Friday, September 10th, 2010
If you see Joe Clarkson in the street and he has the look of a proud papa about him, that’s because he has spent the winter sending 9070 of his green, leafy babies off to forge their future in the big, wide world. Apparently they were mighty fine-looking babies too – all raised in Nga Uruora’s nurseries over the nice wet summer. Big thanks are due to our nursery crews for their sterling work: Gay Hay, our Nursery Organiser, and her team at Pukerua Bay; Paul Callister and Barbara McDonald at Paekakariki.
Gay’s green hands, combined with her enthusiasm for planting every seed that comes her way, meant that we found ourselves in the remarkable position of admitting that sometimes more is just more. Hence a further 345 plants were sold to Whareroa, 953 went to Queen Elizabeth Park and there are still more to go in along the Centennial Highway roadworks at Pukerua Bay. Please don’t run over the plants while checking out how lovely they are!
Congratulations must also go to GWRC for their ambitious planting in Queen Elizabeth Park – 10,000 plants in the ground in less than four hours! It was great to see Paekakariki and Nga Uruora well-represented on the day. I was especially warmed to see so many kids – years of local planting bees have nurtured a bunch of young people who are both capable and enthusiastic.
Of the Queen Elizabeth Park plants mentioned earlier, about three-quarters were planted around the wetland the following week (to fill the extra holes that get dug when you lose track counting to 10,000). The rest were enlisted for Joe’s Guerrilla Planting Mission along the new cycle track from Paekakariki to Raumati (shhh…).
So it’s been a great green winter, thanks to all our volunteers and supporters. To celebrate, come and join us at our end-of-season barbecue. We will be at the Pickle Pot in Queen Elizabeth Park from 4.30pm, Friday 17 September. We’ll have the barbie going and a soccer ball for the little and bigger kids, you bring something to eat and drink.
Lastly, mark your diaries now: Paekakariki’s Big Bingo Night Out on 30 October. Details to come.