Organic NZ

Welcome to our spring issue! Brush up on seed-sowing, try out the delicious recipes, and be inspired by the stories of organic gardeners, farmers and producers. As I’m writing this, a media release arrived from the Vegan Society, challenging people t

WINNING LETTER We have been promoting and trying to persuade the government of this country to take up the organic movement for decades. I think I can safely say it has been an uphill battle and one which we are still fighting. Personally I think we

Imagine this. We have dodged the climate crisis bullet. We have arrived at 2050 and there is sufficient evidence that carbon drawdown is happening and we have stalled global warming. Looking back, we only could have achieved it with a series of trans

Wow! Win a super pack of maca products from Seleno Health valued at $365. The pack contains one of each of the following: maca for women, maca for men, atomised black maca, atomised red maca, chocolate maca, yellow organic maca and a maca book. Selen

Soil & Health is campaigning to phase out glyphosate from our food, streets and parks, and our 2019 annual appeal is focused on this. Can you help? We will also advocate setting standards to stop similarly toxic herbicides taking the place of glyphos

I love the qualities of audacity and courage; they go well with daring – the art of risking it all, believing in yourself and others and seeking truth. So, who would have thought that a small group of Soil & Health councillors in 1998 would dare to s

Everything changed one morning, however, when the youngest of her four children had a life-threatening allergic reaction to eggs at breakfast. Robyn then dove into a year of research on what is really in common foods. “It was this awful rabbit hole o

The thought of being a little family business going up against big corporations with big money and big influence was intially a daunting prospect for Seleno Health’s co-directors, Dr Corin Storkey and Sally Huapaya. However, after only three years of

The amazing seed is one of nature’s extraordinary accomplishments. Each fertile seed contains the complete genetic form for a new plant. Seeds can survive forest fires, freezing temperatures, burial, even ingestion by humans, animals and birds, somet

Beekeeping can be an immensely rewarding hobby, a source of guilt if you cannot give colonies the necessary attention at the right time, an expensive pastime, or a useful secondary source of income. Before getting into beekeeping you should think abo

In April 2006, crop consultant Chris Charrington was monitoring field tomatoes near Gisborne with a colleague, when they noticed something unusual about the crop. On closer inspection, Chris found insects he’d not seen before living under the leaves

This is the main seed-sowing time of the year. Some seeds can be sown directly into the garden beds, but the warmth-loving tomatoes, capsicums, aubergines, courgettes, melons and the many other cucurbits are best sown in a glasshouse or very sheltere

Spring is sometimes called the ‘hungry gap’ because newly planted vegetables are too small to harvest yet, and summer fruit isn’t ready either. But there are still winter vegetables to make use of at this time. Thanks to Andy Crowe, head chef at Soul

Almost unnoticed, a delicate little remit was passed at the AGM of Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) last month, encouraging councils to ‘consider using environmentally friendly weed control methods’. Almost as unnoticed it appears, is that a dozen

These days I’m going barefoot. It’s real nice on your feet; at night they glow like warm coals. Bringing my attention into them brings me instant sleep. I’m saving on buying new shoes. I’m not contributing to the massive pile of plastic submerging ou

I grew up in a rural setting surrounded by nature and New Zealand native birds. I helped on the farm and was so in love with my surroundings, exploring the rivers and nature around me. When I became a teen, my family moved to Auckland. I always had a

Understanding the soil sometimes requires understanding the plants that are interacting with that soil. A soil test may not always show what will be truly available to the crop. Differences between results for an element in a soil test and a plant te

The recent unpredictable fluctuations of the New Zealand dairy payout price has created a burgeoning interest in grass-pasture-based dairy farming. Yet for Mark Flipp, an organic dairy farmer at Oroua Downs (Manawatu) it wasn’t a case of returning to

Aotearoa’s native biodiversity is in a precarious state. Burning has destroyed 80% of our original native forest cover. Half of all native species are already extinct. In the 20% of native forest area that remains, high grading (harvesting the strong

Pulling up at the Kaiwai whānau homestead where Grant lives with his partner Alice Kaiwai, we found a crew of people preparing a feast. One group was building an Argentinian-style barbecue – a corrugated iron enclosure around an open fire, over which

What an inspiring read these three books make. They will set your mind reeling and help towards a greater holistic understanding of the complexities and interactions within the world we live, and what our part should be in it. Had I still been involv

New Zealanders send an estimated 295 million cups to landfill each year. SoL cups and bottles are designed to help move from this throwaway culture to a more sustainable one. Made from glass and with food-grade silicon lids and sleeves, they are 100%

• Certified organic goods, services or businesses are marked: • Non-certified producers are included on the implicit expectation that they share a philosophical and practical commitment to recognised standards of organic production. Organic Gardening