WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2023
Wairarapa’s locally owned community newspaper
I N S I D E: I T ’S B E G I N N I N G TO LO O K A LOT L I K E C H R I S T M A S P6
Dragon’s den P4
We offer one LOW RATE FEE for a full management service*
Richmond Funeral Home Light refreshments
Putting more money in your pockets
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Community Service of Remembrance
Masterton
Property Management Ltd
Phone 06 377 4961 | 186 Chapel St, Kuripuni, Masterton Email office@mastertonrentals.co.nz | www.mastertonrentals.co.nz
to be held at
The Richmond Chapel, Richmond Rd, Carterton Everyone is Sunday 3rd Dec 2023 at 3 pm. welcome. www.richmondfuneralhome.co.nz
will be served.
Let us support one another this Christmas.
Tried, Trusted & Proven FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED
FLAIR FOR ALL YOUR FLOORING NEEDS See our advert in Wairarapa Property 97-101 High St North, Carterton Ph 06 379 4055
Garden digs in for the future Lucy Cooper
lucy.cooper@age.co.nz
The Oxford Street community garden in Masterton turns 10 years old this month and is ready to “step out” and offer a bit more, the garden’s new part-time coordinator Paula Sala said. In the decade since a social worker on placement started the garden, it and the
community around it have flourished. In addition to welcoming Sala to the green-fingered team, the garden’s committee has grown the pool of volunteers that help plant, pick and weed the veggie beds and shade house all year round to about 20 people. The garden’s produce now supports a regular veg box scheme for locals, where for $100, subscribers can get
Anna Baird [left] and Paula Sala picking veg. PHOTO/LUCY COOPER
10 weeks of fresh, seasonal, spray-free veg. A local homeschool group frequently learns in the outdoor classroom at the heart of the garden. A new tool shed funded by Masterton Trust Lands Trust [MTLT] is expected to be installed before the year’s end, enabling greater freedom of access to equipment for volunteers. And more produce is
expected in future growing seasons as the site’s owners, Amatiatia Trust, recently gifted land to expand the garden. Ten years ago, the garden “sort of fell into the laps” of Anna Baird and her family, who moved into the twostorey house next to it just as the social worker who started the project was leaving. “[The social worker] was living here, she made it
happen here and then her placement was done and it was like, ok, now what? We moved in that week and we like gardening. So, we took it on,” Baird said. Baird credits the community garden’s success to a “slow and steady” approach. “We haven’t just gone crazy. Continued on page 5
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