Hi Landcarer’s

I was fortunate to be part of Reading Day this year, which is always a thrill.

With so many of this type of events being put off during Covid, it is nice to get back to normality. Again, another day where we were very fortunate to have particularly lovely weather.

I caught up with local legend Rhonda Brain, who, of course, was one of the main drivers for the Paint the Town REaD movement.

I talked to the children about my worm farm and read the Wiggly Worm Farm book. I must admit that I was a little surprised at how many children were happy to see the worms, but didn’t really think that they were as beautiful and fabulous as I do….

Are our kids getting out amongst it in the backyard as they did 20 years ago? Going back another 20 years, a large part of my upbringing was spent in the backyard. I knew about our compost heap, I knew where to grab a tasty mandarin or how to take a choko off the vine. Do our kids have enough exposure to the simple pleasures of growing their own food?

I know there are families out there who see this as a really important part of a child’s education and have having a good hard crack. Schools are doing their best to expose children to the experience of growing in their schools. Are we doing enough? What could we be doing better?

Central West Lachlan Landcare have a commitment to education and hope that we can continue educating our young people as well as the general community.

To continue this work, we are fortunate to welcome back Mikla Lewis to undertake two workshops on Wednesday, 28 September, with the first workshop having a focus on seed collection and plant identification. The second workshop will be in the field and be looking more closely at flora and fauna identification. Registrations are essential for these events via our website.

These workshops are part of the Central West Landcare Region Protecting Precious Patches Project and is possible as a result of the Landcare NSW and the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) co-managed and community-guided program, Partnering in Private Land Conservation Program.

For further information on this article, please go to www.centralwestlachlanlandcare.org, twitter, facebook or Instagram @cwllandcare or contact Marg Applebee on 0418 611 053 or at cwllpo@hotmail.com