JourneyOnline
YOUNG clients and some staff of Blue Care Callide Valley Community Care have been busy learning the skills needed to keep young native trees alive and thriving.
The majority of trees are common to the Central Queensland area.
Recently, the Callide Valley Community Nursery was relocated to the Blue Care grounds in Biloela when a band of volunteers from Rotary, assisted by Blue Care and Uniting Church volunteers, transferred approximately 3000 young trees in a few hours.
The decision to relocate the nursery follows on from a workshop late last year attended by Pastor Donna Muston, Banana Shire Council and Community Nursery representatives.
The aim of the workshop was to gauge interest and brainstorm ideas which would allow the nursery to continue to function
as a viable project in Biloela.
Callide Valley Blue Care service manager, Debra Boon, and Ms Muston realised the potential of the nursery as a means by which clients, particularly young people with disabilities, might engage with the community and develop horticultural skills.
The nursery will provide benefits to many clients, reawakening gardening skills without the commitment of daily caring for a garden.
The Biloela Rotary Club also provided financial assistance towards the relocation, with the generous donation of a tank, pump, landscaping, and plumbing works.
Club President, Graham Barnes, said that the continuation of the tree nursery was a great community project.
Over the years Lindsay Daniels and his wife, Hamidan, tirelessly tended the trees, propagating, watering, and selling the tree stock.
He continues to have input into the nursery, teaching and passing on valuable skills and knowledge.
Not only is it an exciting new venture, in its own way, the nursery is helping to renew and recreate.
Skills once thought lost or no longer required are being brought to the surface, bodies and minds are being nurtured too when working in the peaceful atmosphere.
The nursery has brought many sections of the community together, tackling challenges and working out solutions.
To donate trees or for more information contact Callide Valley Blue Care on 4992 2481.
Photo : Rohan Angers, Caroline Perkins and Malcolm Nowland tend to plants. Photo by Donna Muston
