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Published: July 14th 2008
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So after gaining some income, it was time to e mail some more possibilities of woofing, fortunately I was contacted by Angela who owned Waiora Gardens and
the month of May pointed my direction even further North, to the Hokianga, Kohu Kohu. To an inspiring place of Permaculture and Gardening, www.Waioragardens.com.au
Right here in the hills where the green fields ripen,
The heartbeat of nature upon the horizon,
Across the seas to the land of trees,
Re-generated from stolen Kauri’s,
To build homes for (UK&) Americans far from homeland Mauri’s.
Arriving at the entrance to Waiora, tucked back & beyond in the Hokianga,
Is a sacred place you’ll only hope to find,
But its there as a portal to re-create your mind.
You’ll know about love when you find this place,
It’s been built by many hands of many nation and race,
It’s foundations like rock may have crumbled in places,
But the foundations are strong like the hearts and smiles on many faces.
It’s story begins over 20 yrs ago when Angela and her then partner moved to the area, with their 5 children with nothing more than their bus. The land was what they could afford
at the time, and so not the best mentioned in ‘Permaculture’ terms, i.e. it was north facing. However over the years people have lived, stayed and visited the land and contributed to its abundance. There was a main building where we all cooked, ate, gathered, read and talked by the fire in the evening. It was the general hub of the start, end and middle of the day. A large gong like bell was rung at these times to let everyone know food was ready, as you could be working at any part of the Garden.
Jobs varied from weeding to making a gravel pathway, digging and moving soil to prepare for a strawberry bead to be grown. The unwanted soil moved to create a mound, to be a free range bed, of the wild variety. Taking grass cuttings for Mulch to protect the soil for baby trees growing.
Angela’s partner, Kevin, is a permaculture/gardening teacher at the Keri Keri college, some 2.5 hr drive away, so he is not here all of the time, but a day had been arranged for his students to visit Angela’s place. So we were busy tyding the place to look clearly presentable
for the students. I was happy to be asked to put my Illustrative skills to use for some signs in the compost loo area, explaining how to use them, and how they worked. There was aproximately 15 students from what I can recall, each with their own story to tell and what they were planning to achieve from the course and what they were already putting into practise. Each person had so much positivitey to share, and the group were so supportive of each other. When it came around to me to share my story of why I was here, I felt so over whelmed and burst into tears, and left the room…
Speaking from the heart is something so powerful, and emotions can arise when we least expect it, to be open to love is the greatest healer. As a friend pointed out to me the other day on a facebook comment after a ‘Microchip video’ had been circulating, ‘we need to be posting empowering and loving stuff out there to combat these fear based vids…thus giving it the same effect as “the media” fear based reporting.. Conciousness will raise from a place of love not fear..’ There
Angela's Family
A card for her daughters Birthday seems to be a juxtaposition in life between what’s happening in ‘the world out there’ What we read, see and hear, and what goes on in our daily lives, projecting what we believe in and keeping our commitment to it. Where does fear come from? We needn’t delve too far, zap it before it eats you alive. I know I’ve spent far too much time worrying about it!
Yoga is a brilliant method of zapping, it brings you to the here and now, and is a science of alignment and balance, you feel great too. The ‘Whale Lodge’ was another building that was for communal use, and every Sunday Claire came to teach Hatha Yoga, there was a healthy group from the nearby community.
‘Work Bee Day’, once a month there is a commitment within the community to offer help to somebody else within the community. This is called the work Bee day. It fell on the Sunday I was there and we went to help put a water storage tank on the bank of a house. It is imperative really to be there for people, something the city can all too easily swallow up. A Good way
too meet other people and get jobs done. We also shared our time with Alec for the day, and in return Angela was going to borrow his wood chipper. Alec was trying some experiments, growing tobacco was successful, there were approximately 10 plants and they stunk, this was a good insecticide though, so would be good for companion planting. Wasps too, which there were a fair few of kept a tight leash on some pests, (sorry can’t remember which).
This Octagon shaped design was a bed for peppers, where beans would grow up and around the dome, thus providing shade for plants inside. A great way of growing in tight spaces, say in urban areas, would be this design of having raised beds with walk ways, and scaffolding frame around the wall raised beds so that beans, creepers could climb up.
Angela used a porta-loo, like you would have in a caravan, for all urine waste in the bathroom. The urine then went onto the base of the citrus trees as nutrients. Our waste is imperative to the soil. Another good idea is to use old freezer’s as compost bins. Dead leaves from the garden decomposed quicker as
Vegtable beds
Beds for Stawberrys it was warmer, this is especially useful in winter when compost takes longer to decompose. There was a small pipe at the bottom which filled a bucket, giving a wicked fertalizer for the plants. Mind you there were some pretty big leaves in there from the banana trees. New Zealand’s gr8t for having a sub-tropical climate without the sub-tropical bugs, as lovely as they are.
Vipassna
I have a few friends in England that have done a Vipassna meditation retreat, and whenever I meet people who have done it, the outcome has always been a benefit to the pursuer. There were many in the Hokianga who have done it, so applied for a course, and was accepted.
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