We wouldn’t get far without friendship. Someone to check in on us, someone to laugh with, cry with, someone to give us a hand when we need it. Here at Fifteen Trees we are humbled to have 82 (and counting) of the best friends anyone could wish for. The kind of friends who really step up, who are selfless, community minded, and serious about creating a better future together.

At this point of the year, we have 82 Friends of Fifteen Trees who have purchased 60 trees with another 20 whom we hope will rejoin before the year is out. So, we are being tentatively positive and looking to plant 6,600 (110 X 60 trees) for 2022. Not only that, the positive ripple effect of these trees will go on for decades, centuries even.

• 6,600  trees that will provide habitat, food, and safety for native animals,
• 6,600 trees stabilising soil and water tables,
• 6,600 trees that over time will collect and store carbon from the atmosphere.

We have begun to plant our FoFT trees and will keep you ‘in the loop’ as tree planting season unfolds. Recently we planted our very first trees in the western district of Victoria with Andrew Borg from the Buloke and Northern Grampians Landcare Network (BNGLN).

Site A | The Grampians, VIC | 500 trees

Andrew and Debra live on a 40-acre property, adjacent to Kara Kara National Park, half-way between Stuart Mill and Redbank. Andrew is the Local Landcare Facilitator for that region. The couple tree-changed from Melbourne 8 years ago and have begun a conservation project on their property, which includes a captive breeding program for the endangered Squirrel Glider. This year, with some assistance from the students at St Arnaud College and the St Arnaud Primary School, they planted 500 trees, a mixture of red ironbark, yellow and grey box, and yellow and red gum, melaleucas and wattles.

We want to regenerate lost habitats, create biolinks on agricultural land, enhance and help nature and celebrate our 35^th Landcare Anniversary. Friends of Fifteen Trees has enabled us to do just that!

Andrew Borg | Coordinator | BNGLN

Once again, a huge thank you to all our supporters via Friends of Fifteen Trees. Your assistance is invaluable. It is amazing just how much we can achieve when we collectively work together.

Writers: Colleen Filippa / Bronwyn Blaiklock.

Colleen is the Founding Director of Fifteen Trees. Her background is in environmental education. In 2009, after 20 years in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, Colleen left the classroom to start Fifteen Trees. Fifteen Trees is social enterprise that assists individuals and companies to reduce their carbon footprint through the support of community groups such as landcare, environmental networks and friends groups.

Bronwyn Blaiklock is a multidisciplinary creative: a poet, a pianist, a reformed perfectionist. She has worked in the creative and education sectors for over 25 years. She also confesses to having an affair with an accordion, but whatever you do, don’t tell the piano. Find Bronwyn here.