A Big Decision…

  After considerable reflection and discussion, we have made the big decision to leave Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood and move to a smaller  environmentally-friendly  city apartment.  We have enjoyed our four years here and learnt a lot.  It’s been a great transition for us from the  28 acres of earthtalk@awhitu, and we appreciate the friendships we’ve established […]

Matariki…Nga Mihi o te Tau Hou

… a time  for mourning and letting go of those who have died in the past year, for gathering with friends and enjoying the foods harvested and preserved in the autumn, and for reflecting on possible futures…. … and for saying ” nga mihi o te tau hou” – “happy new year”…to you.  

about us…

Kia ora koutou, We’ve had a break from writing newsletters since November 2016, and feel it’s time to start again.  Not necessarily every month, though! From Tanya… Kia ora koutou…It’s now two months since my left hip joint was successfully replaced, so I’m back to swimming, and biking to strengthen muscles.  I made good use of […]

Poutasi Ukulele Project

    We are delighted to say that the Samoan Ukulele Project, which we first wrote about almost two years ago, has now come to fruition! The Prime Minister of Samoa opened a new workshop for making ukulele, attached to the Arts and Crafts Centre in Poutasi Village, on Wednesday 5 April this year- and […]

Coromandel Peninsula

  We’ve just returned from a five-day visit to the Coromandel Peninsula and Mercury Bay.  We had two reasons for going at this time: to go to the one-off Moana Maniapoto Concert in Coromandel Township, and to link up there with our friend and former gardener Sue and her partner Susie for a late summer holiday […]

Moana Maniapoto

Nga mihi nui ki a  Moana Maniapoto,  wahine toa, te manutioriori ataahua…   Moana Maniapoto’s evening at the tiny Coromandel Club was an absolute delight.  She described her show, My Name is Moana,  as being about our waterways- and indeed, we were  drawn into a passion for protecting our waterways – and our land, and our […]

Summer Solstice

  Our warm Summer Solstice greetings to all of you from Tāmaki Makaurau, where it’s beginning to feel like summer at last- and happy Winter Solstice blessings  as well to those of you in the Northern Hemisphere.  May the New Year bring more good tidings of comfort and joy, more political sanity and more stable […]

Tanya’s year of studying Te Reo Maori

  Nga mihi matakuikui ki a koutou, I have just emerged from a year-long immersion course in Te Ara Reo Maori at the Lincoln Road campus of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, exhausted and elated, appreciative of my new understandings, skills and inspiration. I’ve been immersed in, but also “on the edge of”another way of seeing the […]