28th January 2018 Working Bee

Trevor weeds the Swale beside our noticeboard with the tasks for the days working bee - counting down for the Heroic Garden Festival!

 A full wheel barrow of weeds.

Kathryn strikes a glamorous pose for the paparazzi - good fun!

and then gets back to work.

 Jan weeds the edges

 Sarah tidies up the Kale

 Marita and Clara.

Some of our heritage tomatoes - they may not be pretty - but they're delicious!

Arthur doing a great job of weedeating the pathways.

 Plenty of gas to see the job done.

 Looking trimmed and terrific.

Meanwhile, Helen our Hugelkulter, rests at peace in the food forest.

Deborah and Bev wrangle the prickly prunings in the food forest.

 Long spiky thorns to be very careful of...

 A visitor to the gardens walks his dogs through this little slice of paradise
 as Jan weeds the edges in the distance.

Another pile of greens is ready to be processed into compost - our compost bins are the heart of the gardens.

The Mara Kumara garden growing and looking superb.

So beautiful.!

What a precious space for all Aucklanders to be able to come and enjoy. 

And what a pleasure it is for our community to care for this land.

Nature's abundance.

Meanwhile, Sarah & Rose tend to the edges
beside our invasive weed processing area.

 Janet and Bill do the 'washing up' - cleaning and recycling our pots.

Our very own action man John makes safe the fallen branch that threatened to collapse the greenhouse.

The semi-collapsed roof has made the greenhouse a 'no-go' area until it is repaired and 'made safe'.

Bev, avoiding the paparazzi - again!

Marita begins work on the chalk sign announcing the Heroic Garden Festival.

The evening working bee was trialled to avoid the heat of the day but it ended up being just as warm in the evening - but the long shadows were superb! 

Broccoli growing nicely in John's plot.

David helps relocate the bamboo.

The corn beautifully back-lit.

The herb garden.

Olde fashioned flowers are making a comeback - and rightly so.

Great job Marita.

Arthur packs up and cools down after completing the edges.

Some of today's allotment harvest.

Thanks to everyone who was able to make it along. A magical and satisfying evening working bee was had by all.

25th February 2018 - Open Day Working Bee Sunday

As the Heroic Garden Festival weekend was such a complete washout, 

with torrential rain over pretty much the entire weekend, we decided 

to formally have the 25th February Sanctuary Mahi Whenua working bee 

as an open day. So up went our beautiful banners!

Our open working bee day invitation....

    

With our list of tasks awaiting us...

The ONZO bikes have arrived - active transport hire options
have come to the Sanctuary!

Many of our members have been arriving by
their own active transport for a long time already...

What a beautiful entrance to the Sanctuary - still looking fabulous from ALL of the working bees leading up to the Heroic Garden festival.

Diana works in the background as John helps Katya build a support frame.

David works on his allotment after completing the Compost work.

Sarah weeding the dreaded Oxalis

Kathy working with visitors enjoying the gardens in the background.

Thanks to the No-Grainers for looking after us again. 

We love your support - almost as much as we love your food and smoothies!

An open working bee day visitors enjoying a No-Grainer lunch - yum!

Caitlin looks after her young neighbour who came along to the Sanctuary

Bev sells some of our remaining plants from the Heroic Festival -
as we were rained off there were still some plants available for sale
with the proceeds going to Hospice.

Our selection of plants for sale.

 The beautiful Garlic chives borders in the herb garden...

With their upright flowers like soldiers standing to attention.

Helen our Hugelkulter continues to grow well and to feed the soil.

 Figs are in season - delicious!

David and visitor Abraham (MIT gardener) working
the compost - a physical but rewarding task.

Mike trims the edges Island style - he is a master with the slasher.

 Riley helps weed the edges too

The Mara Kumara garden is very popular

Many visitors called by to hear Keni talk about
the traditional growing techniques and philosophy. 

The gateway - traditionally there is only one way in and out.

The gourd rack displaying dried, prepared gourds.

More visitors...

and still more!

Many hands helping with the first harvest of the Maori potatoes.

Caitlin shows the first dug Maori potatoes that will be used for
seed-potatoes for next seasons planting at the Sanctuary.

Stephanie and Sarah help dig the potatoes.

John wrangling the gourds.

Sinead, Mike, Stephanie and Sarah

Mort works under his wonderful sunhat.

Seedlings ready to go in with the tools standing by. Great organisation!

Katya and Benedicte do the planting.

 Job done.

The compost bins processed and tucked up to decompose into rich, productive compost for the Sanctuary gardens.

Caitlin with her face painted.

Lucille's turn next with our resident face painting artist Sarah.

and Louise 

Rock painting was popular again.

Timothe at work and...

Proudly showing his work.

Benjamin displays his classic blue rock

Majestic sunflowers

And then at the end, a family picnic with Sanctaury members, friends, families and visitors. What a great Open Working Bee Day. Jenni chats to guests

Everyone enjoys the Sanctuary

Thanks everyone for coming along to be a part of the working bee open day.

It was magic!