Upcoming events (see below for details)

• Sat May 9 2-5 pm 56 Cook St

Open Day Marfell Community Gardens

• Wed May 20 10.30-1 pm Council Chambers

Cityhop: Bringing Commercial Care Share to New Plymouth

• Sat – Sun June 6– 7 Taranaki Environment Centre

Permaculture Design Certificate

Public Meeting

Wed May 20^th 10.30 – 12 pm

Presentation by Victoria Powers

CEO of Cityhop and former Auckland City Councillor

Followed by refreshments and discussion (drop in over lunch)

For information or to sign up contact

Nathaniel Benefield benefieldn@npdc.govt.nz 759 6060 ext 8850

Stuart Bramhall stuartbramhall@yahoo.co.nz 758 4561

Cityhop is a self-service car share company with cars for rent by the hour, day or week. Membership costs $95 for 12 months. Members are free to use Cityhop cars as often as they like for only $13.50 an hour (includes fuel, insurance and all maintenance) or for a special business, daily or overnight rate.

Cityhop’s new Daihatsu Sirions and Mitsubish i-cars can be booked for as little as 30 minutes or as long as 6 months. They can be reserved free online or by phone for a $5. They can be collected and returned 24/7 using one of Cityhop’s high-tech smartcards. Members who join in New Plymouth can use their swipe cards on trips to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Members are billed based on how long members keep the car and how far they drive. At present cars are located all over Auckland’s CBD, Wellington and Christchurch. Our goal is to sign up enough members and businesses to bring Cityhop cars to New Plymouth.

www.cityhop.co.nz

Update on Marfell Community Gardens

www.marfell.org.nz

Open Day – Sat May 9^th 2-5 pm.  Everyone welcome to check out the gardens, meet the trustees and have afternoon tea.

On-going activities

Sat 10 am 2 pm Community Garden working bee or workshop, lunch included

Balance Me (weekly) contact Centre for day and time – Whanau workshops, healthy eating and lifestyle and budgeting

Tues 10 am – Sewing/Quilting

Wed 12.30 pm – Crafts

Additional services available on Maori health support, Housing NZ, literacy/numeracy on request. If there is interest there will also be Te Reo lessons and card games, specifically Euka.

Permaculture Design Certificate 2009-2010

Taranaki Environment Centre – $75 per weekend    (amazing price!)

www.environaki .co.nz

1.  Permaculture Philosophy & Design – 6 & 7 June 09 Kama Burwell
We will explore ecology and the ethics & design principles of permaculture. We’ll learn to read & apply landscape patterns, and practice permaculture design in the sandpit.

2. Water, Appropriate Technology, Energy - 18 & 19 July 09 Kama Burwell & Michael Lawley

We’ll explore how water moves through the landscape and how we can design to enhance water quality & quantity. We’ll also explore nutrient cycles, greywater, appropriate technology, and ethanol & methane production. On Sunday afternoon we’ll visit Eco-Innovation with Michael Lawley to explore renewable energy.

3. Eco-logical Building - August (to be confirmed) Graeme North

We’ll explore the ecology of buildings, natural materials (local earth, straw, timber etc), passive solar design, and building health.  We’ll get our hands dirty in a practical earth-building project.

4. Climates, Soils, & Gardening - 12 & 13 Sept 09   Dee Turner & Jodi Roebuck

At Dee Turner’s farm, we’ll explore climates of the world, the importance of food production, zone 1 design, soils, carbon and nitrogen cycles, & biodynamics. On Sunday, we’ll visit Jodi Roebuck’s Seed Keeper property and learn about bio-intensive mini-farming, make some compost, and explore seed saving.

5. Urban Living & Waste - 24 & 25 Oct 09 Lisa Talbot & James Bellamy

Our urban areas need to be redesigned and retrofitted. At the Marfell Community Garden & Community Centre we’ll explore sustainable living, ecological footprints, waste, compost toilets, transition towns, & retro-fitting urban environments. We’ll do some hands-on projects that contribute to the Marfell Community Garden.

6. Food forests, Forestry, Pastoral Farming - 14 & 15 Nov 09 John Earney, Steve Pivac, & Kama Burwell

We’ll explore farm design, soil & carbon farming, and integration of fodder & tree crops. We’ll visit John Earney’s farm and explore pastoral farming strategies, multi-species rotation, and living tree fence/fodder systems. Then we’ll stop at Steve Pivac’s forestry block and explore forestry design and using horses to harvest timber. On Sunday we’ll explore the design of shelter, food forests, orchards, and the integration of small animals.

7. Community, Designing for Disaster, Nutrition - 30 & 31 Jan 2010  Kama Burwell & Ruth Cohen

We’ll explore community decision-making, legal structures & ownership, banking & financial systems, co-operative enterprises. We’ll also explore designing to cope with disasters such as fire, climate change, volcanic eruptions, and tsunami. Ruth Cohen will address seasonal and local food, ferments, preserving your yields, and maximising the nutritional value of your food. We’ll make sourdough bread and bake it in the cob oven.

8. Design Project - 27 & 28 Feb 2010 Kama Burwell & Dee Turner

In small groups or solo, you will complete and present a design project. The aim of the project is to apply permaculture design to a specific site or proposal, while making use of the knowledge and processes learnt during the course.

To enrol in the Permaculture Design Certificate, or any of the weekends, contact Kama Burwell kamaburwell@iconz.co.nz 06 756-8229

Urgent – download and circulate petition to reinstate nutritional guidelines for all schools (which the government recently abolished) and to support schools in the development of edible gardens and training kitchens:  http://www.greens.org.nz/healthyfoodinschools/

Paul Grignon succinctly exposes our money system, explaining usury, interest and its effects.

The current western money system

• Is based on debt
• Is lent to Governments
• Must grow continually (like a cancer)
• Is not sustainable
• Is just plain nasty!

Lastly, he offers alternative solutions.

Watch it on Google Video or go to Pauls Main site for more info

Heres the transcript if you dont have broadband.

What is a Transition Town? It is a response to Peak oil and climate change.

Quoting The Transition Towns Wiki

A Transition Initiative is a community working together to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and address this BIG question:

“for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?”

http://www.transitiontowns.org/

Mike