The Chinese proverb says “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the next best time is now”  and the Greeks said “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in” both equally as relevant to my thoughts at this stage in the year.  Christmas and New year brings with it a wanting to share with family and friends and with a sense of duty to those around us. If, like me, you always have the best of intentions towards your environment, always wanting to do the right thing for our future generations but sometimes falling short or into older habits then maybe you like me could make 2020 the year you really do something about it. I do tend to rest on my laurels somewhat, I grow trees for a living so surely that makes my credentials pretty good but does that mean I can slack on the recycling or not turn lights and switches off where I can, No it doesn’t.

This coming year I am going to be making very conscious decisions that will hopefully positively affect the future of my children and our future generations and if we all can as the saying goes ‘Make one Change’ to a better cleaner future for our children and their children.

I am not in a position to change my car just yet but when I can I will be looking at much cleaner option, something not as big and heavy but in the meantime we are looking at a new van for the business and we are looking at an electric one. We have earmarked our investment on the nursery for this year, not to add new buildings or structures but to install solar panels on the nursery for all our energy needs, we did look at the option of a wind turbine but have been advised that this may not be the most economical option for us.

We are going to work closer with our partners at Thornton’s waste recycling to ensure we do everything possible for all waste from both our business and our home is recycled in the best way possible and have been speaking to Irish Water on a fully organic treatment for our production fields and irrigation systems.

So that is mine and our commitments for the year and to help you all with yours we are giving away a small Christmas Trees ready to plant to every customer on the nursery this week and into January 2020 so that you may have a Christmas Tree in your own garden that is decorative and environmentally advantageous and wether you chose to cut it and use for the house in the coming years (do replace it though, won’t you!)  or leave it as part of your outdoor decorations this is our way of helping all you guys to make one small change and hopefully you can where possible add another commitment too.

For now from all of us on the nursery to all of you Have a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous and Peaceful New Year.