The Hickman Family from Taimate – Farmers, Grape Growers & Conservationists
We posted about the Hickman’s Native Tree planting project last year. As a follow-up, WK was invited to participate again this year. So, on a chilly but fine Tuesday in June, a small crew found themselves back at Lake Elterwater along with a group of about 30 other volunteers.
The task, was to plant 1,000 more natives, Senior Advisors Jo Brown, Emma Pilcher and Greg Newman flew the WK flag.
With a brisk southeast wind building, the cunning ones amongst us selected the more sheltered areas to plant. The task went smoothly, and another stage of the journey was completed.
John Hickman who heads the project on behalf of the family was backing up after a busy few days working with brother Paul preparing for and running the annual Taimate Bull sale, that was held the day before. The sale was a huge success and John may just have been a bit dusty as a result.
To his credit he managed the planting event with his usual relaxed attitude, all this with the added pressure of being filmed and interviewed by a Country Calendar team who are preparing an episode focusing on the many activities the Hickmans are involved with.
John has also embarked on a related project building a website that will be accessed by councils around the country, to coordinate on-farm plantings and provide urban people or those without land, an ability to get on the farm and help with plantings and for Climate Change mitigation. He also aims to link people to funding support.
Our WK team see the values the Hickman Family have, which reflects our similar values at WK, where community plays a huge part of who they and WK are. We will continue to be involved with future plantings and support the Hickman’s to meet their goals and ambitions.