Kia ora

Growth and De-Growth. 

Welcome to our fourth Toru Newsletter, in its new form. We find ourselves in the week of the equinox, the beauty of spring is all around us and we see nature’s generosity showering us with abundance. I love discovering bulbs and perennials coming back, like dear friends: “Aaah, so nice to see you, welcome back!!’ And, oh the blossoms on the fruit trees! What beauty! Promising abundance! When the ecology in our garden is in balance, growth is in balance with de-growth: “Surplus? Too much?” No problem, it all turns into living gold in the compost heap.

Sometimes, however,we have to work a bit harder when we lose our focus, are procrastinating, distracted and out of balance. Then the buttercups come marching in, the weeds and pests take over and claim the garden as if it was theirs!

Photo courtesy of Bob Zuur.

A glance around our human-made environment is troubling. There is so much growth that is NOT in balance. More and more infrastructure, more and more investment into projects that are destructive to our environment or our people. More and more stuff in our daily lives that can’t turn into ‘gold’, but instead chokes our landfills. Refuse or reduce must be our priorities. Naturally, together with 'repair, upcycle and recycle!

You will surely find plenty of food for thought on that topic in the upcoming Post Growth Seminar organised by the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa, one of our new partners.

Yes, we have positive growth in Toru! New event partners, more events, more subscribers. We love THAT type of growth!!

In this edition of our newsletter, we shine a spotlight on some of our new partners. Mangaroa Farms near Upper Hutt will host our next Toru Trail event, and I am also looking forward to giving my next bread baking class in their homely community kitchen. PiNZ (Permaculture in New Zealand) is holding it's annual hui in November, with a special permaculture teachers training taking place the week after.

Despite the promising signs of spring, we are likely to have a few more cosy evenings indoors. Time to chill and relax by the fire? I thoroughly enjoyed watching last Sunday’s Country Calendar, an iwi-led garden that blends permaculture and mātauranga Māori. You might, too!

And to finish, please send us your asks and your offers, as well as your wishes for what you would like to learn? Next month’s workshop on how to set up your own composting toilet is a direct response to such a wish.

We try hard to respond to your wishes. Let us know!

Enjoy the spring growth and happy composting!

Doris Zuur, for the Toru Education Trust

Meeting face to face and finding 'Heart Minded' people. Fiona Naismith reflects on the most recent Toru Trail event, last weekend at Adam and Tink's place in Peka Peka.

It's a magical place overlooking Kāpiti Island, with border collies everywhere and permaculture gardens and a Syntropic food forest surrounding the house.

We started with a circle where we were invited to share a bit about who we are, where we came from and why we were here. There were many familiar faces from previous Toru Trail events and many people talked about the sense of community that is growing from the regular rhythm of meeting face to face. As someone noted, these events are not just about finding "like minded people but heart minded people".

After the circle we...

Will be at Mangaroa Farms, to the east of the Hutt Valley on Saturday 19th Oct from 10am - 2pm, including lunch.

Join Brian and Cam for our next Toru Trail event - a regenerative farm experience: Seeding and Planting with Papatuānuku.

We have been looking forward to this one for months, you can expect a day packed with experiential learning (our favourite!) around the topics of nurturing healthy ecosystems, working with the soil microbiome, and co-creating with nature. 

With this event, we are delighted to welcome Mangaroa Farms as a local partner near Upper Hutt in Whitemans Valley. Mangaroa Farms is a resilient community food hub and education centre, based on regenerative agriculture. It is owned by the Biome Trust who support local, national and global initiatives linked to planetary health and regeneration. Have a look at the diversity of projects they support! We wish to repeat our heartfelt thanks to the Biome Trust for sponsoring our Toru Trust rejuvenation process.

Click below to read more about the Toru Trail event at Mangaroa Farms, and get your tickets.

We have a humble request of you (yes, you!): please share this newsletter with folks who would like to receive it. We would love it to be read by folks right across the lower north island. 

If you like our vision to connect those who want to learn and get involved in their community projects with those creating and hosting beautiful local events please take a moment to forward this newsletter to all your friends and family who you think might be interested AND ask them to sign up to receive it each month. 

