What if you could combine stress-free shopping, environmental activism, and tea drinking? You can! And you absolutely should! Snuggle up on your couch, find Tea Associates online, and choose your blend. Preferably whilst sipping an interim beverage from your favourite cup.

Bendigo-based business Tea Associates is tea drinking culture personified. Founder Kerry McCuskey talks about ‘the art of enjoying a cup of tea’. And it is an art. It’s about slowing down, being present, being still, taking time to dream and breathe and regroup. Humans need tea, and all the myriad benefits that come with enjoying it. It is lovely to find a business that takes that slow, mindful ethos and expands it across its more commercial activities.

For a start, Kerry uses artisan, organic, FairTrade ingredients. She also packs everything in fully compostable, worm-friendly materials. And now, she has partnered with Fifteen Trees to plant a tree for every online purchase over $85.00. As a result, we have now planted 230 trees for Tea Associates in the very district in which the company is based.

That’s a lot of habitat, a solid investment in the future, and a gesture of love to the country that supports the business.

Huntly Lions Park, VIC | 50 trees | 2024

On Mother’s Day Sunday May 12th, ninety-five (95) people attended ‘Trees For Mum & High Tea’ at the Huntly Lions Park, just north of Bendigo, VIC. Djaara Country. This is a much-loved annual event for the Northern Bendigo Landcare Network (NBLN).

The Huntly Lions Park is at the northern entrance to Bendigo and is a lovely little rest stop with mature River Red Gums adjacent to Back Creek and leading to a larger natural reserve that, in the early 1900’s, was the original Huntly Botanical Gardens. Many residents felt they had lost their connection with this local park and no longer viewed it as an asset or a safe green space. After finding residents alternative options, this was the right time to give the park a fresh start and reinstate it as a place of community pride.

Volunteers planted indigenous trees, shrubs and grasses such as Saltbush, Spreading Wattle, Sweet Bursaria and Bushy Needlewood, Kangaroo Grass, Common Tussock Grass, Wallaby Grass and Anther-Flax Lily.

These plants over time, will provide under-storey to the existing eucalypts at the site, help restore indigenous vegetation, showcase native vegetation to the visitors who stop off and use the area, and complement the native vegetation found in the natural reserve adjacent to the Lions Park. This area,  is a valuable piece of remnant vegetation with enormous potential for Bendigo. In future, the NBLG aims to work with council to link the Lions Park, via the old Botanic Gardens and along Back Creek to the Recreation Reserve. From here there are linkages to Bendigo Creek and to Goldleaf Wetland to link up all the valuable pieces of green space.

We are incredibly grateful to the sponsors of our plants for helping us create such a unique experience each year.

Our ‘Trees For Mum and High Tea’ Mother’s Day planting event has become an annual tradition for families in our area. It’s so special to provide this opportunity for new mums, families year after year as their children grow, families who’ve lost their wife/mother or those remembering a nana/grandma.

It’s a very gentle event – we ask no questions – but welcome everyone with compassion to spend some time in the healing power of nature.

Nicole Howie | Secretary | Northern Bendigo Landcare Network

The park is home to Sugar Gliders, Brush-Tail Possums, Echidnas, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Galahs, Eastern Rosellas, Musk Lorikeets, Magpies, Kookaburras and members of the Honeyeater family.

Huntly Streamside Reserve | 60 trees | 2023

On Sunday 16th July Northern Bendigo Landcare Group (NBLG) held their annual National Tree Day event (a couple of weeks earlier than the official day) at the Huntly Streamside Reserve. They planted native species to add much needed vegetation to Creekline Grassy Woodland that overlays the Bendigo Creek corridor. This corridor has been damaged in the past due to gold mining and grazing.

Forty-eight (48) people turned out to help plant the trees.  A highlight was having students from nearby Epsom Primary School attend with their families.  These students are part of the school’s Green Magpies group of sustainability leaders and were encouraged to attend to support community sustainability initiatives and gain valuable experience.  They were extremely keen and enjoyed being involved in practical community action to complement their learning at school.

Thanks to Fifteen Trees and Tea Associates who have donated the plants we are happy to be adding to our community.

Nicole Howie | Secretary | Northern Bendigo Landcare Group

Huntly Streamside Reserve | 60 trees | 2022

What a magical day we experienced on Mother’s Day as we once again offered our very special Trees For Mum planting event in the Huntly Streamside Reserve.  This is one of our group’s favourite events to run each year and for many years now, sponsors of Fifteen Trees have supported us by purchasing our native plants.

Trees For Mum is a unique planting event offering families the chance to celebrate Mother’s Day by planting a tree together with their Mum, for their Mum or to remember a Mum no longer with us.  Mother’s Day means something different to everyone and we are honoured to offer such a special experience for people, including Mums who may wish to remember the loss of a child.

We truly believe that Mother Nature is a beautiful constant in our lives and offers something special on Mother’s Day. A gentle healer, a place of contemplation, a place to bond, somewhere to have purpose, a way to leave a legacy, a place to make memories, an opportunity to ground yourself, an adventure or a venue for fun together.

There was a beautiful vibe on the day with over 50 people attending. Planting in the glorious autumn sunshine to a Mother’s Day spotify soundtrack and enjoying a delicious morning tea in the great outdoors.  Many families took the opportunity to explore the Streamside Reserve afterwards which was a lovely and unexpected outcome.

Many positive comments were received with families very grateful for the chance to do something so unique for Mother’s Day.  Many thanks to Tea Associates for purchasing 60 of our trees.

Nicole Howie | Secretary | Northern Bendigo Landcare Group

Huntly, VIC | 60 trees | 2021

Unable to hold our usual community planting days due to COVID-19, we found a solution, accessing a Drought Employment Program crew through the North Central Catchment Management Authority.

With only a three-day window, six of our members assisted the crew over two days to get all trees planted, guarded and watered.

What an effort and just in the nick of time – in more ways than one! It turned out two days after the planting that we had 24hrs of gentle soaking rain to give the plants the perfect start they needed. Big thank you to Kerry and Bendigo’s Tea Associates.

Nicole Howie | Secretary | Northern Bendigo Landcare Group

It’s all courtesy of countless tea-induced hours of dreaming, stillness, and mental fortification. With chaos on everyone’s mind, we think drinking tea is the perfect way to opt out for a moment. And it certainly doesn’t hurt when doing so also allows us to indulge in a little quiet environmental activism.

Here at Fifteen Trees, we are always happy to have a chat about the best way to incorporate sustainability into your organisation. We can help you to connect with the broader community and reduce your company’s environmental impacts. If interested, please contact Colleen at <[email protected]>

Writer – Sarah Hart.

Sarah is an artist whose passions include the stories and experiences of women and narrative driven creative work. Her aim is to delight, to reveal glimpses of everyday beauty, and to celebrate flights of the ordinary. Sarah works across a range of media, with an abiding interest in pen and ink, mixed media and the human form. You can find Sarah here.