We offer courses and services to the community to share our knowledge on sustainable living

Funded by the Auckland Council, this 3 hour course is now available to households in the greater Auckland area.

The course offers an introduction to the three basic composting systems which can be used in the home and garden; traditional bins, Bokashi buckets and worm farms. The purpose of this course is to encourage people to minimise their waste; ideally turning it into useful compost to be used in your garden. On completing the course, each household receives a $23 discount voucher to use when purchasing a composting system purchased through the Kaipatiki Project.

Find a course near you and make a booking

There are three ways to book your place on a course:

• Online through the links in the course table
• Phone Kaipatiki Project on (09) 482 1172
• Email admin@kaipatiki.org.nz

Please note: bookings are essential and can be made for up to two people per household. Once you have booked you will receive details on the course location.

Use your compost to make your garden more productive

OK, you’ve completed the course and now that you have rich compost you’ll want to use it in your garden. Not sure how to get started? Our friend Dee Pigneguy can show you how – see our Gardening Bites courses or visit Dee’s website at www.feedmeright.co.nz.

10 years and still going strong

Create Your Own Eden was created within the North Shore City Council around 2001. Since then the programme has been refined and improved. The Kaipatiki Project has taught this programme since its inception. Over time the programme expanded to take in most of Auckland – while other cities around the country are also teaching it. The Kaipatiki Project is currently teaching around 1,000 people each year.

Aimed at up-skilling participants over 8 weeks, these mini-workshops are a great way to gain experience, meet like-minded people and learn at the same time. Courses are run twice a year beginning in February (autumn series) and September (spring series).

Recommended if you want to gain practical, hands-on experience in native plant propagation and / or would like work-experience in a plant nursery.

Sessions take place at the Kaipatiki Project Environment Centre and nearby reserves. They are free and limited to 20 participants a week. Bookings are essential and early enrolment is recommended as these workshops fill up quickly

This course is generously supported by the Birkenhead Licensing Trust.

SPECIAL NOTICE – Weekend Nursery Bites workshops 

Due to popular demand, we have organised a series of 8 native plant propagation workshops for those who prefer to attend at weekends – scroll down to find out more.

A hands-on practical course on how to build and look after a hot-compost heap. Over 3 hours you will help build a hot-compost heap that will increase garden fertility using low or no cost waste materials.

Hot-composting aims to decompose your garden and food scraps with minimal loss of nutrients whilst stimulating beneficial micro-organisms. When done right a hot-compost heap naturally builds up temperatures of around 60-70 degrees to kill off parthogens and weed seeds.

What will you learn:

• Types of heap structure
• Ingredients
• Placement
• Turning
• Problems & Monitoring
• Other Composting systems
• How to use the end product

Venue – The courses take place in our gardens at our Environment Centre here in 17 Lauderdale Road, Birkdale, North Shore.

What to bring – Tools, gloves and materials provided. Wear the appropriate footwear and clothing for compost making. Unless it is a storm the classes will go ahead.

Spend a morning out in the bush with your little ones as Kaipatiki Project leads some mini-journeys of discovery to explore natural wonders on our doorstep (10am-11.30am). Cost $3 per family per session.

What lives in Kaipatiki Stream?

Get to know the beasties that live in our stream, and perhaps encounter an eel!

Beautiful Birds

Fascinating facts about our feathered friends.

Vege Gardening for Small People

A hands-on look at how food is grown in Kaipatiki Project’s teaching gardens.

Wonderful Bugs

Kids can get close to bugs on this supervised bug discovery tour.

Bush Scavenger Hunt

What bugs, plants and birds will we find on this guided scavenge in neighbouring Eskdale Reserve?

Kaipatiki Project has developed a delightful series of courses called ‘Nana-Technologies’; evening courses of good, old-fashioned cooking demonstrations that blend the thriftiness of yesteryear with cool creativity.

Being well versed in ‘Nana-Technology’ means always being able to provide for your family’s nutritional needs … just like your very own Nana did back in her day.

Bottling Fruit – 8 May

Even the humble tomato can be bottled to give a ready supply of bolognese sauce, or to add to a winter stew. Once you can bottle a tomato, you have the skills to bottle any fruit.

Venue: Northcote War Memorial Hall

Preserving Lemons – 24 May

Introduce some jars of preserved lemons into a corner of your pantry and you will never look back! A must for Morrocan cuisine, and packs a lemony punch anywhere you would use lemon zest.

Venue: Meadowood Community House

Grains & Muesli – 12 June

Grains are our some of our oldest and most trusted foodstuffs – learn how to make the most of them and they will see you right in almost any meal.

Venue: Manuka Road, Glenfield

Make Your Own Cosmetics – 26 June

Dreamy, hand-crafted moisturisers that won’t cost or harm the earth – learn to concoct your own chemical-free cosmetics.

Venue: Highbury House, Birkenhead

Free 8 week training programme 26 May – 1 September 2012.

Run jointly between Kaipatiki Project and Okahu Rakau, Ngati Whatua’s bush care and nursery at Orakei Marae, this training programme will give hands-on experience to those wishing to be a planting co-ordinator as a paid job, volunteer or to kick-start their own local planting project.

Eight community planting days are involved – participants must attend all eight to get the most from this rewarding programme.

Kaipatiki Project offers these popular learning leisure walks on behalf of Discovery Walks and its experienced guide, Margi Keys.