And if someone forwarded this newsletter on to you or sent you the link? Are you interested to stay up to date with our events? Would you like us to promote your events (for free)?

Sign up now! ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Fiona Naismith shares what is inspiring her about our new partner organisation: HUMAN Bushcraft and Wild Living.

If you have been fortunate enough to visit Steve and Jenny’s in Ōtaki Gorge you will understand my struggle to put into words what a magical experience it is to be at their place, experience their life and connect with nature and others in such a raw way. Their depth of knowledge, groundedness and amazing sense of humor mean their weekends are always filled with enriching discussions, deep reflection and laugher.

Toru is delighted to be promoting their seasonal bushcraft weekends and first up its FIRE! This is your chance to step away from the busyness of modern life and technology and come in to deeper connection with ancestral skills. Join them one weekend a season for this wonderfully connective journey.

• WINTER - build a relationship with fire skills and the way they can support us. (4-6 October)
• SPRING - is about bird language, listening to the concentric rings of nature. (22-24 November)
• SUMMER - takes us bush with natural shelters. (date tbc)
• AUTUMN - brings alive a whole new world of tracking. Reading the stories left on the earth. (date tbc)

Their beautiful home in the bush overlooks and wanders down to the Otaki River, offering an ideal edge between the busyness of modern life and our wild places.

More Toru Partners! 

Foraging for Wild Edible Weeds ~ Spring Workshop Kapiti

Join Felicity of Homegrown Botanica for a Spring Foraging Workshop. Located in a wonderfully wild garden in Raumati South.

Class sizes are limited, so book early to secure your spot.

Post Growth Business Webinar

Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa invite you to hear from local and international thought leaders on post-growth business in practice.

This is the first online event we have presented and we would love you to join, from wherever you are. 

Wonder Weeds Workshop #1

This is a 3-part, hands-on workshop series which will delve into the existence and use of 12 commonly found weeds and their edible and medicinal qualities. It will be presented by Common Unity in the Hutt Valley.

The new short film, The Power of Local shows proof of a powerful trend embraced by millions acorss the world: groups on five continents are working to create healthy & fair local economies, communities & food systems.

The national umbrella organisation on permaculture “Permaculture in New Zealand” (PiNZ ) is holding its annual Hui, this November near New Plymouth. We are certain that you will receive many practical ideas, encouragement and inspirations from a diverse group of people who apply the permaculture approach in their specific situations.

The week after this Permaculture Hui, a four-day permaculture teachers training course is taking place at the same venue, led by two of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most experienced permaculture teachers, Robina McCurdy and Finn Mackesy. Our trustee Doris Zuur had the privilege of attending this course many years ago and she warmly recommends it. 

This section is for asks and offers from our community (that’s you!) - we expect this section to evolve as we evolve.

Swamp forest and associated area restoration tree planting This weekend. Saturday and Sunday.

• Call Mark Minard if you would like to help. 
• Cabin available if you would like to stay over. 
• 1268 Otaki Gorge Road
• Contact on: 021647779 or markcminard@gmail.com

We would dearly love to promote your asks and offers to our community, if you have one (or two), please relpy to this email and we can include it in our next newsletter, as long as it aligns with our guidelines. 

This newsletter has come into being because we saw a disconnect in our bioregion. We knew there were many great locals with knowledge to share, and some of them were already creating great opportunities for learning, connection and community spirit.

We also saw that many folks didn't know about these amazing opportunities to wānanga together and grow connections in their own back yards. 

To address these needs, we have started with a few interconnected 'small and slow solutions': our new website to host and promote events (among other things), our series of Toru Trail events across our focus area of Kāpiti, Te Whanganui-a-Tara - Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Wairarapa, as well as this monthly newsletter tying it all together and telling the story. 

If you resonate with our vision, we would love you to be involved, this can be in many ways!  

- Please share the good news far and wide, Sharing really is caring, and we want to find our people!

- Do you have an event or educational opportunity? - check out our guidelines and if it fits in with our kaupapa, then sign up and list your event with us! We are promoting local events for free.

- Join one of our events! Learn with us and our partner organisations. Invite a friend along and learn together.

- Do you have ideas for us? Reply to this newsletter or email us at info@toru.nz with your bright spark!