Monthly Archives: September 2016

Down on the Farm

We were lucky to be invited to Beth’s farm at Egmont Village to experience a little of farming life and the new born lambs and calves.  Beth has a miniature pony called Mel and we were all able to have a ride on her.  We fed the calves milk and hay, bottle fed the lambs, chattered with the chooks, had a pony ride and finished off with morning tea on the lawn.

The farm experience is not se readily available to our city children these days and we thank Alyssa and her family and friends for making such an effort to make our visit possible.

Kaiako – Rhonda

Planting Day

We all went to Isla and Alessia’s home and planted some of the plants we had grown from seed. They have a very big garden patch and kindly offered some of the space for us to plant our seedlings and seeds.

We planted cucumber, beans, peas, garlic, potatoes, corn and carrots. Claire will take photographs of the progress of the plants and bring in some of the harvest to Manu. They live near Sutherland Park and we took a bus over to their home.  The rainy conditions were ‘ideal’ for planting.  We will visit again near the end of Term 4 to check the progress.

Thank you to the Gallagher Family.

Tongan Language Week

Maxwell’s fa’e (Mum), Ana, came to Manu to talk to us about what life was like for her when she was a child growing up in Tonga. Ana talked about the freedom they had as children to play in nature and that the only ‘toy’ they had was a ball. Ana spoke fondly of how the community was one – no fences!

Ana showed us some special items from her culture like the tapa cloth made from the bark of the paper mulberry tree. Ana talked about the importance of the coconut (Nui) tree and how all the tree is used both for food and fibre. It is very hot in Tonga so it is important to use your fan to help you to keep cool.

Ana modelled her special woven skirt/ta’ovala. This is a garment worn on special occasions. Ana brought some Tongan yams that we cooked and ate with coconut cream. We all loved the fruit especially the mango. Kaiako – Rhonda

Tongan Language Week