Growth Opportunities
The Garden
The Banana Groves
The Banana Groves
Perched just above the main lodge is a small market garden landscaped to look like an open hand from an aerial view.
Spring 2025 (September-November) will mark only the third planting season since it was established in 2023.
We were ecstatic to harvest our first crop of purple kumara from the north facing bank this winter, and are looking
Perched just above the main lodge is a small market garden landscaped to look like an open hand from an aerial view.
Spring 2025 (September-November) will mark only the third planting season since it was established in 2023.
We were ecstatic to harvest our first crop of purple kumara from the north facing bank this winter, and are looking forward to introducing a cornucopia of seasonal veggies in the sumptuous soils.
The garden beds are bursting with biodiversity from microbial to magnificent creepy crawly critters. Nitrogen fixing crops have been lovingly returned to the soil and we are excited to see these beds bursting with life soon!
All of the produce will be available for purchase in a freshly harvested daily basket.
The Banana Groves
The Banana Groves
The Banana Groves
We did not anticipate the incredibly warm response we have received regarding our decision to embark on a long and illustrious career as NZ banana farmers.
People are fascinated by this decision, and we do not regret jumping in with both feet and a couple hundred stems.
The groves grew to mammoth dimensions, and we had to call in help to th
We did not anticipate the incredibly warm response we have received regarding our decision to embark on a long and illustrious career as NZ banana farmers.
People are fascinated by this decision, and we do not regret jumping in with both feet and a couple hundred stems.
The groves grew to mammoth dimensions, and we had to call in help to thin them out and give our babies the best chance to fruit.
Spring 2025 will see us harvesting around a ton of bananas. We are deep in the throws of conversations on what we will do with this plethora of plantain (well, mostly lady fingers, but there are some plantain).
Some will go to local markets, some will be baked into treats or frozen.
If you have any suggestions, recipes or ideas on what to do with an abundance of bananas please send them through!
Native Planting
The Banana Groves
Native Planting
Where do we begin!
Well, I guess we started seriously clearing pine and pampas and gorse six years ago.
Since then we have been replacing the weeds with an array of native plant species totalling around 10,000 new trees since we begun.
Manuka and kanuka have been especially planted in quantities with the result being a significant increase
Where do we begin!
Well, I guess we started seriously clearing pine and pampas and gorse six years ago.
Since then we have been replacing the weeds with an array of native plant species totalling around 10,000 new trees since we begun.
Manuka and kanuka have been especially planted in quantities with the result being a significant increase in pollinator activity. In addition, many other types of shrubs, grasses and epiphytes have now found a happy home on the whenua under the guidance of our Native Plant Guru Philip Smith from O2 Landscapes.
As these new primary restoration species are growing so well and quickly we expect to see new secondary restoration tree species filling in the gaps. We've also had a great uplift in native bird numbers that are streaming in to feed on all the tasty flowers, these include Tui, Ruru (Morepork), Kereru, and even Kaka more recently.