
Katrina Wolff
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Read writing from Katrina Wolff. Katrina is a Compost Coach based in Titirangi, West Auckland, New Zealand. Using biodynamics to help home gardeners make top-quality soil.
Katrina Wolff
1M ago
Who ever said you can’t compost Harakekek?
Perhaps it was someone who designed composting equipment in another country, then brought that machinery to Aotearoa, not knowing much about Harakeke or Tī Kouka leaves.
Harakeke (NZ Flax) has long, strong fibres, and Tī Kouka leaves are shorter, but perhaps stronger. If you’ve ever accidentally run over them with a lawn mower, you’ll know the frustration of trying to untangle them from the blades. That must be what happens inside a commercial compost pile.
But not in a home compost system.
Make compost by hand, and you’ll find these si ..read more
Katrina Wolff
2M ago
One of Tuakau’s special spots is a collection of Harakeke (NZ Flax), planted by Buckley Fyers in 1989.
Buckley wrote a ‘Tribute to Flax’ which is attached with a letter to the ‘Keep Tuakau Beautiful’ Committee and a comprehensive list of the 23 varieties, with the source of each plant.
The names listed include: Rene Orchiston, Viv Gregory, Schruers, Mrs Schuster, Digger Te Kanawa, Len Scott, Mick Pendergrast, J. Jefferis, Ken Lewis.
As I research this collection of Harakeke, the following questions come to mind:
Did Buckley plant with a group of weavers, or on his ow ..read more
Katrina Wolff
1y ago
Food Scraps & Cafes — how much waste is there and could it be composted in a home garden setting?
A couple of years ago I was really curious about just how much food waste was generated in a cafe.
My question — could it all be composted to make soil and then used to grow food for that cafe?
I had a chat with a local cafe owner here in Tuakau — Mich at Sugar Plum Kitchen, who had just recently started putting her food scraps into landfill after a pig farmer stopped collecting them.
It was my lucky day, she was delighted to take part in the research.
I went and got a couple o ..read more
Katrina Wolff
1y ago
Composting in schools is a tricky topic — caretakers aren’t teachers, and teachers aren’t caretakers. Managing green waste is not really a teacher’s role, and it can be really tricky making changes to a smooth operation, especially when there are contractors mowing lawns and removing grass clippings.
In the hopes that this case study offers inspiration, let’s see what Green Bay Primary and Intermediate did with Blue Borage back in 2018–2020.
Step One: train a dozen classes in hot composting, and empty all the soil from the neglected compost enclosures into garden beds around the school ..read more
Katrina Wolff
1y ago
Welcome to Michael Park Kindergarten, in Ellerslie, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand
My contact at the school: Stacey McManus
Stacey’s request: to offer a hot compost workshop to a group of kindergarten parents one weekend, and make soil for the kindergarten garden. Soil to feed the garden, but also soil to feed the community and bring families together.
We held the workshop on September 9th.
[photos]
Six parents + five children, it took us a couple of hours.
Stacey measured the temperature of the compost each day with the children until it was time to open the com ..read more
Katrina Wolff
1y ago
I got this cool idea, to use the 64 Human Design Gates to describe my work from a multitude of perspectives. And being inherently impatient, decided to be guided by the Moon — often seen as the driving force of a person’s chart.
But it moves so fast, that it’s going to take a few cycles to get through all 64 gates. Here’s the order the moon travels in starting today, 10th October 2023: 4 ✅ 29 . 59 . 40 . 64 . 47 . 6 . 46 . 18 . 48 . 57 . 32 . 50 . 28 . 44 . 1 . 43 . 14 . 34 . 9 . 5 . 26&nbs ..read more
Katrina Wolff
1y ago
Composting onion skins – with & without biodynamic remedies
One of my most enjoyable compost experiments at the moment is using bags and bags of onion crop waste.
Why onions??
I live on the edge of the Franklin district, where about 25% of New Zealand’s vegetables are produced.
That’s a lot of food!
And it’s also a lot of food waste, some of which I am sure would make interesting soil.
Method:
I’m using these terracotta pots from Pacha Compost to hold a bag of onions, along with about the same volume of cow manure.
One pot got the biodynamic cow pat pit preparation (CPP): I ..read more
Katrina Wolff
1y ago
I’m normally that laid-back gardener who is able to ignore the snails: live and let live.
Until yesterday.
I was cleaning out my living nursery, which has been more or less looking after itself all winter, and found SO many snails. They’ve munched their way through 90% of the Dahlias I carefully grew from seed, and have also decimated my precious Burdock Root. It’s time to take action.
I have a moral dilemma around killing them, and the only way I’ve been able to overcome it is to follow the advice of a friend who turns a few snails into a sludgy concoction and lets the sludge fermen ..read more
Katrina Wolff
1y ago
Want to learn how to make top quality compost?
Come and learn in a range of venues in and around Tuakau, with Katrina from Blue Borage, biodynamic compost consultant and Whangarata resident.
Katrina Wolff, Compost Consultant at Blue BorageEdible Gardening at the Whangarata Community Hall
Each Wednesday there’s a new topic in my new series of edible gardening ‘building blocks’
Week 1 — Seeds
Week 2 — Soil
Week 3 — Plants
Week 4 — Pests
We rotate around these four topics each month, and you can join in for one session or sign up for the full cycle. All my workshops and online events ar ..read more