Stuff Digital Edition

Gardeners S strip off for long weekend

JOSEPHINE FRANKS

IT’S a MetService two-layers kind of day, gusts of wind whipping through the last of the season’s lemons and stirring up the low grey cloud overhead.

It’s no day for a fairweather gardener, but Auckland’s naturists won’t be put off.

‘‘We’re used to the cold,’’ Ryan Berry laughs as he strips off and grabs a watering can.

There’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing, as the saying goes – and for Nude Gardening Day, the only suitable outfit is none.

In the great chicken-and-egg debate of nude gardening – which came first, an appreciation of horticulture or love of nakedness – Alice

Dewet plumps for nakedness, but says the two go hand in hand.

She is the secretary of the Auckland Outdoor Naturist

Club (AONC), which she and her husband Dion joined two years ago after a decade in the naturist community.

On Nude Gardening Day, the Saturday of Labour Weekend, members of the 1600-strong NZ Naturist Federation were out planting, pruning and weeding in their backyards and, where Covid restrictions allowed, at clubs dotted across the country.

But it’s far from an annual novelty. For green-fingered naturists, it’s the only way to garden.

‘‘I’m always planting something,’’ Alice Dewet said.

‘‘You’re outdoors, you’ve got this natural setup. You might as well be nude as well.’’

Forget snipping secateurs or standing on the wrong end of a rake – the biggest health-andsafety hazard when it comes to getting your kit off in the garden is sunburn, the naturists agreed. When you’re not wrapping, slip, slop and slapping becomes even more important.

Labour Weekend is the perfect time to plant ‘‘anything you’d see in a salad’’, according to Berry, a fellow AONC member.

‘‘It’s easier to connect with nature when you don’t have clothes on,’’ he said.

He challenges anyone who thinks gardening in the buff isn’t natural: ‘‘It’s unnatural to wear clothes!’’

Dion Dewet agreed, saying the skin and touch ‘‘is one of the primary senses, and it’s underutilised’’.

‘‘If you’re in nature and you remove the restrictive clothing, it just removes that boundary, and you can experience nature more directly.’’

Gardening is the perfect introduction to naturism, they said.

If you’re partial to wandering around your house, take a few steps outside your backdoor and see how you feel about it.

From there, you might want to try a nudist beach, Alice Dewet said.

‘‘It’s not as big a leap as people think,’’ Dion Dewet said.

They’re all members of the AONC, a 26-hectare expanse of West Auckland that boasts pools, a gym, spa, tennis courts and a bush walk.

Because the Dewets don’t have a proper garden, they said it’s ‘‘pretty much our backyard’’.

Being part of the naturist community takes you back to nature in other ways, too. With bodies laid bare, everyone is more equal, Alice Dewet said.

‘‘I always feel much more comfortable around naturists, ironically.

‘‘Once you’re nude you’re less judgmental. People are more down to earth.’’

6 SUNDAY NEWS NEWS

en-nz

2021-10-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281629603474204

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