Flourishing in Feilding
Maureen Harvey
As soon as Maureen Harvey moved into her unit in Feilding nine years ago, she quite literally put down her roots.
Having spent 12 years living on a 51-foot steel yacht, that she and her partner at the time had built, Maureen was eager to return to her passion…gardening.
The green fingered 82-year-old has since established and developed the previously bare lawn into a colourful and thriving oasis. “I couldn’t wait to start digging!”
“Cruising the coast of New Zealand for all those years was a lovely life,” says Maureen. “But I decided it was no longer what I wanted.” She wanted to get her hands dirty and grow things.
Newly single and ready for retirement in Feilding, Maureen fulfilled the criteria to secure a one-bedroom unit owned by the Manawatū Community Trust.
“I absolutely love it here and I love my neighbours,” she says. “I like to help them out when I can, and it feels like a family although we are not in each other’s pockets.”
Maureen shares her immaculately kept home with her birds Sunny, Salt and Pepper. In between the weeding, planting and pruning jobs, the four are a familiar sight relaxing together on the sun-drenched front porch.
Maureen’s garden is not only admired by passers-by, in 2020 her efforts were rewarded with the Best Pensioner Flat Garden prize in the Keep Feilding Beautiful Garden Awards.
“I garden for me, but I like that it brings joy to other people.”
Maureen says her unit is a safe and pleasant place to live, and the rent is very reasonable. “I have no complaints. In fact, even if I won Lotto tomorrow, you’d be hard pressed to get me to move!”
The Manawatū Community Trust was established as a not-for-profit organisation in 2008 by the Manawatū District Council, and, as its core business, owns and manages 205 flats for pensioners and those with disabilities in Feilding, Rongotea and Sanson.
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