UNDER THE MARTINBOROUGH STARS

If you are a resident of South Wairarapa, by now you have most likely heard of a dark sky reserve. If you haven’t, congratulations, you’re now living in one. If you are just visiting, maybe you’ll enjoy our magnificent views of the night sky while you’re here. There aren’t many reserves like ours throughout the world, and we’ve got world class wine too. A beverage possibly consumed in bulk by the ancients while drawing up the constellations we know today.  

So what is a dark sky reserve and who says we’re in one? Well, the International Dark-Sky Association has officially designated South Wairarapa a reserve, one of several categories of dark sky places.  “Reserves consist of a dark “core” zone surrounded by a populated periphery where policy controls are enacted to protect the darkness of the core”. Our core is Aorangi Forest Park. Conveniently, that population periphery is not completely surrounding the core. There’s a whole lot of ocean to the south and east of this core region, making it difficult for any would-be towns to get a foothold which might lead to light pollution. Thanks Ocean.  … Continue Reading

Toy Library awareness week

Toy Library Awareness Week will run 5-11 March, and so this month’s article is dedicated to all those who have helped make Martinborough Toy Library such a worthwhile community asset. The library was established here in 2008, and since then we hundreds of kids have grown up using our toys.

We aren’t like the regular book library, which is government funded. Instead, all the administration and work is carried out by a group of locals who volunteer their time and energy to keep the Toy Library running. Some of us have moved to Martinborough with young children, and have found volunteering to be a great way to get to know other families in the area. For others, it’s been a great reason to get out of the house and give back to the community. We are always looking for new volunteers, so if you are interested then come and have a chat with us. Volunteering also fulfils the requirements for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Service Section for any participants looking for an opportunity.

We encourage all families to come and join. Thanks to a grant from South Wairarapa District Council, a year’s membership is only $50, making it affordable and sustainable for people. We can also help with clutter… Joining a toy library is like having Christmas every 2 weeks. The delight of kids coming to pick new toys or toys they have borrowed 100 times is what motivates us to keep going.

Our toy library currently has over 200 toys suitable from 6 months to 6 years. No matter you’re your little ones enjoy, we can help by providing board games, toys for pretend play, dress-up, and outdoor equipment. Basically, anything a child can imagine. We invite families to drop by for a visit, and just to see what we offer. We can be found in the ambulance station at 9-13 Texas Street every Saturday morning from 10am-noon.

Donna McQuaid

South Wairarapa Rebus Club

Those attending our last meeting were entertained and informed by Guest Speaker, Dale Williams ONZM JP, Deputy Mayor of Carterton and Chairman of the Youth 2 Work Wairarapa Team. Dale is a trade-certified motor cycle engineer and brings a personal trade- and business-oriented mindset to the provision of jobs for young people. His story is well told in the U-tube record of his TEDx talk, “Small town big change”.

After an apprenticeship as a motor cycle engineer, at 23, he built his early career in Otorohanga with a motorcycle dealership, which grew, over a period of almost 20 years, into a small chain of dealerships across the Waikato King Country, employing predominantly young people and training numbers of apprentices. 

After three terms as a community counsellor, in 2004 he was elected mayor, a position he retained for 9 years. At that time, Otorohanga was a small town, population 2700, suffering from high unemployment, youth crime and vandalism. The ideas for a specific support strategy for youth came to him during his first crisis as mayor when two local teenagers took their own lives. In a subsequent public meeting young people told him: “Otorohanga sucks!” It was a place to get away from.  … Continue Reading

Saving the seeds at Koanga Institute

For 35 years the Koanga Institute has been collecting and cultivating heritage food plants and saving the seeds from them to sell to anyone who is looking for an alternative to mass produced seeds. A heritage seed is one that has never been grown in the industrial system. It is a seed that has been passed on down for several generations in a particular geographical area. The people at Koanga believe that these seeds, when grown in strong healthy soil, produce nutrient dense food that provides all the nourishment needed for healthy bodies. In contrast to this, industrial seeds are selected for things such as long shelf life, tough skins for shipping and high production per acre rather than nutrition per acre. 

I recently visited Koanga’s gardens near Wairoa and was amazed by the scale of the operation and the energy of the people working there. They have about 50 hectares of land and most of this is planted for seed production. An old house serves as the headquarters where the seeds are sorted, stored and put into packs to be sent out around the country. 

The team is led by Kay Baxter who has dedicated her life to exploring and researching ways of improving people’s lives through regenerative gardening. She runs educational courses where students can learn about soil improvement, seed saving and sound gardening principles through active participation. I was there for just one day but learnt so much that my head was spinning.  … Continue Reading