By Hope 103.2Monday 30 Apr 2018Hope BreakfastStation NewsReading Time: 2 minutes
When we found the Campbell family of Cranebrook among the entries for our Best Break Garden Competition, we knew there was something special about them.
Meeting them in person, our hunch was confirmed. This family of mum, dad, two kids, and a niece and nephew who are also part of their nuclear family, couldn’t be more deserving winners for our garden spruce-up prize.
The Campbell’s story is a special one. Morgan and his wife Amanda both work for the Royal Australian Air Force, and are parents to Tyler and Travis. Three years ago, they became full-time carers for their niece and nephew, due to the tragic loss of the childrens’ dad. Suddenly, their family grew from four to six.
It was a steep learning curve.
“It’s been pretty challenging,” Amanda said. “It’s an interesting journey we’ve had, trying to become parents of our niece and nephew rather than the fun aunt and uncle that we were before. Now we’re the ones that have to discipline and get them to do their homework and all that sort of stuff.”
With life suddenly busier than ever, their backyard became quite a neglected jungle, and disheartening to look at.
“I found looking out the windows to the back yard was really overwhelming,” said Amanda. Our sink is right at those windows. You’d be washing up the breakfast dishes and seeing the weeds so high. You just have so much going on and the garden wasn’t a priority.”
Garden Transformed
Mission accepted, the team from Today’s Mowing headed to the Campbell’s home and got to work. They turned a miniature jungle into what is now a beautiful, tidy little oasis.
Testament to the Campbell’s hospitality, when the Hope team Sam and Duncan turned up to visit, they already had a barbecue breakfast going for the gardening team and welcomed their new visitors into the family.
The Campbells are thrilled with the result.
“For me the use of the garden now after the makeover will be that we can enjoy the space as a family, or even just sit out and read a book by ourselves and sit in the sun and hang out with the dogs,” she said.
Special thanks to John from Today’s Mowing for his generous work in providing the Campbells with their garden care prize.