Tribute to Hazel Berryman
Soil & Health would like to honour and thank the late Hazel Berryman (1922–2023) for her generous bequest. She was a life-long gardener and a member of the Soil & Health Association for decades. Her family has supplied the following tribute.
In Memoriam Hazel Rachel Berryman 1922–2023
Hazel Berryman was a life-long gardener who believed in two cardinal credos: ‘you are what you eat’ and ‘eat food that goes bad, but eat it before it goes bad’. With these two credos, Hazel lived to the ripe old age of 100.
As a committed gardener, Hazel believed in composting and the importance of healthy soil. In her 20s she was an early member of the Auckland Compost Society [later it became the Soil & Health Association].
From the knowledge gained, Hazel and her late husband David turned the clay of their West Auckland home into a small Garden of Eden, growing copious flowers, fruits and vegetables. At the same time, they transformed the barren landscape through many plantings of native and some exotic trees, creating a refuge for many birds.
Hazel won many awards for her flower arranging at the annual Auckland Floral Shows, and took part in many community tree-planting events, particularly in Auckland’s Grafton Gully and Mount Smart Domain.
The Compost Society magazine, later Soil & Health magazine, and more recently OrganicNZ, always held a prominent position on her reading couch, and it is for that reason that Hazel wished to leave a small legacy to the Soil & Health Association.
