Tuesday, May 26, 2015

RIMU Group's Trip to a Wind Farm

What an absolutely stunning morning to visit the West Wind farm in Makara!! The sky was blue, the sun was shining and there was not a breath of a breeze to be seen.

The Rimu team were met by Carly from Meridian who talked to us about the West Wind farm, when it was established and the logistics of having the wind turbines transported and erected onsite.  The team inquired further by asking questions about how the turbines worked, how they made power, stored the power , distributed the power to households and of course, 'how the heck do people get to the top?'  Little did we know or expect that they would have elevators in them!  Great thinking designers!

After a fantastic talk given by Carly and great questions asked by the children we strolled through a forest loop track that gave us the most amazing views out over the south coast as well as the south Island. Again, we were so lucky to have had a beautiful calm day and a great bunch of parents who were able to come along to support.

A huge thank you to everyone who were able to give their time to support the groups passions and learning.  
by Whaea Kelly


Sunday, May 17, 2015

Plastic Bottle Greenhouse

Over the last year we have been collecting plastic bottles for our greenhouse. The BNZ people came on their "Closed for Good" Day last year and cut them all up. Them Jamie, Lily, and Hunter's dad built a solid frame. Tawa ITM were a great help with giving us a discount on the wood.
Bunnings were awesome as well when they donated all the bamboo!


This weekend we managed to get the walls up. All we need to do now is reinforce the insides and prepare for planting in early spring.

A huge thanks to Sarah Opie for helping source resources (with discounts!) and to Scott Bilton for seeing this project through - you are awesome!!