When and why did I join? Around Bastille day, July 2018, Viki and I saw a Johns Hill flyer advertising a chance to plant native seedlings at the bottom of Pepisland in Emerald and finish with a community barbeque. It sounded like a really worthwhile thing to do given the beautiful environment we now live in as well as a great opportunity to engage with the local community.

We had only very recently moved to Emerald from Canberra to be close to our daughter, husband and first grand-bub who had only just arrived (proof, with leg poking out of my orange coat).

Below left shows Viki and others putting weed matting down and learning how to use Hamilton planters (augurs) to plant native seedlings in one of the plots down the bottom of Pepisland. On the right shows another plot and planting native seedlings at Pepisland in Emerald.

Planting at Pepisland, Emerald in 2018

A great day was had by all, lots of native seedlings were planted in several plots and we were hooked and still are. Apart from the planting and the BBQ we were introduced to Jenny's chocolate brownies which were, and are, irresistible. Come and join us.