Linkwater kids roll up their sleeves for nature

Children at Linkwater school recently rolled up their sleeves to help their neighbours, the Morrison family, with their latest native planting. Te Hoiere Project shared the costs with the Morrisons for 1,030 native plants on a new addition to the family farm.

“The kids were so enthusiastic that they have offered to come back and help with weed control,” said Karen Morrison, who runs the 105-hectare dairy farm with her parents Christine and Nigel.

The children are scheduled to come back in September for the weeds.

“They’d come back tomorrow if they could. They are keen to see this planting through,” Karen said.

Emily Soward, a teacher at Linkwater School, helped to organise the plantings with the Morrison family.

"They really enjoy taking their classroom learning out into the real world, where their efforts are having a genuine impact," Emily said.

Landscape Marlborough lent a hand on the day with six seasoned landscapers to help the children with digging, planting, installing plant protectors, and answering their questions. Landscape Marlborough has helped the Morrison family plant thousands of native plants over the past few years, funded by the family and Te Hoiere Project. What sets this planting apart, however, was the buzz of enthusiasm and chatter, said Aaron Neal, Team Leader for Landscape Marlborough.

“That day the sun was shining, and it was the last of nice weather before the winter storms hit. The kids were so enthusiastic, they didn’t muck around. Some of the little kids wanted to talk about everything except what we were doing, so that was cool too,” Aaron said.

Emily says the children are learning about native plants and the bigger picture of caring for the environment.

"Planting natives supports healthy streams, which in turn supports a healthy environment that we are all part of. The children also demonstrated the principles of tuakana-teina (mentoring) really well, with the older tamariki supporting the younger ones."

Emily says the children appreciate these hands-on opportunities for learning.

"A huge thank you to the Morrisons for supporting us in getting the school involved in these community projects. It's supporting the children's interest in the environment and tying it in to how looking after the environment can be done in partnership with and in support of farming. It's an authentic opportunity for learning and mutually beneficial, as it's the tamariki that will be managing the environment when we're long gone," Emily said.

This latest planting on the Morrison's dairy farm is just one of many. The past few years, the Morrison family has planted 14,000 native plants across their creeks, streams and a runoff block. The runoff block is near Linkwater School on Queen Charlotte Drive where schoolchildren and the community also helped to plant in 2021. This gated area borders the Link Pathway and is open for the public to walk through and enjoy, including a park bench and information panels about the community planting as well as the types of species found there.