FuturEcology & EmGuard ™ March 2022 Update

Welcome to the March newsletter, and we hope you are all enjoying this Indian summer.

It reached 30° at our place on Saturday and Cable Bay beach was calling loudly! What we have noticed however, is that we are moving into what we call a green drought. Things look very green and lush after all last month’s rain, but the ground is drying out quite quickly.

We had thought we might have started an early planting season, but the lack of rain has pushed that back out again.

We decided to have a mini-break in Collingwood at the end of February, and took the opportunity to visit Farewell Spit with Farewell Spit Tours.

What a brilliant trip! We were taken back to our lighthouse days on Stephen’s Island as all lighthouse stations are so similar.

Your EmGuards ™ are on their way

At the moment we have good stocks of EmGuard on hand and all the pre-orders underway. However, as Covid continues to surge through the country, labour shortages are affecting the supply chain and proving a challenge for all businesses, including us. We are grateful to our factory for their communication and commitment to filling all of our orders. Please allow 3-4 additional days for your deliveries as the freight companies have advised us that they are similarly challenged at the moment.

Altimarloch Vineyard Project

What a good month February has been. The team have spent some time up the Awatere as FuturEcology Ltd has just started a major wetland restoration in the Altimarloch Vineyard property.

The project has commenced under the watchful eye of vineyard manager Shane Roloff, himself a wetland enthusiast and instigator of the project.

It is an absolutely stunning spot and we couldn’t have asked for better weather.

Developments in preparation for planting have seen the commencement of willow and weed control. There has been significant crack and gray willow control and the sites are looking fantastic. There has already been a huge reduction in the number of living willows, and we have been through and given the survivors another hit.

In preparation for planting, we are working on the scorched earth methodology. Spraying dedicated planting areas (known as wodges) to give the plants the best possible start.

Robert’s word of the week was “wodge”, with slight debate about whether this is a real word or slang, but it has been confirmed that it is in fact an approved Scrabble word.

We are looking forward to getting back out onto the site in around three weeks to see the progress and the emergence of the prepped “wodges”.

There will be up to 3,000 native plants and EmGuards going into the wetland this winter. Watch this space!

One of the issues in the Awatere Valley is that any areas of land that are unmanaged, either not in grapes or not under grazing, will grow Old Man’s Beard, Clematis vitalba. The scale of the problem up there has to be seen to be believed. Many of the escarpments between terraces are now covered in large vines smothering any vegetation underneath.

Fortunately many of the valley’s landowners have recognised the problem and are proactively looking for solutions to deal with it. One option can be to fence stock into these areas for a short time to open up access for further control.

The Altimarloch wetland will add to other wetlands on the property and certainly add to the natural values of what is an amazing property.

Habitat Restorations

Then…

Habitat Restorations are an experienced conservation contractor, servicing Otago, Southland and the Waitaki, specialising in riparian planting and establishing wetlands.

Glen at Habitat Restorations was an early adopter of the EmGuards back when the guards were still fairly new to the market and he has continued to be a very valued supporter.

This site is Fonterra Edendale and was planted in 2020. It is so great seeing the then vs now!

The Habitat Restorations team planted and maintained over 100,000 plants last year. This is an absolutely incredible effort and is definitely inspiring for everyone in the industry.

..and now, looking in the other direction.

We would love to share your projects. If you have any great pictures, please email them through to emguard@futurecology.co.nz for a newsletter feature or Instagram shoutout.

Weed of the month - Cedronella canariensis

Common name: Balm of Gilead
Family: Lamiaceae
Origin: Canary Islands
Flower colours: Violet/purple, white

The balm of Gilead is a perennial native to the Americas and the Canary Islands. Its name ‘balm of Gilead’ was given to it because of its lemon and camphor-like odour.

The origins of the name ‘Balm of Gilead” stem from the Hebrew Bible, referring to a rare medicinal perfume, named after the region it was produced in.

The expression comes from William Tyndale’s language in the King James Bible of 1611, and has come to signify a universal cure in figurative speech.

The balm of Gilead’s leaves are used in the preparation of a tea called ‘Thé de Canaries’. Being an aromatic plant, the leaves are also used for aromatherapy, potpourri, insect repellent or a fragrant herb pillow. The balm of Gilead is also becoming increasingly popular for people who have chickens. A handful of the herb mixed through the straw in nesting boxes helps to deter mites.

Although it has lots of positive benefits, it also has the potential to become a serious weed in our climate.

We came across a dense patch of the balm of Gilead up Dodson Valley in Nelson, while working to reduce the dense canopy of old man’s beard. It also proving to be a problem in Golden Bay.

Balm of Gilead grows best in full sunlight, in moist, well-draining soil and it does not tolerate cold temperatures well.

Our Team

Enjoying the sunshine after our regular team meeting, followed by cake and coffee. If you have a surplus of apples like we do at the moment, here is a great recipe which the team loves.

Seed collecting

Last week Rob, Dan and Em headed out to collect seeds from Coprosma robusta, Myrsine australis, and Mahoe. We are trialing something a little different with one of our plantings by also spreading seeds in a designated area. The seed has been sprinkled around last year’s plants and we will closely monitor to see whether there will be germination of the three species. The idea behind this is that if it successful there is the opportunity for less densely planted areas and utilizing this technique in particularly difficult planting areas.

There are many factors to consider such as maintenance, time taken to collect the seed and whether it will be successful. We did enjoy the beautiful colours of the seeds, don’t they look good enough to eat, but best you don’t.

For now, we wait and see. Definitely fun to do something a little different.

Watch out for an update in the coming months.

Interesting snippets

What we’ve been reading - Humankind - A Hopeful History, Rutger Bregman ( a Dutch Historian & Author), 2019.

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. A thought provoking book with debate and an overview around humanity’s’ core instincts and blind spots. He has the gift of sifting through academic reports and then translating them into readable and fascinating accounts. To find out more, click here.

What we’ve been watching - Stu Muir, a Regenerative Environmental Pioneer

Stu Muir, a farmer in rural Waikato shares in this TedX talk about the work he has done regenerating the land his family has worked for generations. Stu is an incredibly inspiring individual who shows how other New Zealanders can make a huge difference in their own backyards, no matter how big or small. Stu really captures the essence of our goals in the conservation and ecology industry and his powerful TedX talk is something everyone should see. Watch it here.