Friends’ Planting Day–August 28

Our friend Mauricio wanted to celebrate his birthday in an unusual fashion.  He asked us if he could bring a group of friends out to plant trees!  Today we were joined by Mauricio and friends – Ana, Andres, Binaifer, Claire, Fiona, Jessica, Whiter, and our neighbour Maria.  Countries represented included Colombia, Ecuador, India, Korea, Macau, New Zealand, Singapore, and the US.

The day started out with heavy fog.  While waiting for the others to arrive, Binaifer,  Jessica and Tom started laying out the plants and Mahrukh got morning tea ready.  We would be planting in a long and narrow section adjacent to the neighbour’s property.

The rest of the team arrived at 10 am and by then the fog had cleared and it turned into a perfect spring day. We had morning tea outside followed by an introduction to the CUE Haven project, and then the team went to work.

The planting area was flat and relatively easy to access, but because it is cut off by the main stream running through the property, up until a couple of months ago it had been covered by knee deep kikuyu grass.  We’d sprayed the grass to kill it in preparation for planting and now the soil was covered with a network of dead kikuyu grass which had to be cleared away before we could dig holes for the planting.  Claire took on the job of clearing the grass.

We planted a variety of trees to create an interesting boundary area for the property and the team managed to plant about 325 trees in just a couple of hours—an amazing accomplishment considering the conditions.

While we planted, Fiona, who was nursing a torn ligament in her knee, helped Mahrukh prepare lunch.

We finished planting shortly before 1pm and by then the temperature had risen to 23 degrees.  To get out of the hot sun, we moved indoors to the garage for lunch.

 After lunch the team spent some time relaxing and exploring CUE Haven.

We ended the day singing Happy Birthday to Mauricio and sharing a yummy chocolate cake and ice cream.

It was a fantastic planting day and we are grateful to everyone for their contributions.  The trees planted today will make a beautiful addition to the CUE Haven landscape.  A special thank you (and Happy Birthday) to Mauricio for coming up with the idea of a planting party.

We look forward to having the team out to CUE Haven again to see the progress of the trees they planted. Thanks again!!