Gerda Ackermann from Harkstede is holding a sunflower competition for the second time this year for Harkstede, Scharmer and Woudbloem.
The start of the competition was during National Sowing Day on April 22. You can participate by sowing sunflower seeds. At the end of August, participants who have registered will receive a message from Gerda asking how tall the sunflower is.
“In September I will come by to measure the tallest sunflower and I will announce the winners on the Harkstede/Scharmer notice board and by email.”
The lucky winners will receive a gift voucher during the Sunflower Party on Friday, September 13 at Cosis Ons Hertenkamp. You can register to participate in the competition until the end of August by sending an email to [email protected] .
Huge
The idea for this came to Gerda when she sowed sunflowers two years ago. “I had sown some seeds at home on a small piece of ground near the fence.
It was a very beautiful summer and the sunflowers grew really gigantic. I thought it would be fun to do this sowing together.” Gerda applied for a subsidy and made a plan. It was important to also involve children. This year, children from CBS De Ster, OBS De Driespan and Skippy childcare received a bag of seeds.
“Furthermore, people received a bag during Easter activities on April 1 and I handed them out at the COOP. In total I arrive at about five hundred pieces.” Of course it is possible to participate with your own seeds.
Elderflower
Roelien Sauchelli (mother’s assistant at CBS De Ster) is very enthusiastic about the campaign. “We have pre-sown the seeds in containers and you can already see something emerging. We have different types of sunflowers and different heights. From seventy centimeters, to 1.80 and 2.50.
Because it is still a bit cold to plant them and it is now the holidays, the students now have to take them home first.” The idea also fits perfectly with the school where nature plays an important role. Roelien proudly shows the garden. “This is also part of the curriculum.
We have walnut trees, for example, chokeberries and apple trees. We make apple turnovers and apple pies from those apples. We have many prickly brambles. We then pick them with the toddlers and the higher classes make something tasty out of them. For example, lemonade is made from elderflowers.
Cabins can be built. We made an insect hotel and recently made nesting boxes. Every year we receive wood chips from the municipality. When you see how it is absorbed into the soil, you see how much soil life there is. This makes the soil here really fertile. ”
For the winter they have a vertical vegetable garden inside, so the school can be involved with nature all year round.
Togetherness
The importance of nature and how diverse it is is also Gerda’s reason for setting up the competition. “It draws your attention to it. You see the butterflies and bees that are important. We need insects for atomization.”
In addition, it is about solidarity. “And how nice is it that you see all kinds of sunflowers in the village. That makes you happy.” Last year the winner was Ina Brust-Reutelingsperger with a sunflower of 3 meters and 86 cm, second was Gea Weesepoel with a sunflower of 3 meters and 73 cm and Dineke Buurke came third with a sunflower of 3 meters and 63 cm.
“We hope to see many beautiful and tall sunflowers.”
