The new EV charging station in the car park at Paihia.
A new electric vehicle (EV) charging station at Paihia is working and brings the number of EV charging stations in the district to 10.
Paihia previously had just one 7kW AC Tesla charger on the waterfront but no multi-purpose DC charging station. The 25kW "destination" charging station was chosen ahead
of a high-powered charger because it has a longer charging time.
Slow-charging destination chargers are popular in a tourist area because they encourage EV owners to linger and visit local businesses.
EV advocate and Paihia resident Craig Salmon got money for the charging station from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority's low emission vehicles contestable fund.
The Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board supported the project by recommending that the Far North District Council dedicate car parks for EVs.
Owner and maker of Paradise Cakes and Preserves in Russell, Joanne Anson, has won three awards at the prestigious UK Dalemain World Artisan Marmalade Awards for 2021.
She won a Gold Award for her Seville Orange Marmalade, a Silver for the Lime and Gin Marmalade and a Bronze for her Lemon and Ginger Marmalade.
The Marmalade Awards received a record number of entries this year, despite the pandemic and multiple UK lockdowns with more than 3000 jars from more than 30 countries worldwide.
It was the first time Joanne had entered the awards.
"A guy bought my marmalade and said I should enter the awards, which I had never heard of and he said I'd win, and I did!"
At the heart of the awards and festival is Dalemain Mansion, a Georgian stately home lived in by the same family for more than 300 years.
The Artisan Awards are judged by a panel of experts including food writer Dan Lepard and Fortnum & Mason grocery buyer Sarah Metcalfe.
All Paradise marmalades are handmade in the small kitchen of Joanne Anson's own home. It allows for small-batch products to be individually created using the best dried ingredients, free-range eggs and fruit grown from her own and local orchards.
"I started making marmalade about four years ago when a friend offered some Seville oranges to me since the tree they had was going to be chopped down because Seville oranges have loads of seeds and they are sour.
"I now grow my own Sevilles and I collect from friends who have trees."
Paradise cakes and marmalades can be purchased online or in Russell at The Bakery, Wood 2 Water, at the Information Centre on the wharf or at WholeyHeath Village Co-op in Whakapapa.
Visit paradisecakes.co.nz for more information.
A course pitched at people who have little knowledge of dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities is being held in Kerikeri on October 28 and 29.
Speld NZ's introduction to specific learning disabilities is a level 3 NZQA-accredited training course that covers why dyslexia/SLD occurs, how to recognise the signs and it gives insight into what it's like to have SLD.
It also offers constructive and practical strategies to help learners in the classroom and at home.
Speld NZ executive officer Jeremy Drummond said people come away from the introductory course feeling better equipped to cope.
"They become more empathetic, seeing things from the perspective of the person with the specific learning difficulty.
"Teachers who come to the course make a real difference in the lives of the dyslexic students."
Teachers can then take it a step further with the more in-depth NZQA-approved Level 5, 600-hour online training.
"This is the pathway to becoming a Speld NZ teacher and enjoying the rewards of nurturing students one-on-one," said Drummond.
To find out more about the Kerikeri Introduction to Specific Learning Disabilities contact Sally, support@speld.org.nz
Speld NZ has subsidies available to help those with a teaching qualification cover the cost of attending the Kerikeri course.
After a few years of planning, organising and fundraising, a group of Springbank school students have completed the construction of a raised vegetable garden for Kerikeri Retirement Village.
The students spent the first day of their school holidays in a working bee to finish the project.
Teacher Michelle Chapman said the commercial community came together to donate all the materials required.
"Ray Donovan did the initial garden design, Waipapa Landscape donated the soil, Bevin McCarthy from Bay Builders donated his building expertise, his labour and his direction and Brendon Birchall was the builder's assistant."
A special voucher for vegetable plants and gardening tools was also donated.
Ray and Shelly Wiblin of Barrett Place in Kerikeri were gardening a couple of weeks ago and found two large weevils on an ornamental kowhai tree. One weevil was considerably bigger than the other, about 1.7cm, suggesting a male and a female.
An extensive search failed to find any more specimens so the Wiblins sent the weevils to Cable Bay entomologist Jenny Dymock who passed the information to Dr Samuel Brown of Plant and Food Research in Auckland. He identified them as fruit tree weevils, Leptopius robustus, from Australia.
According to Brown, Leptopius robustus was first recorded in New Zealand in 1945. It seems to have been infrequently recorded since then and appears to have a fairly limited distribution around the Bay of Islands.
He said Leptopius robustus and many other species of the genus tend to be found in association with various accacia species and are known by some as "wattle pigs", which he believes is a more appropriate common name than the fruit tree root weevil.
"It's a great find and rather exciting," said Brown. "But I don't think they pose much of a threat to any fruit trees although it's probably worth keeping an eye out to see if there are any more around."
In trying to find more specimens his advice is to search wattle trees.
Visit plantandfood.com for more information
• Email Sandy Myhre at mywordmedia@yahoo.com if you have any news you'd like to see in Bay News.
Nine homicide cases this year have added to the delays in the High Court at Whangārei.