On each walk Margi will help participants identify common NZ native trees, plants, flowers and pest plants whilst taking in the beauty of some of the North Shore’s most popular reserves. Groups are small, social and friendly, and bring together people who want to explore these reserves in confidence, at a leisurely pace, in good company. Walks take place rain or shine – bring sturdy footwear, a raincoat and a water bottle.

We encourage people to book a series of walks. This helps build your knowledge on successive walks.

Guided bush walks make a unique gift. Alternatively, if you want to reward your team or want a team building exercise, then we can arrange for a specially guided walk. Contact us to discuss your ideas.

*Mothers Day special $17 per mother and son/daughter combination

Kaipatiki Project, together with gardening expert Dee Pigneguy, is pleased to introduce a new series of edible gardening courses that teach, hands-on, how to start growing delicious organic winter veges in your own garden from scratch.

5 week course, the following topics will be taught:

1. Starting
Building the garden from the ground up – An introduction to Sheet Mulching (No Dig), a practical workshop that will result in a new garden being established. Includes planning your garden, choosing the site and resources you will need.

2. Maintaining
Establishing & maintaining the winter garden – Introduction to suitable crops for cool seasons. Choosing and planting seedlings for the cooler winter months, including the herbs and weeds that supply nutrients and increase soil fertility.

3. The Soil
Growing your own soil – Why soil is important. Introduction to the beneficial microbes of the soil food web and how they transform into plant food. Homemade organic fertilizers.

4. Vegetables
Growing healthy vegetables – Seasonal selections, intercropping and crop rotations to prevent pest and disease problems. How can I tell if it’s time to harvest?

5. Seeds
Seed-sowing made easy – Collecting your own seeds, saving seeds and seed sowing, using cold frames and cloches to extend the growing season.

By popular demand we are offering these hands-on workshops as a monthly series. Each workshop will cover an aspect of propagation, plant species and habitat identification.

Sessions take place at the Kaipatiki Project native plant nursery and nearby reserves – Saturdays as listed.

1. Seed collection, storage, sowing and eco-sourcing for native plants. Collect seed in Eskdale Reserve, then learn to sow the seed, some tricks to get them to germinate and how to pot seedlings on.

2. New plants from old – how to do cuttings, and divide ground-covers so you get many plants for the price of one.

3. Revegetation, pioneering & scrubland plants – Learn how our bush regenerates itself onto bare ground and how to get your own area of bush started. A trip to a scrubland area will show pioneering plants in their natural habitat.

4. Broadleaf/podocarp forest plants – meet our forest giants and learn their names in a walk through Eskdale Reserve.

5. Coastal plants – what should I plant on windy, exposed sites? Includes a trip to Charcoal Bay.

6. Wetland & riparian plants – how to create your own wetland area and choose the right plants. Come and see how Forest & Bird North Shore are progressing replanting Tuff Crater.

7. Planting to feed our birds all year round – what do native birds eat and when are the seeds ready? A visit to wonderful Smith’s Bush will reveal just how many birds can live in a small area given the right combination of plants they love to feed from.

8. Threatened plants – what are the threats to our plants and how can we help bring them back from the brink? Includes a visit to the amazing Fern Glen to see threatened plants in a natural setting.

We share our expertise and resources with early childhood and school groups from around the region.

We specialise in active learning experiences that can be delivered at your early childhood centre or school, or at our base in Birkdale, North Shore.

At Kaipatiki Project we have our own dedicated education centre, teaching gardens and native plant nursery, located beside Eskdale Scenic Reserve network.

Our services can support your ‘education for sustainability’ programmes. All topics are compatible with science curriculum objectives.

Information for staff – For years 0 to 8 download a copy of our education brochure.

Home-schooled children are welcome to get together and visit as a group (minimum 12 pupils).

Preparing for a day in the wild.

Students interested in a career in conservation can gain practical experience and NCEA Credits while learning how to control one of New Zealand’s most damaging pest species.

Many students interested in conservation are unable to study conservation related subjects while at school because:

• Very few schools have teachers with the necessary skills and experience to offer practical conservation courses
• Very few schools are accredited to assess practical conservation standards

The Kaipatiki Project will supply relevant workshops, learning materials and accredited assessors to enable schools to offer entry-level conservation courses.

For Students – Are you interested in a career in conservation and working for the environment? The Possum Project offers you the opportunity to:

• Learn how you can help reduce the damage done by possums to the environment
• Earn NCEA Credits in subjects related to Conservation and Sustainability
• Experience conservation work in the outdoors
• Earn money by harvesting a renewable resource (possum fur)
• Meet industry representatives that may help with your career in conservation or fur recovery

For Teachers – The Kaipatiki Possum Project will coordinate learning and assessment workshops.

• Give your students the opportunity to have a taste of a career in Conservation and Sustainability
• Offer courses that engage students
• Take the hassle out of assessments
• Use industry developed learning materials
• Use moderated and accredited assessments
• Coordinate with your schools Gateway Programme

For Gateway Coordinators – The course offered by the Kaipatiki Possum Project meets all the requirements outlined by the Gateway Programme. We are targeting students interested in a career in conservation.

The Programme can be offered as part of an existing course in Biology, Social Studies, Outdoor Education and Education for Sustainability or to individuals keen to pick up skills and experience in field conservation.