Making the most of our bounty

by Ann Packer

In Shanghai you’ll pay $4 for one kiwifruit.

Eastbourne Football Club (EFC) 2023 registrations are

Emily Swan knows – she goes there often on business, in her seafood industry job, producing and exporting New Zealand marine products over the last ten years or so.

now open

We welcome back our existing members and look forward to meeting new ones.

Registrations are open until mid March for both Juniors and Masters.

Masters season starts 1 April

Junior season starts 29 April

There is lots more info on our website - www.efc.org.nz which is also the place to register For any questions email us at info@efc.org.nz

But she also knows getting exports to markets can be expensive, especially in times like these. And if the product is not perfect, fussy consumers will reject it – take for example the Otago cherries she has just added to her freeze-dried fruit powder lineup: too dark for the Japanese customers they were intended for, they were about to become a waste product.

Emily, who grew up in Eastbourne and is based in Auckland, checks in with parents Carol and Stan Swan every few weeks. She’s on a crusade to add value to our fruit and veg, using technology that’s been around a while but not previously used on exclusively homegrown produce.

“It’s a bit like how your grandmother used to preserve fruits so you could enjoy them in the middle of winter,” says the entrepreneur, who comes from a family of organic foodies and fruit growers. Her dad, who grew up on a farm, currently looks after the raised beds behind St Albans church and her mother has a prolific garden in Tuatoru St.

Vita Kiwi’s freeze-dried superfoods – green and gold kiwifruit, blueberries and now cherries – are packaged in a convenient form, priced competitively with fresh kiwifruit and available year-round. The pocket-sized sachets, equal to 1.5 fresh fruit, have a long shelf life, travel well and enhance just about every kind of instant meal. From school lunches to people recovering from surgery, in your handbag, office desk or luggage, the possibilities are endless, it seems.

Vita Kiwi products can be purchased from Meraki in Days Bay, where Lisa South offers a discount to locals, or online. www.vitakiwi. co.nz

Kia ora, my name is Zane. I’m one of the Greater Wellington Rangers working in East Harbour Regional Park. I wanted to let you know about an exciting project at Parangarahu Lakes. Due to the lakes being a unique and rare ecosystem, it’s very important to protect the area from the impacts of increasing visitors, and for that reason we are installing a dry-vault toilet near the site.

The coast road which leads to the category 1 scientific wetlands, has become very popular with cyclists and hikers over time. The increase in visitors to Parangarahu Lakes, has increased the need for a toilet to prevent them from using the areas around this delicate ecosystem

If you are not familiar with the term ‘dryvault’ toilet, it means the toilet is self-contained and material is stored in a watertight tank for later collection by septic draining services. This is important, as it reduces any risk of effluent leeching into the surrounding soil. Due to the remoteness of the area piping is not available so this tends to be the preferable option for Park settings. If you’ve ever been to Baring Head/ Ōrua-pouanui, there is an example of a dryvault toilet in the car park there.

This toilet block will be designed to blend in with muted colours of the surrounding rugged landscape and be sturdy enough to withstand the epic winds that whip the coastal environment!

This project is currently still in the design and consenting stage, but we will update you on our Facebook page when the work starts. If you’re interested in this project, feel free to email me questions at zane.gillgren@gw.govt. nz, and I’ll do my best to answer what I can.

February weed of the month - Pig’s Ear

This aptly named succulent is commonly called Pigs Ear (Cotyledon Orbiculata) because of its powdery, ear shaped grey green leaves with red margins, and it’s a coastal invader