Uncoordinated Wins Again

I’m not what you’d call a sportswoman. I’m a little uncoordinated.  At school I was the child the sports’ teachers would shake their heads at when they saw me coming.  I’m sure they were thinking there is no hope for this one.  Apart from winning most improved player for about three years in a row for basketball, I don’t have that many awards from childhood.

 

I’m sure making up for it now.

 Last Friday night I attended the Nursery and Garden Industry Queensland Award Ceremony.  During the night I had one of those “this is your life moments”. The presenter started to read a story about a girl who seemed to have accidentally fallen into horticulture while looking for her dream job. 15 years on that girl discovers she is working her dream job.

 As the presenter was reading this story I got thinking, this girl sounds a lot like me.

He then announced “The Queensland winner of the Heather Ramsey Young Leader Award goes to – Chelsea van Rijn.”

 It took a moment, hang on that’s me. Wow.

 I WON.

 But what does this mean?

The Heather Ramsey Young Leader Award recognizes and rewards the outstanding achievements of individuals in the Australian nursery and garden industry, who display exceptional commitment and passion towards their business, the industry and industry leadership potential.

That’s me. I’m young (this is my last year of being young though), I’m committed to this industry (long days and sometimes longer nights) and gardening is my passion.

 But it’s not just the physical aspect of gardening. It’s the sharing component I love. I love enabling others to enjoy gardening with my few simple tips. I love going to clubs and talking gardening. I love writing my gardening blog and using Trevallan’s Facebook page to keep you updated and informed. I don’t get paid to write my gardening column that appears in the Queensland Times, I do it because I want to share with you all this wondrous thing called gardening.

 It was an amazing experience to be recognised and awarded this award by my industry peers.   I couldn’t have won this award without you.

 It is because of my customers, my family and my mentors that this award was possible.

 The other day a gentleman came into Trevallan Lifestyle Centre to tell me he hated mowing. He read my lawn challenge article and thought I was crazy saying I loved to mow. He followed my simple steps and now he loves to mow. His granddaughter loves coming over and running barefoot on his lawn. He mows twice a week and loves sitting back to admire his handiwork.

It’s because of happy customers and family who are gardening enthusiasts that my passion has grown. It’s because of you I want to achieve more so I can give you more.

I am so proud to win this award. Thank you for helping me turn my passion turn into an award. I hope we can continue to share this passion for many years enabling us all to have amazing gardens.