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When our ten year plan was achieved we wallowed around for a while not really knowing what we wanted to focus on for the next ten years. Finally we sat down for a decent planning session and decided the goal that we were passionate about was to increase the diversity in our environment. We divided this up into birds, fish and other creatures (including soil organisms) and the plant life that supports everything.

One of our challenges is affordable measurement of our starting point. We listen to Graeme Sait’s podcasts and he recommended getting our own soil microbe measurement kit – so step one has arrived in the mail – our MicroBiometer.

Luckily for us the Horizons Regional Council was doing some checking out of streams for fish access, and they agreed to do a survey for us. The results were a bit of a surprise – especially the shrimp, and a large pregnant Inanga. We did know that we had lots of longfin eels.

Next steps are more planting in the wetland we are restoring, oversowing our pasture with a wild mix of herbs and a species count of the plant and bird life.

On our farm, the trees are hoarding sugar in their roots and letting their leaves decay into gold and crimson husks. Meanwhile the people have squirrelled away fruit in sugar syrup in case war-time rationing breaks out during this Age of Coronavirus.

So it seems like a good time to sit back and review the thirteen years since we became guardians of this land. A photo of the land when we bought it shows a barren pasture. To our joy, the soil was very acidic (a core requirement for growing blueberries), and so we started digging and planting.

During the first few years, we developed a permaculture plan for the property. It amazes me that 10 years on, we have made the plan a reality (the last effort is to dig a lake for the wetland)

Fast forward a baby, 550 olive trees, a few thousand shelter trees and a thousand or so blueberry plants (and a LOT of pruning and weeding) and here is how that view into the driveway looked in 2016

And finally here we are in 2020, with the dream on track, and a few new additions (over the last week we have been painting the real fruit ice-cream shack) and we have been taking great pleasure in wandering around just enjoying the wonder of growing things, and the explosion of bird life – which is less stressful now we have nets over the blueberries!

 

 

 

 

 

Two years in to our organic conversion, and it is time for some reflection. What have we learned? Are we better off?

Our greatest fear was that going organic would overwhelm us with additional weeding. The reality has been that the WWOOF (willing workers on organic farms) scheme has made the transition manageable, and we have met many lovely young people from overseas who are keen to experience our lifestyle and help us out (just a few of them in the pics with this post).

The types of ‘weeds’ that grow under the blueberries and olives have changed to more benign grasses and clovers – which are easier to mow (Olives) or rip out and lay down as mulch (blueberries).

The number of wasps has stabilised at a level where they are not a nuisance, but there are still enough to eat most of the leafroller caterpillars and spiders. Bumblebees love our messy riverbank and tree trimmings and they have provided excellent pollination alongside our bees.

Birds are flourishing in the trees we planted and in spring they protect us from snails eating blueberry leaves, but they have eaten most of our early season berries! Hopefully with nets that fully cover the blueberries this will not be a future problem.

It is too early to tell if the dire predictions of unsustainable olive yields due to fungal disease will come to pass, but we are pruning hard to let light in, and we are saving on costs by not spraying fungicides twenty times per year.

So we can safely say we are no worse off than before. The blueberries have suffered no lack of production. Fertilisers cost more, but we have made savings on herbicides (we never sprayed non-organic pescticides or fungicides).

We feel better about the ecosystem we are caretaking, and the health benefits of our produce. And that is worth a lot.

Waikawa Blueberries and Waikawa Glen Olive Oil are under conversion with OrganicFarmNZ with OrganicFarmNZ

Waikawa Blueberries is a Pick Your Own blueberry farm at 123 Waikawa Beach Rd, located between Otaki and Levin. Click here for the Google Map. Stock up on lashings of blueberries, and engage in a fun, healthy outdoor activity. While you are picking blueberries, kids can jump on the trampoline, and non-pickers can have a game of pétanque (boules provided).

We are generally open on weekends 9 am – 4 pm from December to April, although we only have limited stocks of blueberries in January. To check the weather or to find out if we have enough berries to pick – see our Facebook page, or text 021712217.

We have EFT-POS available, so you can use credit or debit cards. We provide picking baskets and compostable punnets for packing blueberries – or you can bring your own containers.

We sell our Extra Virgin Olive Oil, along with any other fruit we have in season – peaches, apples, pears, feijoas and plums.

Waikawa Blueberries is certified organic with OrganicFarmsNZ, so our fruit and olive oil are healthy as well as delicious.

The ever popular Easter hunt is on again this year – on Easter Saturday we will be hiding chocolate eggs among the blueberry bushes.

there is no charge for the hunt provided the rest of the family are picking blueberries or enjoying icecreams.

Note that Easter Saturday is the only day of Easter weekend we will be open.

We look forward to seeing you.

Lisa, Glenn and Abbey