My first published work was a letter to the editor published in 2001. Quite exciting to see your name in print.
children
Schools bring gardening to life for their students
Moturoa Primary School in New Plymouth has made gardening part of its curriculum.
In 1994 the school re-introduced the annual planting of school gardens by the children, marking Arbor Day. Every year since, they have created and planted out a new garden.
Moturoa School was the first Trees for Survival school in Taranaki, opening its propagation unit in December 1996 with funding from Westgate Transport Ltd, Port Taranaki. New Plymouth Rotary West assembled the unit and supplied many man hours and additional funding.
How to show your children how to enjoy a small garden
Gardens come in all sizes and shapes. We fit into the small garden category – ‘Small enough to keep under control and big enough to provide a great learning environment.’ What a great way to educate the children.
Make sure you choose a well sheltered area that gets many hours of sunlight. Let your child help prepare the soil. Dirt can be turned over with a small shovel or trowel and clumps can be broken up by hand or by ‘stomping’ on them.
Choose easy to grow plants and as many different ones as you can get into the small space. Carrots, radishes, lettuces and dwarf butter beans are good vegetable choices. Mini cauliflower, mini cabbage and mini broccoli are a great idea for small or planter gardens. Herbs are great to add to meals parsley, thyme, rosemary, chives, peppermint and mint. Strawberries are also fun to grow.
Cooking classes for Kids
With a great passion for cooking, Naomi Ward has years of experience in the hospitality industry. She has worked as a chef and has trained them too.
In 2003, deciding it was time for a change, she purchased Etcetera in New Plymouth. The shop specialises in tableware and kitchenware.
The first thing to add to the shop was a kitchen. Naomi started holding classes in the evening for adults looking to expand their cooking skills. These proved popular and within 18 months she decided to introduce children’s cooking classes. “My children are all great cooks and I’m now working on the grandchildren.”
“I am passionate about children learning to cook in this day and age. They need the basics of cooking for when they go flatting or move on to university.”
Learning in the outdoors on Mt Taranaki
Alex came racing in the door “Mum we’re going to camp at Konini Lodge up the mountain. Can you come?” The mountain Alex is referring to is Mt Egmont and one I had never tramped even though I live in New Plymouth!
Visions of the last camp I attended flooded back; sleeping in a hall with 60 children and 10 parents, exhausted from spending the day in the sun doing activities on the beach, and children still talking at 2am in the morning. One thing I remember was being woken at 5am by voices, only to see two girls playing cards with the dimmest of lighting from the kitchen.
“Not if I don’t have to” was my hasty reply.
But as I put the necessary paperwork in saying Alex was allowed to go, I thought about it and I decided to go too. Perhaps it was the write coming out in me, time to think outside the square and push previous thoughts to the back of my mind.
For those not familiar with Mt Egmont here is a bit of a history lesson. Captain Cook named the mountain Mt Egmont after John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont, the First Lord of the Admiralty. In the 1980’s it was ruled that its official name is Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont – there is still controversy about which is its rightful name. For me it was a mountain, which meant I was going to have to do a bit of tramping, great!
Fonzi – From thoughts to print
If you have ever had a dream of writing your own book you will know that the process is not as easy as it seems. Getting those ideas down on paper and then readable can appear an impossible task. But sometimes it all comes together and after many rejections from potential publishers, one of them finally says ‘yes’ and that dream becomes reality.
You will undoubtedly have read one of Sharyn Smart’s interesting articles in our digital magazine, Kids Friendly NZ, as Sharyn is a regular writer here. Sharyn has given us a glimpse into how she got her first book published. Who knows, it might just inspire you to get your ideas down on paper and write your first book.
Sharyn’s dream started back in November 2004 when she did a comprehensive writing course by correspondence through the Writing School. One of her assignments was to write a juvenile fiction story.
If you have ever had a dream of writing your own book you will know that the process is not as easy as it seems. Getting those ideas down on paper and then readable can appear an impossible task. But sometimes it all comes together and after many rejections from potential publishers, one of them finally says ‘yes’ and that dream becomes reality.
A day in the life of Mum
In 2001 I saw an advertisement asking for parenting stories to be compiled into a book. I submitted a story and was accepted. The book is “Doing our best – New Zealand mothers speak from the heart” by Leanne McKenzie and Gail Thomas.
Moving Forward : Taking my writing from being a hobby to a career!
At the age of 43 I decided that it was finally time for ME! I love and adore my children but suddenly realised they weren’t going to be around home much longer as they were turning 19 and 16. What was I going to do with myself then?