Our TFS Planting Day - Sunnyhills Enviro Monitors share their planting day experience

Trees for Survival

By Cathy

Year 6

Sunnyhills School

Do you want to be planting trees with a bunch of your friends on a nice sunny day in the countryside? Trees for survival is just like that. I went to a farm in Hunua with my friends and planted trees there, and the farmer even made pizza for our lunch! It was fun and we were helping the environment too!

After we got off the bus, we walked to the planting site. It was downward sloping site and the farmer wanted to plant trees there, as there was a lake next to the site and the farmer wanted to stop the soil eroding into the river. All the trees were laid out for us in black plastic bags and we went to work.

When half of the trees were planted, the boys kept planting and the girls ( Me! ) started mulching the trees. A truck came filled with mulch and we got buckets and mulched the trees. Mulch stops the weeds from growing around the trees and helps keep the tree moist in summer. We also had to make sure that the base of the tree was mulch-free. After we mulched about half the trees, the boys started mulching and the girls carried on planting.

When we finished planting, we had lunch. It was homemade pizza, apples, sausage rolls and scones while we looked at the trees we just planted and mulched( The food tasted so good and the whole group felt so accomplished! ) We had just planted a whole bank of trees!

I think this was one of the best days of my life, ( Being honest here.) and I would DEFINITELY recommend going there.  It was fun, amazing and we helped the environment! Hope I can see you planting trees soon!

Trees for survival is a great opportunity for kids to get into the environment and use a bit of elbow grease. It is a great day with friends to plant new trees and help with environment. The farmers are friendly and provide food at lunchtime. I highly recommend going to the  trees for survival project. Ethan, Year 6, Sunnyhills School

On Friday 4th August, 20 Students from Sunnyhills School school went on a trip to a farm in Hunua. At the farm we were taught how to plant our trees properly. In the end we planted 400-450 plants. At the farm they made us a delicious pizza for lunch and it was great. The day was pretty full on, but it was still very very fun. Morgan, Year 6, Sunnyhills School