SOLD: Beautiful Happyzine

Here in Golden Bay I find myself working more and more with the movers and shakers of this place. I want to tell you about three of these people –

1. Joanna Piekarski – Joanna and her husband Ro live on a property that they’ve turned into an enormous permaculture wonderland and food garden.  Basically all the meals they eat come straight from their garden, and this is amazing in itself, yet they’re both also hugely involved in this community. Joanna is an organising, editing dynamo. She’s the HANDy Messenger for the HANDS complementary currency here and her job is to encourage trade. She’s also the author of the most important cook-book in any organic consumer’s kitchen – the Wholefoods Handbook.  When I first met her a huge smile spread across her face and she appeared absolutely delighted, no – enthralled – to meet me. Just the kind of greeting a leo loves! I’ve since realised that’s this is Joanna. When she does something, it’s whole-heartedly. She organises huge events, HANDS markets and dozens of workshops per year. Just quietly and behind the scenes, Joanna, the brown-haired, slight, humble woman that she is, brings people together beautifully.

2. Grant Knowles – I’ve written about this warm hearted man before. If it’s a community event, he’s generally  got the energy and the skills to help it fly. He’s up for it, because he loves this place. Grant – a drum maker and musician – loves Golden Bay and the arts, sits on numerous boards, organises enormous events, and is a doting Dad. He brings his own earthy, enthusiastic, slightly anarchistic, enormously giving flavour to Golden Bay. He recently interviewed me for Fresh FM about Happyzine and we continue to check in and collaborate around different projects.

3. Victoria Davis – this living dynamo has helped the World Naked Bike Ride become a well attended annual event, she’s been a huge force behindbringing cycle lanes to the Bay, she’s helped Collingwood become plastic bag free and that’s only a few of the feathers in her cap. This slight, silvery-haired, passionate woman will stand up for what she believes is right, and believes in the great importance of happiness and love above all. She keeps inviting me to be on her radio show, where we discuss the important things in life such as music and joy.

So that’s my roundup of three busy, prominent Golden Bay-ites who I admire and enjoy. It’s good to appreciate these people while they’re alive and doing what they were born to do. If you’d like to share a story about someone you appreciate in your community, you’re most welcome to do so in the comments section below.

365 Days of Fun and Chillaxation (as I raise my gorgeous son and grow my good news website to a subscription base of 100,000 people).  The Low Down on this Blog.

Check out yesterday’s blog.