Spuds go to good cause
He's not as agile as he once was but that hasn't stopped 92-year-old Tom Cunningham from getting on his hands and knees and growing thousands of potatoes for the Tauranga Community Foodbank.
Mr Cunningham decided to give his crop of potatoes to the foodbank after he read about the Bay of Plenty Times 2012 Christmas Appeal in the newspaper.
"When I read about [the appeal] I thought it had a lot of potential and I thought I could help out. There is a very strong need for the service ... and I've always done a lot of community service so I thought this was a way I could help," the Katikati man said.
"The rewards I get is that I'm better for it. I've had a wonderful life and you wouldn't believe it but I'm 92. I have gone backwards in the past 12 months with my health but I can bend and I can garden. It is a bit silly the way I carry on doing what I'm doing ... but I've always grown potatoes, peas and beans at Christmas time."
The enthusiastic gardener spends hours in his garden or tending to the potatoes each day.
The potatoes are growing on Mr Cunningham's neighbour's property and a good friend helped him plant the potatoes back in August.
He will still sell or give away some of the potatoes he has grown as well as donating some to the foodbank.
Members of the Katikati Rotary Club are set to help Mr Cunningham dig the potatoes and bag them before being taken to the foodbank.
Mr Cunningham said the potatoes should be ready a few days before Christmas. He wasn't sure how much would be produced but estimated it to be around 100kg.
"The crop is not overly heavy because we had a record amount of rain in July so that made the ground very wet and I didn't have a very good time on the rotary hoe on the back of the tractor.
"Normally at that time the ground is good and ready for planting but the hoe didn't work well at all."
He always grows Cliff Kidney early variety potatoes. Mr Cunningham says they're the cream of the crop.
"Ever since I can remember, you can't buy this kind of potatoes in the shop.
"They don't crop well enough for commercial growers to grow them but they are outstanding."
Foodbank chairman Mike Baker was thoroughly impressed with Mr Cunningham's efforts and said the potatoes would be a great addition to food parcels over the festive season.
