Category Archives: Garden
Open-air Arts & Crafts in the park, outside the Art Gallery, Honiara Reply
Open Air Arts & Crafts in the park..’ Honiara, Solomon IslandsOpen 10am-4pm (best times)
Part of the Solomon Islands National Art Gallery (SINAG), Honiara..
Outside, under the colourful market stalls, you’ll find an array of hand made products by local Solomon Islanders, some of the traditional skills have been handed down thru their family generations, and show a strong Melanesian cultural influence.. they also use this space as their ‘studio’ and you can see them sitting under a tree, carving, using the specific timber or stone that they have been taught to use.. one of the carvers, Billy Vinajama is 82 years of age, from Gatokae Island at the gateway of Marovo Island, Billy is very passionate about his carving career & achievement and informs me he has been carving in stone for 44 years..
The ‘Avaiki Women’s Group (Women’s Arts & Crafts Group) are hapi, vibrant & actively involved in their craft: the weavers make mats, bags/ baskets/ kete (bag), fans/ jewellery & many more.. there are makers of print/ tie-dye on t-shirts/ dresses/ lavalava & cloth, some make jewellery produced out shell beads/ paper beads into intricate pieces of wearable jewellery.. the women’s leader is ‘Janet Ramoteo’
Avaiki Women’s Group: (women’s group photo)
L-R; 1:Janet Ramoteo, 2:Ela Maesulia, 3:Lucy Bangoika, 4:Nancy Tangangiki, 5:Ruth Sina, 6:Tala Maitaki, 7:Nancy Teabaika, 8:Melina Teahe, 9:Joyce Augia, 10:Nancy Tango, 11:Tusiato Graley, 12:Nesary Taiake, 13:Rose Maenaha..
L-R; 1:Lisah Tony, 2:Marion Tembe, 3:Grace Delson, 4:Rose Sasali, 5:Tahira Joe, 6:Jewter Orelly, 7:Rosa Giaka, 8:Rosana Farodo
Contact: If you have any enquiries, please contact Janet Ramoteo, Avaiki Women’s Group.
You can also ring Janet +677 773 0174 (Women’s Group Leader)
Location: Main Street of Honiara, on the corner, next to the round-about that leads to the Heritage Park Hotel, in the surrounding grounds next to the Solomon Islands National Art Gallery, (or, if staying at the Heritage Park Hotel Honiara, it is on the right side as you enter), there is a entertainment stage, large building that hosts & exhibits up to 60 local artist’s work, from paintings, sculptures, woven craft, jewellery out of paper & shell & carvings in timber & stone.. and more, these are for sale.
Opening times: 10am-4pm/ Monday-Saturday ((Note: Some Stall Holders open on Sundays, but not all))
So, come down and have a chat, or you can watch traditional local & national Solomon Islander carvers, weavers, knitters & jewellery makers create their magic..
Clean up day HoniaraTomorrow 19th November Reply
Do you want your environment to be clean?
Please come help us stop water pollution
Saturday 19th November
8am till 10 am at the Art Gallery
(Between Heritage Hotel and Breakwater Cafe)
Point Cruz
Organised Vaiclehi, Casssandro, Nahala, Loise, Jolyn and Hendrix
Then afterwards you can visit the great exhibition of some of the best of the Solomon Islands Arts Association in the Gallery. There are paintings, based on or inspired by local culture, history or myth, and prints, carvings, weaving and fabrics. All work is for sale. 10am- 4pm everyday.
Whether it s the waitress casually emptying the ash trays over the balcony straight into the water, or the “Eco-lodge” bailing up its garbage into plastic bags and boating them out into the current off shore, or the casual dropping of everything and anything into the street, or local business emptying its rubbish down the banks of the Mataniko River, Honiara is a cesspool of garbage.
Who would ever guess, before coming here, that a tropical paradise could be so filthy?
The dramatic increase in population alongside the introduction of plastics and other non-biodegradable rubbish have not integrated well with traditional approaches to garbage disposal.
If you are sick of seeing rubbish everywhere come along for a couple of hours tomorrow morning and do you bit; set a good example and not only help clean up a little but spur the sort of cultural change so sadly needed in this city. Nothing changes behaviour better than seeing people you know practicing and exemplifying another way of doing things.
The general clean up day at the Art Gallery follows on from the GoGreen – Annual School Clean Up, sponsored by BSP, today Friday 18th November.
I recommend you bring your own gloves and bucket and garbage bags and any other clean up gear you have.
You can easily make yourself and kids a handy rubbish “picker-upperer” and save your back.
Requirements:
(Piece of dowel,old broom handle, or roughly straight stick about 120 cms long,
String, raffia, plastic tape or anything to tie with. About 1 metre,
Glue, any sort,
Strong wire coat hanger, or other firm wire
Pliers or wire cutters, or you can break the wire by bending it back and forth around the same point, but it takes a little longer.)
* Simply cut two or three pieces of strong wire coat hanger about 20 cms long. 
Firmly tie the lengths of wire to a piece of dowel, broom handle, stick with string with about 12cms overlap, as in the diagram below.
Coat the string with glue and allow to dry.
You now have a handy rubbish picker-upperer to help make Honiara a little more beautifuller and rubbish conscious.
See you at the Art Gallery 8 – 10am Saturday 19th November
Setting up a Garden in Honiara Reply
By Leigh Pirie
There is something special about being able to pick a fruit or vegetable that you have grown yourself and use it for that night’s dinner.
The beauty of growing a garden in the Solomon’s is the constant sun, predictable warmth and the large number of experts in the field of agriculture. Most locals here have a good knowledge of how to successfully grow a garden, a great place to purchase soil or where and when to start your ‘seed nursery’. The biggest tip I have for growing a garden in Honiara is to ask those around you for advice. I am very grateful for knowledgeable haus meres and willing guards who are largely the reason for my productive garden thanks to their agriculture experience. More…
Little Gardens in Honiara Reply
Agriculture Show and World Food Day Reply
A very, very big pig
Kastom Gaden Association at the Trade Show Reply
The Kastom Gaden Association (KGA) has a large display area at the Trade Show and is making use of the space with informative agricultural displays and demonstrations. There are helpful staff on hand to provide advice and for those after seeds and seedlings, there are plenty available to purchase.
KGA is encouraging and assisting fellow Solomon Islanders to grow their own food, both to sell to others and also to feed their families. The association is well known across Solomon Islands for providing training in farming techniques, helping to improve the amount of quality food grown in rural areas, and for helping to create jobs.
The goal of the association is to strengthen village-based food security in Solomon Islands using participatory, practical, grass-roots approaches that enable village people to examine, understand and develop their own solutions to improving household food security and village-based agriculture economy. I was informed at the Trade Show that KGA has also been helping to re-establish people’s gardens that were destroyed during the April 2014 floods. More…
The Pineapple Post 