News from the Valley

STAFF DEPARTURE - CHARLOTTE WILSON After arriving back in Dunedin in 2010 following work as a primary school teacher in Vietnam for a number of years, I was employed part-time at North East Valley Normal School as the ESOL teacher and ran the Valley Club, an afterschool programme for children considered to be “at risk”. Here they received some kai and homework support, as well as opportunities to participate in a range of activities and to develop positive relationships with adults. I attended North East Valley and then DNI as a kid and my mum grew up in Opoho …

During this hands-on workshop, you will discover the joy of creating quilts. The idea of the project is a reference to gender equality and the feminist movement as a form of resistance against gender discrimination in society. The Quilt Project will integrate math and art to create your own block to share your views on gender inequality. The Quilt Project is aiming to create the large-scale block quilt with panels created with an applique of math basic symbols such as (not equal sign, inequality sign, and power sign etc.) Each panel will illustrate the inequitable status of women in …

Chew cards are one of the detection tools in our predator monitoring toolkit that help us to identify the presence of mammalian predators that might harm our native wildlife. Chew cards are made of plastic ‘corflute’ with many small channels that are filled with a peanut butter based (non-toxic) lure and can provide clues to help us to detect which mammalian predators are visiting our backyard. We can select the right trap to target specific species and. The great thing about chew cards is that they are easy to use and place in your backyard - using just a …

A NEW addition to the Valley Project team, a New Zealand Falcon, or kārearea in Te Reo Māori, can be found enhancing the entrance to the car park on North Road. This beautiful mural, painted by Bruce Mahalski from the Dunedin Museum of Natural Mystery signifies all of the amazing biodiversity found within the North East Valley and surrounding suburbs. His image is inspired by a photograph by Keith Payne. But, why the kārearea, and why is it so special? We have heard many stories from local community members remarking on the wonderful and fierce nature of the …

Recognised through-out the world as the toughest, highest, longest 24-hr race since Pheidippides did not exist, since Adam wasn’t a boy, and since bread was sliced. The 24-hour fundraising race sees participants running, or walking, as many times as they can to the summit of Mount Cargill and back down again. The races’ inception came about by a group of running buddies contemplating crazy challenges for themselves over beers. The annual Crush the Cargill event is all set to commence at 10am on the 12th of December. Crush the Cargill and The Valley Project are about getting people together …

Weed Bash Success! The Weed Bash was full of celebration last month when various Weed Warrior crews and Community Gardeners removed about 15 woolsacks of weeds from community spaces and backyards! The target weed for the Weed Bash - Banana Passionfruit Vine (Passiflora tripartita) was the top of the list for removal - a highly invasive weed, with many plants removed from backyards. Banana Passionfruit Vine is a climber, climbing onto trees, eventually smothering them. Keep on look out for a plant with three lobed leaves, pink, tubular hanging flowers when flowering and banana-shaped fruit that ripen from …

The term “weed” is a little bit of a misnomer - the term weed could apply to any plant, if it’s not quite where we want it to be. Some species however, are known as invasive weeds - these are plants that are introduced into a new area and spread very quickly, altering the new environment. Often, these plant species take over areas, creating a monoculture and have little benefits for native wildlife. Plants considered weeds may also attract undesirable species (i.e. sycamores attract wasps and likely rats too), do not produce foods native species eat and/or are not …

Marieke Rutgers joined the Valley Project team in the depths of Winter 2019. Having familiarised herself with the different ways kiwis have for coping with the climate (hot water bottles and layering over central heating) she quickly became a dedicated community member and worked extremely hard on a variety of projects, most notably event planning for Creek fest. As Marieke has now completed her internship, it’s time to head home to the Netherlands to complete her degree in international business. “I cannot think of a better community and city to be a part of. All the love and struggles …

Mornington resident Nick Rutledge and his 5-year-old daughter Inara have been putting together small food boxes with all the ingredients needed for one complete meal and leaving them in the South Dunedin community food pantry. Now the pair have started to drop what they term ‘kai-ndness’ boxes into the new North East Valley community sharing pantry. A vegan himself, Nick goes shopping with his daughter to put together the ingredients needed to create a complete vegetarian meal for either breakfast, lunch or dinner along with a recipe if needed. “There is such a need in the community,” says Nick …

Crush the Cargill 24-hour Challenge is back with a Woodstock theme as trail runners get the pleasure of running up and down Mt Cargill as many times as possible in a 24-hour period. Last year over $4000 was raised to help fund CreekFest, and this is our focus again this year. It’s easy to see the connection between Crush the Cargill and the Valley Project –— both are about getting people together and reconnecting with our wider environment. This year is also the 50th anniversary of the ground-breaking Woodstock music festival that symbolized a communal desire for love, peace …

The Community Classroom has been busy taking an interesting and diverse range of enquiries from people interested in teaching classes for the inaugural Dunedin Summer School at the beginning of next year. Coordinator Melissa Pronk is putting out the final call for people interested in running a session, class or workshop. Registrations need to be in by Tuesday 5 November for the class to be listed in printed marketing materials. Register here. Registrations can still be taken after this date but will only be marketed online on social media. Community education for everyone The idea of the Summer School …

The Valley Project is teaming up with the Sustainability Project to run a two-week Dunedin Summer School offering community education for everyone at the start of next year. A similar event has been running in Oamaru for the past nine years and now the idea is coming to Dunedin. Summer School facilitator Melissa Pronk expects there will up to 60 different classes on offer. Previously these have ranged from skills such as sewing, knitting and making bread; hobbies and interests such as keeping bees and chickens; health and nutrition such as how to grow food and make fermented food; …