Latest highlights:
Community planting day 23rd June
Trees to please
Website is coming…
AGM 10th July
Food for thought

Community planting day 23rd June
Saturday 23rd June will be the third time we will have held a community planting day at the White Rock Hills property, Marohemo – your hosts Bryce & Aneta, Peter & Prue.  Of course it has been a brilliant Summer/Autumn for plant survival, and we look forward to another successful planting season this year.

To get to the planting site you need to go down the long driveway at 104 Marohemo Rd.  We will start at about 9 am and finish with lunch provided by our hosts.  We take biosecurity seriously, and ask you to do your bit too.  This means cleaning your boots before you come, and using the footbath or disinfectant spray on your footwear when you arrive.

Those who have been involved with Otamatea HarbourCare in previous years will know we have had variously the support of Te Radar, Paul Henry and Greg Gent.  This year the identity of our special guest will remain a surprise (at least for now), so why not come along and find out who it is?  People who plant trees are good community-minded people.  Make the 23rd of June your time to be one of those people.

Click here to let us know you’re coming

Trees to please

This is a repeat of the message contained in the last Update.  The stories in the media about it did generate a bit of interest, so here is the deal again if you missed it last time:

If:

  1. The site is within the HarbourCare area of activity (Maungaturoto free-calling area)
  2. The planting is to be alongside a waterway or be erosion-prone land and not required to satisfy resource consent conditions
  3. It involves a minimum of 300 plants
  4. The landowner collects them from the nursery

Then they will be FREE!  Preference will be given to those who have already started a planting programme with us.  The planting fee would remain at 60c regardless of who plants them – commercial or community groups.  They are not available to people who want to do some landscape planting – we’d much rather you support your local commercial nurseries for that.

I will be putting more emphasis on encouraging better site preparation this year, and post-planting care.  I intend to obtain a bulk supply of bamboo stakes to be able to on-sell at cost.  Their purpose is not to support the plants, but rather help locate them once the grass grows up.

Website is coming…

With the assistance of a grant from COGS we are getting a website put together for Otamatea HarbourCare.  Nothing fancy, but hopefully a convenient place for people to find out about us, and what we are up to.  Watch this space.

AGM 10th July

The committee has settled on the 10th of July as the date for the Society’s AGM.  If you are interested to learn more about how we performed last year, do come along.  Don’t be shy if you might be interested to either be a member or even part of the committee.

Food for thought

I read the following article in yesterday’s NZ Herald, which I think indicates that the direction of our journey is consistent with what at least one visionary sees is the future for New Zealand farming.  Here’s the link