Sunflower fundraiser for wetland restoration, riverside walkway

Ruamahanga Farm on Martinborough’s outskirts has nine hectares of “huge yellow sunflower blooms” on offer during a mid-February Sunflower Festival to help raise funds for its wetland replanting and planned riverside walk.

Ruamahanga Farm Foundation member Jane Riddiford said the guided weekend walks will traverse a “restoring wetland” and “the development of a public walkway by the river.”

As well as the Inaugural Sunflower Festival, visitors will also be able “to see how a traditional stock and crop farm is transitioning into a regenerative farming venture.”

Along with the huge sunflower blooms goes what she calls “a colourful understory of other beneficial species.”

“While you gather sunflowers, you will experience one of the ways soil health can be restored _ and human hearts uplifted,” Jane said in a statement.

The Ruamahanga Farm Foundation ran a “Sunflower Extravaganza” last year when Martinborough and Kahutara school kids held a fundraiser and outdoor classes among the towering flowers.

During the year they participated in Te Reo o te Wai, the group’s conservation and education programme for schools and the wider community.

Sunflower Festival funds will be used for education and community events on and around the farm, as well as supporting further wetland planting and development of a public walkway by the river.

The Festival is planned for the weekends of Feb 15 – 16 and 22 – 23, with half-hourly guided walks from 10:00 a.m. each day.

A Sunflower Sundowner is planned for Friday, Feb 21, with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra members Elizabeth Patchett and Dean Major to play for guests among the flowers.

Tickets $50 per person _ with bubbles and refreshments, and “booking essential.”