Waiheke Harvest

Jan 28th 2012 – Here we go again!

jmsinnz — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:24:04 +0000

The topic of The Great Waiheke Plum Drive came up recently on the Waiheke Community Notice Board Facebook Group, and before long there was a small flood of comments, from people wanting to make it happen.

Now the date has been set – Sat, January 28th from 9am at Palm Beach Hall. If you want to join in, jump over to the thread on the Notice Board and let people know how you’d like to participate. And in the meantime, have a look at this short clip from the 2010 event.

See you at the Palm Beach Hall.

Time for another fruit cookup?

jmsinnz — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:33:38 +0000

The jam is almost all gone.

Is anyone up for being part of a team to organise and host another cookup?

The Big Day in pictures (and video)

jmsinnz — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:44:30 +0000

By 9:45am the first pots were boiling on the stove and gas rings that had been setup in the community hall, water was boiling in the cauldren and the jars were being sterilised, and the fruit washers and cutters were already getting ahead of us.

More plums continued to arrive, throughout the day along with more jars, so it was soon clear these would not be the limiting factors in what we could produce. With an abundance of keen and happy helpers, time ended up being the factor that defined the number of jars of jam we could make on the first Great Waiheke Plum Drive.

Over 60 people came to offer help, learn or bring the key ingredients. Much laughter, smiling faces, and a sense that this was such a logical and natural thing to be doing.

The idea for The Great Waiheke plum Drive has been simmering for a few years, and a few weeks ago, when the early plums started ripening on one of my favourite scrumping trees, I knew it was time to bite the bullet and set a date for this event. Having friends express their support for the idea was all that was needed to set things in motion.

Pete Russell from Ooooby, Rosie Walford from Transition Waiheke, and Jennifer Clamp with her amazing project and event mangement skills, all took on roles that made today’s celebratory event a reality. Maureen, whose “Traffic Jam” business is known and respected across the island was critical to the success of the event. She shared her knowledge generously in the planning, and gave so much practical help and advice on the day.

The timing was defined by the trees and the ripening of the fruit, so we gave ourselves three weeks to organise and promote it – I am told a sense of urgency contributes to a successful event, and by all accounts it was.

If the measure of its success was the number of happy people, the number of jars of jam (about 150), fostering a sense of community, harvesting and processing an abundant local resource, building resilience into our local food system, and having a good time while doing it, then everyone who was a part of and made this event possible, can feel very good about their contribution.

What a great way to spend the first Thursday of the new decade.

Today’s the day…

jmsinnz — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:38:19 +0000

The planning and preparation will be tested today, and if the community response is anything to go by, it will be a fabulous success.

The calls have been coming in steadily for the last two weeks, from people offering plums, jars and labour. Pictures and the story of the event will get posted very soon. If you are considering coming down to the Palm Beach Hall today, know that you will be very welcome!

Bring your plums!

jmsinnz — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:37:35 +0000

Lots of people have offered to help on the day, and the jars seem to be forthcoming, though we’ll only know on the day. We have preserving pots and burners pledged, and now we need to be sure we have enough plums!

So if you know of a tree that is offering, and can pick and bring them on Thursday morning – fantastic! See you there. And if you need us to come and pick, we can do that on Thursday morning, just call to arrange: James: 372 8737

Plum Currency

jmsinnz — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:04:28 +0000

The Plum Drive is an opportunity to play with a local currency.
Here are our initial thoughts on this idea.

The unit of measure as a single 375gm jar of jam or chutney.

Labour/Time

The Chief cook on the day (Maureen) gets paid 4 jars/hr
Captains of the different functions that need to be overseen, get 3 jars/hr
Crew get 2 jars/hr
Helpers get 1 jar/hr

Product

A full bag* of plums will be paid for with 1 jar
10 clean, label-free jars with lids (no matter the size of the jars supplied) willbe paid for with 1 jar

—

* Last night I picked three full buckets, which fill a standard plastic (re-used) shopping bag, I weighed them at 6Kg each bag, and picked them in 30 mins

The Great Waiheke Plum Drive

jmsinnz — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:41:15 +0000

No more wasted plums.

“The Great Waiheke Plum Drive” will happen on Thursday January 7th, at the Palm Beach Hall from 9am – 5pm.

The kitchen’s been hired, and preserve makers on the island are offering their help and knowledge. Now we need jam jars, and fruit. We will collect the jars and the fruit on the day (or you can bring them on the day).

The plan is to involve as many people as possible, each one contributing a little and receiving something in return. If you have jars or some fruit, we will trade you for jam. Here’s the plan. Contact and let us know if you have jars, or know of a plum tree that will be fruiting around the first week of January, and we’ll make arrangements to collect the jars and the fruit on the day of the big cookup.

We have hired the Palm Beach Hall for the event (9am – 5pm). There will be a team of local cooks and organisers leading the day, and we welcome lots of helpers and learners. Let us know if you would like to come along and offer skills or come and learn some new ones. The main part of the hall will be setup with tables and chopping boards, and there’ll be lots of fruit to process. Imagine the smells as we cookup Grandma’s favourite chutney recipe – yummm!

Jams and chutneys will be available at Ostend market, farmers markets, and island shops.

Contact James Samuel
372 8737, 0274 372 082,
waihekeharvest@gmail.com

Or leave a comment here

Clean jars, with lids, can be left at The Red Cross or the SPCA and we will pick them up from there.

This event is powered by Ooooby and Traffic Jam, and supported by Transition Waiheke.