Job would be done mulch-better by far

We need your help.

Size Matters: Cluny Macpherson putting his quad bike and trailer to a Mahurangi West Hall job better suited to his equipment than that of moving 150 cubic metres of mulch. photographer Maree Owston-Doyle

On Saturday, 14 people turned up at 9am at the Mahurangi West Hall with forks, pitch forks, spades, quad bikes and trailers plus a tractor and tray to load up from where it was dumped on the roadside on to the trailers and cart down to the evaporation field (below the retaining wall) and spread.

They worked like slaves for five hours and left with blistered hands and broken backs—having moved a mere 30 cubic metres of mulch, about 20% of the required amount to cover the 2100 square metres.

At morning tea (kindly provided by Barry Ferguson) the assembled crew discussed the fact that mulching with pitchforks and forks was terribly Luddite, time-consuming and backbreaking, and that there must be a better way.

Brent Atherfold explained that there is a better way for this part of the project. There is a company that brings in mulch and has a massive blower that blows dry chip mulch down a 150-millimetre flexible pipe to the required location.

Many eyes lit up at the thought of 150 cubic metres, applied in a couple of days, with no assistance apart from supervision of a couple of people.

Job would be done.

There is one catch; it costs unbudgeted money that the hall hasn’t got to play with. Bottom line: It will cost from $4500 to $5000 to finish the mulching in this quick and professional way.

So, Saturday mornings’ tired and blistered team realised that if 50 people put in $100 dollars the job (or 100 people put in $50) the job could be professionally done in a jiffy.

We all know it’s hard times, but please if you can consider any donation towards hiring professional mulching providers for this part of the project, all those good people who gave the time on Saturday don’t relish further Saturdays of backbreaking work.

The community is nearly there with the Mahurangi Hall; these are the last few hurdles. If you can scratch around under the mattress for a few red ones, to help get this mulching out of the way, that would be marvellous.

Contact Marlene or Brent on +64 9 422 0144 for further information on this part of the project.

Donations Cash, cheque or Internet banking into account 12 3095 0212543 000 will be gratefully accepted. Please reference your name and ‘Mulch’.

Footnote The background to the mulching is that as part of the consent process on land development, leaving bare earth after excavation works is not acceptable. We have no choice, we are required to spray off the grass area, mulch to a certain thickness, and plant the entire area.