FuturEcology & EmGuard ™ May 2023 update.
Just like that, May has flown by and what a great month it has been. The planting season has been off to a great start, and we couldn’t ask for a better team for the job.
Planting season is always a good time to reflect on not only what we are doing, but why we are doing it and what we are hoping to achieve. For us here at FuturEcology, there is a lot of meaning and care that goes into each and every plant we plant.
Planting is about improving and restoring a landscape to increase the health and biodiversity of the area. Every native plant has a role to play and to do this successfully, they need to be in the right place and given a little help in their first few years to get up and over the pesky weeds. For our team, there is a great amount of pride and satisfaction that comes from the responsibility in creating what is our generation’s environmental legacy to the future generations.
What we’ve been up to
By Jan Fryer
Planting season has well and truly started although with a very miserable couple of weeks these past two weeks. It is just so lovely to see the sun again.
Emma and I have just had a very busy trip to the North Island covering off quite a few things. Once you cross that piece of water, you want to make sure you do as much as you can. We started with a Trade show at Te Papa as part of the Recreation Aotearoa Conference. This brings together people from a whole range of organisations who are involved in making our recreation experiences valuable, and the environments in which we undertake recreation as good as possible. It was lovely to see Nelson receive an award for the new playground Te Pā Harakeke in Tahunanui.
It was so interesting to talk to lots of people doing great things for their communities and to also give out some prizes of EmGuards. One lot is going to Samoa and the other to Wairoa to help with some of their flood recovery work.
We then headed up to Kaiwaka, near Whangarei, to work with the wonderful team there from Kaipara Moana Remediation, who have a mission to work together as a community to restore the health and mauri of Kaipara Moana. We supplied them with a unique EmGuard that has their logo incorporated into it and so were up there to show them the wonders of the EmGuard and assist in a community and school planting on the banks of the Kaipara River. A very challenging site, with deep kaikuyu grass. If you haven’t had to plant in sites with that particular grass then we hope you never do!
A wonderful effort by the community and 150 children from Kaiwaka school to transform this site with over 1000 trees planted.. It was so nice to be invited to be part of this huge and exciting effort, which represents new models of co-governance, planning, collaborating and problem solving to restore this exceedingly important part of the country. Read more about it here.
The Egyptian Garden within the Hamilton Gardens.
From there it was down to Hamilton to meet with our manufacturers of the EmGuard and to watch the machine pumping out guards as fast as it could. It is now working well, and they were celebrating putting through 50,000 guards in one day. Music to our ears as it has solved many of the supply challenges we had last year.
While in Hamilton, we grabbed the opportunity to visit the Hamilton Gardens. An absolute must do if you are in that part of the world. They have examples of gardens from all over the world, plus historic gardens, surreal gardens and much more. So worth a visit.
Now it is back to reality in Nelson and the great sight of 100,000 EmGuards in the warehouse ready to go out and do their job of protecting plants and saving the planet.
Two Million EmGuards and Counting!
By Emma Fryer
This month we are so proud to have reached the milestone of two million EmGuards distributed around New Zealand, Australia, Tahiti, Rarotonga and Samoa.
What an incredible and steep learning curve the last 8 years has been. There is a quote by Quentin Crisp that really resonates with me – “Believe in fate, but lean forward where fate can see you”. The EmGuard journey has been much like this in that the idea arose from a conversation between my dad and I, in response to the anti-plastic movement.
The next three years were filled with many conversations, trialling out of the box materials (no pun intended) and being not only being open to opportunities, but seeking them out.
The world was ready for EmGuard and it has been a privilege to continue learning everyday and working alongside inspired people undertaking restoration projects. Read the full story here.
Here I share my thoughts about the journey from the first spark of an idea, to this point.
Desiah’s Observations - Ongaonga
by Desiah Neho
Weed of the Month
Kikuyu Cenchrus clandestinus
By Jan Fryer
Having been battling Kikuyu this month at the planting in Kaiwaka, we thought it would be good to feature this as the weed of the month. It is not so common in the South Island due to frosts, but we still see it in the coastal areas around Nelson and it is certainly rampant in the North Island.
It is originally from central Africa and is a bright green to yellow green, creeping, perennial, mat forming grass with very long stolons that root down where they touch the ground. It grows very rapidly and will scramble over just about anything, forming very dense mats. It will grow up to 2 metres if supported by other plants.
The leaves are soft and drooping, alternate, sparsely hairy above and below with folded blades and a fringe of hairs where the leaf wraps around the stem. It rarely seeds in NZ but spreads by fragments, which is what makes control so difficult.
It tolerates from wet to serious drought conditions, most soil types, hot to moderately cold, salt, wind, damage and grazing. It is intolerant of frost and shade, although will extend rhizomes and stolons into shady sites from a well-lit site.
The dense mats exclude all other species, and it will smother low growing species. It can also block water ways and carry fire.
Control is difficult as physical removal is largely ineffective and creates disposal problems.
Weedmat can be used in well maintained sites or for chemical control use glyphosate at (100ml/10L + penetrant) during drought or other periods when it has been stressed.
Shading out through dense planting will help control the spread but maintenance is crucial while establishing these sites.
Levin Sawmakers Shop
By Emma Fryer
Conveniently located next door to the RJ’s factory outlet is an absolute gem of a shop. Thank you very much to Jess from Mangawhai Natives for the tour of your beautiful nursery and for the recommendation of visiting the Levin Sawmakers Shop for planting spades.
If you are in the market for spades, we would highly recommend checking out the Levin Sawmakers Shop. Not only was the service exceptional, the quality workmanship and range was ten-fold. The Levin Sawmakers have spent the last three seasons working with forestry crews to develop the optimal planting spades and have produced a range to suit different industries and preferences.
We bought three different ones for the team to try and they have been busy critiquing them and competing for the favourite.
After a challenging few days work planting an old quarry site, the verdict is in and the team have voted the Beez Neez spade as the favourite. We will definitely be back for more!
Check out the Levin Sawmakers website here.
Interesting Snippets
What we’re listening to
By Alvin Bartley
With the planting season well and truly here, there will be some big days ahead needed to get through 50,000 odd plants that we will be planting this year. Some tunes can go a long way to help keep the spirits and energy levels up. Check out this fantastic new EP by New Zealand artists Julien Dyne in collab with some top Melbourne musicians for some disco / jazz / dub vibes:
- https://soundwayrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-lahaar
- https://open.spotify.com/album/6lAEZqalgg9YCiFuPIaioX?si=-ObxwH6eQRa-I9w5MBCK4g
We are committed to planting trees that will be successful and positively change the landscape.
Ecosourcing is a great way to do this as it is taking the seeds from remanent trees that have grown and adapted to their unique landscapes and survived the test of time.
However, successfully growing trees is more than the seed source. We have spent many years refining our methodology that sees trees planted to not only survive but thrive.
Armed with our brilliant new planting spades, we are excited for the season ahead! We wish you all the best for the upcoming month and let’s hope for some sunshine!
If you have any photos or stories you would like to share, we would love to hear from you.
Here’s to saving the planet one tree at a time.
