 Kai Whau was initiated in 2014 and is a project funded by the Whau Local Board to support community-led initiatives that will share knowledge and increase access to good kai in the Whau area. Every year the Kai Whau project aims to encourage and provide support for these local food initiatives. However, the process is a little bit different from normal funding application. ‘Community participatory budgeting’ is a process that gives interested community members an opportunity to have a say in how funds are allocated. People can nominate which projects they would most like to see supported, and their votes will help determine how the funding is allocated. A panel of representatives actively involved in the wider Whau community will also be consulted - the point being to facilitate connections with other existing projects, thereby creating a support network to assist applicants in the implementation of their ideas. "The voting process is also a great way for the applicants to articulate their idea to the community and to gain confidence to make it happen” says Anja Thomas who is the current Kai Whau co-ordinator. The 11 different food initiatives include food preparation, creating recipes for food parcels, nutrition, kombucha, children’s eating habits, bee keeping, slow cooking, healthy lunch boxes, enjoying gluten free living, home composting and the full circle of growing, eating and returning food to the soil. To read more about the initiatives and to vote, go to http://bit.ly/kaiwhauvote. Voting closes on 12 May 2019. To find out more about Kai Whau visit www.kaiwhau.org.nz. 
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 On the last Saturday of each month, Blockhouse Bay village’s main street comes alive with the new Village Market. The Historic Society’s stall selling plants and Yvonne Dabb’s now-famous jams and pickles (Beacon, April) continues to be in great demand, as is the Lions Club’s sausage sizzle. They are now joined by a wide variety of stalls selling handmade soaps, jewellery, natural honey products from a registered beekeeper, knitted garments and slippers for kids, plants and flowers. The next market is Saturday 25th May, from 8:30am till 1pm. Come along, have a walk around and enjoy the ambience of the village. New stall holders are welcome. Contact Jodie Judd on 626-5081 or manager@blockhousebay.org.   Geoff gives a kid (the goat!) a health check before worming For a few years now, local vet Geoff Neal from Blockhouse Bay Vets has spent a couple of weeks of his annual leave in Tonga to work with South Pacific Animal Welfare (SPAW) as the on-island veterinary service for the country.  Vet nurse Hannah Jull (right) assisting with a puppy check Several of the current and past veterinary nurses and vets at Blockhouse Bay Vets have also come along on these trips, getting in-depth, hands-on experience, while contributing to the overall success of the clinics. Geoff’s most recent trip to Tongatapu, in December 2018, included their new vet nurse, Hannah Jull, as part of the team. It is not just dogs and cats that Geoff attends to on these trips. The clinics that SPAW run in Tonga (and other islands) are full-service clinics, seeing animals of all shapes and sizes.  Geoff performs a c-section on a cow. The December trip involved plenty of variety, including horse castrations, spaying and neutering 190 dogs and cats, castrating pigs, and dehorning cows. However, it also provided plenty of challenges, including field anaesthetising over a ton of Beefmaster bull in order to remove his deformed testicle, and a caesarean on a cow (in a paddock, under a coconut tree).  The bull recovers well after surgery. Find ‘SouthPacificAnimalWelfare’ on Facebook to see what they get up to and to follow these trips. You can also watch out for the 2019 clinics which are already underway. If you would like to donate to SPAW you will find information at www.spaw.org.nz. It’s amazing how much a small donation can achieve.  |
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