Kaikorai Valley College Urban Concept Farm

AKV B+ Session 4 Looking Ahead and Getting Hands-On The fourth and final session of the AKV Business+ pilot programme took place on 26 May 2026 and brought the group together for a final recap, discussion and hands-on planting session. The group met at the Turboweb building, home of the Aroha Kaikorai Valley hea

The Aroha Kaikorai Valley Trust ran the third session of Business + today at the Farm. The latter is a programme that links business to the community through the context of water quality.

Participants really enjoyed the day, starting with some electric fishing with the ORC - thanks to Matt and Max - then got into physical and biological monitoring.

After a cuppa we learnt more about trapping pests and how it relates to water quality. Beaut weather and thoughtful discussion. Session 4 here we come...

Sorry everyone re the pears. It turns out that I didn't have as many as I thought that were suitable for eating. Availability this year was compounded by rain affected stock too. My apologies. I will note your interest for next year.

Btw the email spelling etc is correct, so I am not sure what is going there re contact for some people.

Best wishes for the weekend. Term 2 here we come.

Beurre Hardy pears for sale. Direct mail me at [email protected] if you are interested: ready to eat now and sweet. 2$ for a kilogram or 5$ for two kilograms. Yes, those prices are real. Talk to me. Thanks!

Good to have some sunshine. Some of the international students have picked the pears. We will store these to sell at the start of next term.

The bees have been active and causing a bit of fuss around an old scraping container near the barn. So trouble shooters Emanuel (Switzerland) and Davide (Italy) stepped up to fix it. Good effort, lads.

An important milestone for us at school and for the Farm. We are running a senior Agriculture course across Years 11/12 this year. Further, we have gained student places in the Primary ITO programme and this is a significant boost to our students' opportunities. Example topics are soils, livestock behaviour, fencing and tools, weeds maintenance, and sowing.

Wish us well as we learn with the students and with the support of their families. Well done to Mrs Beagley and Mr Smith in pulling this together. I could only get some of the students in this picture, because the rest are so busy with other school activities. Kia kaha. Go for it!

If you're hearing some bellbird birdsong in your garden, then check your totara trees. Female trees can produce a type of fruit at this time of the year. I have checked the trees at the Farm and the rest of the school - nothing. However, one of my trees at home had lots. I counted eight bellbirds and a tui all over and around this tree - beaut song.

A note of thanks to Nik Hurring and the Wildlife Rescue Dunedin. I've just dropped off a kereru with Nik that had hit our window at home.

Nik is a volunteer and took the youngster in to stabilise him/her at very short notice 830pm on a Saturday.

Hopefully, the beautiful youngster will make it through. We'll be making a donation to WRD to help support Nik and her team's great work. Well done.

And here it is

Have you seen one of these? A weighing balance without solar or battery as energy sources. You turn the wheel and the balance charges up some capacitors to a max and illuminates the LCD. The charge dissipates in 2.5 minutes. You get a warning at 2 minutes to turn the wheel again: nifty. Bought for 60$ NZ in Europe and carried home.

Some nice physics here. Triton has a good summary of these types of balances at

Types of Weighing Balances Based On Working Principles Learn about weighing balances, from load cell-based to torsion and capacitive types, and find the right balance for accuracy and precision in your work.