Kia ora

The days are getting warmer. In between the wind gusts and rainy days, Koanga is bringing the soil temperature up for seed sowing and planting of our main crops. At the same time, the birds are busy creating their master pieces: Beautifully woven nests made from lichen, mosses and fine wigs, lined with soft wool. They are expressing the archetypal mother instinct to nestle, to wrap warmth around and around to make these exquisite tiny nests. What a beautiful symbol of hope, for new life to come.

It's then tough and sad to experience the opposite forces of nature: the stormy winds of Tāwhirimātea who takes some precious nests away! It makes me think of all those who are suffering tremendous losses in turbulent weather patterns all over the world. People who lose everything and have to build their lives all over again, their resilience being tested for their resilience to the core.

Photo courtesy of Bob Zuur.

In nature, tremendous regeneration is part of daily life. The birds will build another nest! After a storm, the air is filled with the sound of humming insects again and we smell a melange of different blossoms everywhere. All is forgotten and we know our task is to support this wondrous world called Nature as best we can.

Reading Fiona’s reflection on the recent Toru Trail event at Mangaroa Farms, she describes their focus and efforts on regeneration generally, and in particular their focus on enhancing biodiversity to attract the beneficial insects! Such combined efforts will hopefully combat the decline of insects, crucial to the pollination process.

Photo courtesy of Bob Zuur.

Did you know that New Zealand bush has predominantly white flowers that give off a scent at night? This is to attract pollinators that do the night shift, namely the moths! They are so easily over looked. I love the intricate patterns on their spread out wings.

Everything works co-creatively in partnership and communally in nature; birds depend on insects for food, and we depend on our pollinators for our food supply. We love seeing our efforts to co-create Toru Education bearing fruit, and receiving lovely feedback on our Toru Trail and workshops. The partner page continues to grow.

I hope the ‘Ask’ in the Community Notices section (below) from the Petone Kindergarteners is falling onto fertile ground! Supporting each other and responding to each other’s “Asks and Offers” is a core objective of Toru Education.

Hope you enjoy reading our and your 5th newsletter!

Hella Coenen, for the Toru Education Trust

Photo courtesy of Bob Zuur.

An immersive experience of regeneration in practice. Fiona Naismith reflects on last weekend's Toru Trail event, at Mangaroa Farms, where we experienced how working in harmony with the soil microbiome can foster abundant growth and biodiversity. She also shares Mangaroa farmer Cam Dixon’s top tips for soil health and his secrets to nutrient dense food.

Photo courtesy of Bob Zuur.

Last weekend’s Toru Trail was an immersive experience of the heart of organic and regenerative gardening practices at a regenerative farm, nestled amidst rolling hills and lush greenery. The day was an invitation to connect with Papatuānuku and deepen our...

...This delightful feedback we received from one of the participants at this Toru Trail event: 

"My name is Wafaa (a Kaiako from Petone Kindergarten) and I would just like to thank you and everyone else for the amazing Mangaroa Farms tour. Shruti and I have learnt so much from lead gardener Cam and are busy implementing what we have learnt. It is not very often that commercial farms open themselves up and share their amazing mahi and knowledge to the public.

So from the bottom of both mine and Shruti's heart, we would like to say a big thank you as you all. I also wanted to share that our tamariki have also been talking very kindly to our new seedlings."

Will be at Tierra Homestead, to the east of the Hutt Valley on Saturday 16th Nov from 10am - 2pm, including lunch.

Join Mary Beth and Tony for our next Toru Trail event - Tierra Homestead: Living in Partnership with Nature.

We’ve been eager to share this special day with you, where you can dive into experiential learning focused on sustainable living, resource management, and co-creating a beautiful ecosystem from the ground up.

For over 37 years, Mary Beth and Tony have transformed Tierra, a once-overgrazed dairy pasture, into a thriving homestead full of life—from fruit orchards and vegetable gardens to native plantings, timber, and diverse wildlife habitats. You’ll explore Tierra’s rich ecosystems, learn about their permaculture practices, how to live in harmony with the land, and build for future generations.

Click below to read more about the Toru Trail event at Tierra Homestead, 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! ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Doris Zuur shares what is inspiring her about our new partner organisation: Kāpati Crop Swap

In the light of our focus to invite your ‘Asks and your Offers’, it fits to put the spotlight on our new partner “Kapiti Crop Swap’, an inclusive grass group roots movement where EVERYTHING can be swapped to encourage mindful sharing within our neighbourhoods. Completely cashless!

The archetypal ‘give and take’ that fulfils and meets many other needs that are common in our communities: Garden produce and beyond (everything related to kitchen and garden) is shared and connections are made. This means your garden abundance is taken care of (minimising waste), and everyone is walking away better than how they arrived.

Such a simple beautiful common sense approach that happens at their monthly events, in Otaki, Waikanae and Raumati. Best to request access to their local Facebook Group for more details.

More Toru Partners! 

Easy, Lazy, No-stress Gardening

Join Tink and Adam of Living Ground to learn some essential gardening skills and the why behind the methods. Hint: it's about working with nature! Held on their permaculture property in Peka Peka.

Bookings essential as the workshop places are limited. 

Foraging & Herbal Apothecary Workshop

To celebrate the abundance of Spring join Tamsin of Urth Apothecary for a seasonal foraging & medicine making experience.

This event is part of an ongoing series at Mangaroa Farms, our host for the Toru Trail event last weekend. 

Bushcraft and Rewilding - Bird Language

This weekend is about the expanding of our awareness out into the sounds that are all around us every day, an immersive and unforgettable experience with HUMAN Bushcraft and Wild Living in Otaki. 

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

This month we have a big ask from Wafaa at Petone Kindergarten:

Kia ora,

We have a beautiful and thriving front garden for our tamariki to explore and learn. However, our backyard is needing some TLC. It is currently unusable as overgrown plants called “bird of paradise” are taking over the land. Some people love them, some see them as pests. See picture. For us, they prevent us from carrying out our next big project of creating a community garden to extend our manaakitanga and whanaungatanga into our community!

We are a small kindergarten with limited funds. A tree surgeon company quoted us $20,000 to remove these deeply rooted plants! That is impossible for us. Maybe someone in the community would like some of these plants? Who could help? Contact me on azmutallywafaa@yahoo.co.nz

Any help would be much appreciated!

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!