News from the Valley

Another NEVology from local science communicator, Helen Jack AUTUMN IS certainly upon us and our lockdown wellbeing walks quickly moved from teddy sightings to mushroom spotting. The star attraction is Amanita muscaria, otherwise known as fly agaric, fly amanita or ‘the red ones with white spots’. Amanita muscariaI was terrified of being poisoned by toxic shrooms as a child, but in recent years I have realised how amazing and totally necessary fungus is. Fungi are literally in a league of their own, belonging to neither plant nor animal kingdoms but to their own fungi kingdom. Fungi don’t make food …

If you’re like me, you have square eyes by now trying to keep up with everything COVID-19. It's a full time job, let alone the ‘homeschooling’, the actual job, and the abundant garden produce that needs to be preserved right now. But let's back up the bus a little - what actually is this thing, how does it work, and what’s with all the names? I always knew there was a difference between viruses and bacteria, but I didn’t quite realise how different these germies were until Miss Jack made us watch a whole lot of YouTube videos …

#wildwindows #openVUE Join us in the Wild Windows and Flighty Flags art display! Let’s celebrate this wonderful wild world and fill our valley with pictures of native birds in our windows (or fly a flag if your window is too hard to see for passers-by). Over the weekend of the 9th and 10th of May, let’s fill the community with birds to let them know how welcome they are here. This is one easy way to bring the Kākā to the valley, a true “window of opportunity”! Please take photos of your creations and post them on social media …

With many members of our community currently staying home, we have been offered an opportunity to spend time exploring our backyards and local parks. Maybe in the last week or so you’ve found some new invertebrate creatures hiding in the wood pile, or slinking through the leaf-litter in the corners of your backyard that you’re not too sure what they are. How about giving Creepy Crawly Hunting a go? Carefully lift up logs or tiles/rocks in your backyard and see what might be congregating beneath. You’ll usually find some good hangout spots for invertebrates (they’re definitely not sticking to …

A few sage words from our resident science communicator, Helen Jack. If you’ve been anywhere near the media lately you might have caught a dose of Coronavirus freakoutitis. That’s understandable – this can be a bit of a scary topic, and it is ok to be scared of things that are scary. Or you may be wondering what all the fuss is about – many people only get mild symptoms. That’s true, but for some people, especially those over 70, it can be life threatening and you don’t want to be the one who passed it …

For the third year in a row Grant Guise solely organised the longest 24hr trail running challenge in the world; Crush the Cargill 24hr Challenge, to raise funds for the Valley Project. He coerced many people into making the event possible, including the entire Tripp family. I’m not sure what he bribed them with, maybe shoes. Or did he blackmail them? Last year’s champ Chris Bisley even helped out; he wasn’t racing this year possibly because he was injured (Tonya Harding styles). Despite all this skulduggery, the event was a roaring success and nearly $3000 was raised for the …

My daily ride is about to get a bit longer......As a parent of a premature baby whose initial journey into this world was pretty rough, we were blown away with the support that our whanau received while our child was being cared for. 5 years on, it seems timely to give back. Exactly five years after my son Oscar came home after spending the first month of his life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, I’ll be attempting to ride my mountain bike the length of New Zealand in a month, to raise funds for The Neonatal Trust as …

Volunteers from Selwyn and Toroa colleges spent time during O-week helping in the community. Groups helped out at the Project, NEV community gardens and at NEVN school. Above: Students install a Pekapeka bird feeder at the rear of the community rooms. Below left: Some serious weeding in the car park.  Below right: Eager painters refresh the fence with paint donated by Taskforce Green Dunedin.

Marieke Rutgers joined the Valley Project team in the depths of Winter 2019. Having familiarised herself with the different ways kiwis have for coping with the climate (hot water bottles and layering over central heating) she quickly became a dedicated community member and worked extremely hard on a variety of projects, most notably event planning for Creek fest. As Marieke has now completed her internship, it’s time to head home to the Netherlands to complete her degree in international business. “I cannot think of a better community and city to be a part of. All the love and struggles …

Exciting things are brewing at ADJØ. Scheduled alongside the University of Otago’s O-week, ADJØ organised their first ever ‘Activities Week’, a week filled with creative workshops, community dinners, live music, and a pop up thrift store, as a taster for what’s to come. Events at ADJØ are designed to encourage community bonding and creativity in a relaxed atmosphere, appealing to those who may normally feel uncomfortable in a conventional gallery space. They recently applied for an on-license with the DCC, which if granted, will allow them to sell alcohol on the premises. They hope to help change the mind …

Mornington resident Nick Rutledge and his 5-year-old daughter Inara have been putting together small food boxes with all the ingredients needed for one complete meal and leaving them in the South Dunedin community food pantry. Now the pair have started to drop what they term ‘kai-ndness’ boxes into the new North East Valley community sharing pantry. A vegan himself, Nick goes shopping with his daughter to put together the ingredients needed to create a complete vegetarian meal for either breakfast, lunch or dinner along with a recipe if needed. “There is such a need in the community,” says Nick …

Crush the Cargill 24-hour Challenge is back with a Woodstock theme as trail runners get the pleasure of running up and down Mt Cargill as many times as possible in a 24-hour period. Last year over $4000 was raised to help fund CreekFest, and this is our focus again this year. It’s easy to see the connection between Crush the Cargill and the Valley Project –— both are about getting people together and reconnecting with our wider environment. This year is also the 50th anniversary of the ground-breaking Woodstock music festival that symbolized a communal desire for love, peace …