We are a Green/Gold Enviroschool - the first city school in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa to become one. Years ago, we started planting a native reserve which is now quite big. Today we went and collected seeds and cuttings because autumn is a great time to do this. Kauri and Bridget, from The Women's Native Tree Trust, showed us how to get the seeds from the pods and strip a cutting off. We were careful not to take too many from one tree.
We also learnt quite a lot of other things. We all knew that the Māori Battalion fought courageously in the war under horrendous conditions. But did you know that their whānau back home picked the tips of the koromiko leaves, dried them and sent them to their fathers and sons? The soldiers chewed the leaves which cured them of dysentery and this most likely saved their lives! Ngaio is an insect repellent. Rub the leaves on your legs and the mosquitoes won't come near you. Karamu leaves are for your sore puku. Take the leaves at the tips. Try and take multiples of 12 because that's being kind to the tree by not taking too many. Put the leaves in a cup and pour boiling water over them. By the time it's cool enough for kids to drink, the magic is done. Just drink the cup. Don't eat the leaves.
After we had collected the seeds and cuttings, we bused to The Women's Native Tree Nursery to learn about propagation. We dipped the cuttings in water and rooting compound (a powder that gives them a boost to grow), planted the seeds into a cutting mix and the cuttings into small pots. We also clipped the kōwhai seeds before planting them otherwise they won't grow.
Next term we will go back and re-pot them into bigger pots. The Women's Native Tree Trust will then gift them to other schools and organisations who want to plant native trees like us. This is a great act of service and a wonderful way to re-cloak Papatūānuku.
We are also going to learn more about Rongoā Māori.
What do you know about native trees and rongoā?
What relevant and interesting hands on learning Ruma wha! What part did you enjoy the most? (Was it the bus ride?).
ReplyDeleteKia ora
DeleteThe best part? We all had different ones. Some of us liked planing, some liked pulling out weeds, some liked the bus ride, some like collecting seeds and others liked filling up the bags with soil. Have you ever collected seeds before?
Mā te wā,
Ruma Wha
Kiaora Ruma Wha children
ReplyDeleteTakahe children from Wesley Primary School, think it is such an exciting experience to propagate the cuttings by dipping it in rooting compound to get them growing roots. We wonder what is the name of the rooting compound. Wonder how long did you have to dip it for. Will you be collecting data to so some Maths. We loved reading your experiences about Collecting Native Seeds and Cuttings. Thank you for sharing your exciting learning with us.
Kia ora Takahe tamariki,
DeleteThe people have had the rooting compound for over 10 years and couldn't remember the name of it. They also make their own rooting compound but it only lasts a couple of days. They didn't tell us how to make it. We only dipped it in the rooting compund for one second.
We have netting in our drains to collect rubbish so it doesn't flow into the sea. We will be collecting data from that but not our seeds because there were too many to count.
Have you collected data from nature?
Mā te wā.
Ruma Wha
Kia ora Room 4,
ReplyDeleteYour school is amazing in the work that you do for the environment!
We have a lot of native trees on our property. We pot some of the seedlings and give it them to friends. We love it when we can get to see how the seedlings have grown at their place.
Rongoā is such an interesting study and using natural remedies is good for us and the environment. Lat year I bought some Kawakawa Balm that Room 1 had made and it is lovely to use and I have nearly used it all up. Will you be making any more this year as I need some more?
from Mrs Torrie
Kia ora Mrs Torrie
DeleteWe would love to make some kawakawa balm. We will let you know if we do.
Yesterday, we planted some more native trees in our Rerenga Awa. Some of them were kawakawa and others were kowhai and harakeke. We didn't need Mrs Naden to tell us what our tree was because we already knew! We fed them some noke wai from the worm farm Room 4 looks after. We are going to write a blog post about it.
Do you use noke wai for your plants?
Mā te wā,
Room 4
Kia ora Room 4
DeleteI look forward to purchasing some Kawakawa balm from you when it is made.
I know that noke wai is really good for plants. Do you sell that too? I'm sure our garden could do with some to make our plants grow.
from Mrs Torrie