A big thank you to Rochana for coming along to lend her expertise and help, and everyone else who participated.

Our next craft night will be held on 21st of March and we will be grouting our mosaic pieces, so if you would like to come along to our next craft evening, get busy mosaicing so you to will have a piece to grout with us on Wednesday evening.  Look forward to seeing you all there, with your newly finished mosaics.

Who likes pests? Not me.  Find out how you can best control these little nasties. Join a discussion about pest management utilising the moon cycles and the Biodynamic methods of ‘Peppering’, as well as recipes and ideas for home made pest control.

All of these things can be very costly when buying them commercially, you would be doing yourself and your pocket a favour, not to mention the benefits you will be giving your plants by coming along and learning these simple and effective methods.

So get yourself down to Wanaka Wastebusters shop and purchase a ticket, only $25, for this information packet and money-saving workshop on 26th February, running from 9am till lunch time. Location – the beautiful Glendhu Bay Station.

Click here to see the story.

I will provide: A piece of MDF or similar hard board, a mirror tile, mosaic pieces and appropriate adhesive.

If you choose to do something different – Feel free to bring your own project, or pick up and pay for something from our shop or yard to beautify.  Same goes if you have tiles or crockery of your own that you want to use for your specific project.  The choice is yours.

This month we will be upping the donation to $10 each – this is to provide adhesive for everyone with enough to take home to complete your amazing projects.

So get your crafty selves down to Wanaka Wastebusters on the Wed 15th of February, from 6pm. Bring along a wine and some nibbles too, and enjoy an evening of crafty goodness.

A quick run down on preparation 500:

Preparation 500 is cow manure packed into a cow horn and then buried in the ground for a year, where it ferments with the enzymes in the cow horn and when mature becomes a potent fertilizer.

First off we dug up the cow horns buried from the previous year.

Then we set about preparing preparation 500.  A small amount of the fermented cow poo (500) is stirred into rain water.  The recommended amount is 25gms of 500 to 13 litres of water for a 1 acre block. It is important to stir this mixture for an hour using a special method of stirring in one direction to create a vortex then quickly changing direction – thus creating chaos, this aerates and adds energy to the mixture.

Thank goodness there were a few of us to share the job, it became a nice social time, a bit of conversation or a relax under a nearby tree and everyone puts a little of themselves into the mix.  If you only have a small area to do you can do a small amount in a bucket.

Our next job was to applying preparation 500. I found this to be another fun and relaxing activity to do.

Once the stirring  was complete,we all filled a bucket with the mixture, and using an old paintbrush or hearth brush we wondered around flicking the liquid onto the ground in the same manner as the pope would sprinkle holy water around a church. It couldn’t be easier.

I for one came away feeling completely relaxed and at one with the universe. A combination of beautiful Wanaka weather, good ole fashion camaraderie, and a sense that you have put something good back into the enviroment.  What a fantastic way to end the first month of 2012.

And to top it off – we all got to take some preparation 500 home with us to use on our own pieces of paradise.  Guess what I will doing this evening, the only difference being that I will be doing it with a glass of wine. Life couldn’t be more perfect

Don’t forget about next months workshop. Stay tuned and be sure to join us in our compost tea party.

As per usual it was a very hands on affair.  After we all selected a fancy array of  containers to make our candles in, we all pitched in together and took turns, grating, melting, stirring and pouring, it was a very industrious hive of activity, and most of the ladies made 2 or 3 candles each to take home or give away as gifts. It was lovely to see everyone encouraging each other, sharing ideas and taking turns with the only element we had to heat the wax on.

I must admit I was very impressed by all the beautiful candles that were made – well done ladies and thank you.

We bought some examples of the Worst packaging to take home and compare. As we piled them on the conveyor belt, we were taken back at how shiny and bright all the packaging was – like a pile of brightly wrapped Christmas presents. 13 pieces of rubbish in one multi-pack. This packaging has very little to do with getting the product home in good condition, it’s all to do with eye-candy appeal – making it look bigger and brighter than the product next to it on the shelf.

The next week will be spent looking at all the packaging nominations up close – and at the end of it, we will have eight finalists in the Worst Packaging Award and eight finalists in the Best Packaging Award. Voting will open at www.unpackit.org on Monday Feb 20th.