Suzanne Williams

I have been stealing - from a school, no less! There are three reasons for this:

1. Having been raised in the years just after the Great Depression, I hate to see good food going to waste.
2. Every time I pass the school, I am saddened to see the eyesore presented to passers-by of the neglected so-called gardens.
3. I love rhubarb.

I am speaking of Allandale School and of the several well-made raised beds near Alexander Avenue, rejoicing in the description “native and sensory gardens”, according to the board on the street.  

The thick weeds may be native, and could possibly be sensory, but they did nothing for my “well-being”.

That said, a few cabbages, cauliflowers and parsley plants have been grown there and there is evidence of some marigolds fighting for survival, as well as the magnificent rhubarb plant, its leaves growing then dying (does no one know what to do with rhubarb anymore?)

What sort of example is being set to the pupils?  

To have a mess like that in raised beds, which could be used to train them in the nutrition and food-growing life skills, which are really necessary in these hard times and sadly lacking, when Macca’s, KFC and the pie shop are just around the corner?

My theft of the outer rhubarb leaves was made in two visits, as I have to accommodate them in my scooter.  

When school starts again, I will drop a donation in for the funds, along with a copy of this letter, which I hope the administrators of the school will answer through these pages I am sure there will be others (parents?) who have been concerned about this situation.  

Of course, I have not really stolen the rhubarb – I prefer to consider it, in the jargon of today: “liberating the stalks so that they may live their best and most fulfilling lives”.

Hot off the press:

It is interesting to note (Beacon January 9) that three enterprising and selfless people have taken the initiative of establishing an International Community Herb Garden in the neglected raised beds in the badly-maintained Whakatāne Gardens: a similar situation as that at Allandale School.  

Perhaps they could be persuaded to offer their expert services to the school as gardening tutors to help re-establish the beds there, when they run out of things to do with the herbs?

It is surprising that there does not appear to be a community garden in Whakatāne, as there are in most small towns in the country.  

Of course, as with all volunteer activities, it requires the hard yards to be put in; initially, anyway.

Well, now I’m off to make a festive and nutritious lunch: yoghurt and pavlova with rhubarb sauce – yum.

Happy New Year.