Sandy Sturm, who manages TTT organisational member "Ninja Gardeners" in Kaeo is inviting you. Here is what she wants you to know: 

Hello lovely gardeners! I hope you are all doing great!

We have an amazing workshop coming up on Saturday 1st of June in Andy's garden.

Come along to this workshop on how to build a hugelculture bed. Lynn Wytenbroek is coming all the way from Kaitaia to teach us how to properly build a hugelcuture bed (or two). Lynn has a vast knowledge about permaculture principles and will shower us with her valuable garden wisdom.

"The term hugelkultur is credited as being a German word that translates to “hill or mound” + “culture” (think cultivation). Essentially, it is wood buried with soil, resulting in a nutrient-rich, mounded raised bed that can be used to grow food.

This is a very old practice that originated in Germany that allowed people to grow food in abundance, without the need of irrigation."

This is a hands-on workshop. Make sure to bring your gloves and wear gumboots and a notebook if you wish to write down hints and tips.

When: Saturday 1.6.24 at 10am

Cost: Suggested koha of $10 | 2 Timecredits for TTT members

Value: worth one's weight in gold

Where: Andy's Garden at 87 Mangamanihi road, Kaeo.

Tea and bikkies provided afterwards. Feel free to bring muffins or snacks to share.

If you can rsvp to give us an idea of how many are attending, then we might be able to build TWO hugelculture beds 

That's very exciting I reckon!

We are planning on doing a working bee on Friday 30th to gather and hunt for the ingredients needed to build the hugelculture. Lucky for us, Andy (and his son Sam) have left us with plenty of wonderful material on his land to gather up!

If you are planning on coming along to this great learning opportunity, maybe see if you have some of these ingredients on hand to bring along:

- Grass clippings (spray free)

- compost

- manure

- banana leaves & trunks

- sticks and branches

- leaves

- and logs perhaps.

Here is some info about Lynn who will be running the workshop:

"As a Permaculturalist for more than 25 years, Lynn has been growing food forests, building hugelkultur beds, installing Mandela veggie gardens and exploring the wealth of knowledge and experience available in sustainable growing techniques. She had a lifestyle block in Canada where she grew a one acre food forest plus a sustainable small market garden. Now she has a small lifestyle block in Taipa where she is transforming an old orchard into a productive food forest and using chicken tractors to prepare and maintain veggie gardens. She is one of the coordinators of the Kaitaia Maara Kai and has her own business, the Edible Lawn Project, which helps people turn unproductive lawns into edible spaces. She gives workshops on pruning, composting, edible garden design and planning amongst other things. She uses primarily no-dig techniques in growing food, and loves to experiment with new ways of growing that works with nature rather than against it. She has a Permaculture Design Certificate and is now exploring Argo-forestry techniques. She believes that only resilient forms of farming will help protect the planet while producing enough nutritious food to feed us all."

Pretty amazing I'd say!

Hopefully see you there!!

Happy gardening!

Love and light

Sandy

Facebook link to the event

https://www.facebook.com/share/B2q3VFVpLgR9JoLZ/?mibextid=9VsGKo