1837 days ago

Only one month to go until Neighbours Day Aotearoa 2021 kicks off!

The Team from Neighbourhood Support New Zealand

This year's event runs from March 20 - 30th with the theme being 'The Great Plant Swap' as an easy way for neighbourhoods to grow stronger together.

Here's some ideas for ways you could get involved:

• swap seeds with a neighbour
• gift a plant you've grown to a neighbour
• take some flowers to a neighbour
• organise a produce swap
• share garden tips or recipes for food in season
• create community gardens or berm pollinator pathways
• host an inclusive garden-themed working bee
• a friendly neighbourhood BBQ with homegrown ingredients

The options are endless! At the end of the day, our shared aim is to help bring people together by encouraging intentional connection with our neighbours. Whether that be organising a street party, sharing a cuppa, or simply saying ‘Kia Ora!” to those who live around you, every action helps to create a safer and more connected New Zealand.

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More messages from your neighbours
21 minutes ago

Poll: If we want to reduce speeding, what do you think actually changes driver behaviour? 🛻🚨🚓

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

In the Post's article on speeding penalties, the question is asked whether speeding fines are truly about road safety, or are they just a way to boost revenue for the Crown?

What do you think? Should speeding motorists receive speeding fines or demerit points?

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If we want to reduce speeding, what do you think actually changes driver behaviour? 🛻🚨🚓
  • 0% The sting of a fine (Money talks!)
    0% Complete
  • 0% The threat of demerit points (Nobody wants to lose their license!)
    0% Complete
0 votes
15 hours ago

SLASH BESIDE THE TRACK UP TO TRIG

Paul from Levin

I question the wisdom and the morality of an industry which creates so much waste, waste which is also a cause of widespread and devastating damage. So, I searched the internet for potential uses of slash. It was easy to find.
I recommend a visit to nzbioforestry.co.nz. I quote from the website:

OUR SOLUTION:

NZ Bio Forestry proposes to develop a sustainable renewable forestry model that increases the economic value of the NZ- Aotearoa forestry sector, simply by integrating bio-technologies augmenting the forestry, wood manufacturing, and petrochemistry industries into one model.
Specifically, our strategy is to utilise the whole tree and convert the tree’s sugars into bioenergy, biomaterials, and biochemicals. This means using slash, off cuts, pruning, and wood waste to produce biofuel via bio pellets and biochemicals. It means optimising logs through the whole process….logging, manufacturing freighting, and refining process to serve the many Asia-Pacific markets with high-value products….not just exporting raw logs to one or two large dominant markets! (End of quote)

NZ Bio Forestry then contrasts the financial return from the present exports of raw logs with the potential return from utilising the WHOLE TREE.

In US dollars, the return from exporting logs is between $50 - $140 per log.

Using the whole tree including the slash and other waste for wood processing would return $200 - $800 per tree, and,

Using the bio-refinery process to convert the wood waste into fossil-free biochemicals would return $2,500 - $11,200 per tree.

I can’t help but conclude that our current focus on exporting logs is a pitiful failure of industry and government policy compared with the potential benefits of processing THE WHOLE TREE. And to complete the argument, this not just theory. In Scandinavia, SCA, which owns Europe’s largest private forest with 2.7 million hectares, has built a well-invested value chain that maximises the value of each individual tree and all of the forestry’s resources.

A SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS:

Wood Pellets and Chips: Slash can be collected, dried, and processed into hog fuel or wood pellets for use in industrial boilers, as a replacement for coal, to generate heat and electricity.

Biofuel Production: Research is underway to convert forest residues into marine biofuel to help decarbonize the shipping sector.

Gasification: Advanced, small-scale, on-site processing plants can turn slash into renewable energy products like bio-oil, ethanol, and hydrogen.

Biochemicals: Specialized refineries can convert woody waste into sustainable alternatives to plastics, chemicals, and industrial products.

WAKE UP Aotearoa, New Zealand!!!

7 days ago

Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!

William Hansby Reporter from NZ Gardener & Get Growing

Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.

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