Community Planting Day—23 June 2019

We finished up our 2019 planting season on a high note with an extra special planting day.

Valentina and Ben have been CUE Haven supporters and today they brought a group of their friends out to help plant some trees.  The very enthusiastic group arrived at around nine and included Ben, Brooklyn, Caroline, Emily, Gary, Grace, Greg, Jaime, Kade, Kyra, Laetitia, Molly, Natascha, Rachel, Sloan and Valentina.  Hansa, who has been volunteering regularly at CUE Haven also joined us for the day.

Mahrukh gave a welcome and an introduction to the CUE Haven project and Thomas gave a description of the work planned for the day and a safety briefing.

The plan for the day was to do some infill planting of kowhai, kohekohe, taraire and totara as well as some cabbage trees.

We took a short walk up to the planting site.  The weather forecast did not include rain but as soon as we headed out, a light shower started, but fortunately didn’t last long.

Once we were all on site, Thomas gave a planting demo and reminded the group of safety issues.

The group then went to work.

The planting required a lot of teamwork!

The area was a bit slippery after the rains but despite the challenges they were right at home in the bush!

In no time, the group managed to plant all the trees we had for them and it was time to get cleaned up.

They collected all the pots, trays and other gear and brought it back to the main road.

And got cleaned up in order to enjoy a nice snack.

We then drove the group up to the top of the property so they could enjoy the views and see where the viewing platforms will be built.

Several of the group walked back down via the main walking track and got a chance to see a bit more of the property.

It was a nice way to wrap up a fun and productive planting day.

Our many thanks to Hansa for once again giving up her weekend and coming out to help and straighten up the nursery.

And our heartfelt thanks also to Valentina and Ben for organizing the day and for their ongoing support of our efforts at CUE Haven and sponsoring the plants today.

And a BIG thank you to everyone who came along to help out today.  We really enjoyed meeting you all and spending time with you.  We appreciate all your hard work–the trees you planted will live for many, many years. You all have made a major contribution not only to CUE Haven and the community, but also to the planet.  We hope you will keep coming back to see how your trees are growing and to enjoy your CUE Haven forest reserve.

Thank You!! Thank You!!