Hi Landcarer’s

Back fresh from the Royal Easter Show over the long weekend volunteering on the Landcare NSW stand, along with my off-sider Mitchell.

It was great to be able to bring along some of the beautiful colouring sheets from Forbes and some seed sticks will be coming the way of our keen colourers.

After an early start on Friday morning, in the Landcare vehicle negotiating the alleys of the Show, we got our bearings and assisted setting up the stall. We were fortunate to have a wonderful group of volunteers from city and country areas representing Landcare over the long weekend.

We were situated near the Little Big Top Amphitheatre, which had some fabulous cultural and modern dance performances from local dance troops…..and Sesame Street and Hello Kitty. I am so fortunate to now know all of Kitty’s songs and that C is for Cookie and Cookie just can’t be trusted with a biscuit! I may have also snuck in a couple of selfies with my old friends Ernie and Bert!

I was fortunate to watch the Young Sheep Handler competition on Saturday, which had a diverse range of sheep and handlers. It was great to see these young people out having a go and managing their stock in such a confident way.

It was amazing to see the work and produce that goes in to the regional displays. I had the opportunity to talk with display representatives and gain an insight into the time and planning that is undertaken to prepare the beautiful displays using local produce and promoting the represented region.

We were fortunate to catch up with Gavin Coote, artist extraordinaire and painter of Rory our Feral Pig, who became the face of our state-wide Managing Established Pest Animals and Weeds (MEPAAW) Mascot and colouring page feature.

I believe that the Ag Bag’s sold out this year. Every cent raised by the Ag Bag goes directly to the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS) Foundation’s Community Futures Grant program, so that is fantastic news.

I braved the pavilion containing ridiculous amounts of sample bags and goodies…and at the time, it was full of people! I may have snuck in a couple of purchases there.

It was fun to be in the city for a few days, but equally nice to be home!

For more information, go to our website at centralwestlachlanlandcare.org, facebook, twitter or Instagram @cwllandcare.

Until next week, happy Landcaring!