RECAP : The Society for the Resilience and Engagement of the Community of Ashhurst and Pohangina Inc.

RECAP is a local organisation whose mission is "to promote the sustainability, diversity, and resilience of the Greater Ashhurst and Pohangina Region." Our primary way to do this is through education, including running public projects to illustrate practical steps we can individually and collectively take to make positive changes to support and build our region's ecological sustainability, social sustainability, and community spirit. Anyone who lives in this area is welcome to join RECAP without membership fees. Members receive email updates about our events and key decisions, plus they may participate in the governance and direction of our society through coming along to our Annual General Meeting (typically in June), volunteering in leadership roles, or joining our Executive Committee. If you want to become a member, email info@recap.org.nz.

Our current projects include:

• A Community Orchard;
• The Garden Exchange, a stall to encourage gardeners to think about growing and sharing surplus with the community at large;
• A Community Database (see http://recap.org.nz) to help people connect with the other great organisations with our region, and to provide useful information for civil defense purposes.

And more! We're talking about building Community Gardens, a Community Currency (LOAVES: Local Origin Ashhurst Voluntary Exchange System), and we've taken some steps toward these and other projects. Please let us know if you would like to volunteer on any of our projects, or if you have an idea of your own you'd like to propose.

Some of our recent workshops have included:

• A Low Maintenance, High Productivity Gardening Workshop (with instructor Nelson Lebo from the Eco-School);
• A Permaculture Home and Garden Tour including scything, hypertuffa, composting, worm farming, and beekeeping demonstratoins, as well as visits to biodiverse orchards and gardens and an off-grid home (permaculture is an approach to designing holistic systems that work with nature to meet human needs with minimal inputs from outside of the system).

We're looking at possible upcoming workshops on hypertuffa garden bed construction, live foods, composting, and orchard planting. All events are announced on our web site once scheduled. You can learn more about the Society by visiting http://recap.org.nz.

We're really keen to get new members. If you live outside of the region but still want to be on our event mailing list, that's fine, just email info@recap.org.nz and let us know.