the thousands of pieces of rubbish catalogued in the centre’s Deep Sea Debris Database, which also includes fishing nets, tyres, washing machines, bottles, tins, sneakers … even a gym bag. Of these items, more than 33 per cent are plastic, and 89 per cent of those are single-use products such as plastic bottles and utensils, ratios that increase to 52 per cent and 92 per cent at depths of more than 6 kilometres.