Enjoy perusing property descriptions below.
Find open hours, workshop details, and photos for each property using the links to regional pages.
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Kevin & Rachel have developed this 4000sq meter property into a food forest in the middle of New Plymouth. The syntropic agroforestry is a self-sustaining system which uses support species to provide shelter and organic matter. Flamingo food forest is only a year old but has grown incredibly fast on a section previously featured in the Garden Festival.
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Chanelle and Dave's 1100sqm work-in-progress permaculture garden shows how a sloped and shady urban space can evolve into productive zones over time. Features include lasagne vege beds and vertical growing to maximise space, a small-scale food forest, tea garden, perennial shade garden and urban forest. Learn about integrating chickens into a small backyard and how to put them to work in the māra.
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You'll find Janine in her ever-evolving little food forest tucked away in the Huatoki Valley. 21-year-old fruit trees, vegetable beds and a couple of chooks provide ample food year-round. The garden also boasts a pottery studio nestled in the yard, working and living activates the relationship with the garden and provides an income within this sustainable backyard. This garden is also open for the Taranaki Arts Trail open studios.
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Franziska surrounds her organic sourdough bakery with a lush productive garden. All elements work together to create a peaceful abundant and deeply nourishing environment. The young garden features raised beds, vertical growing spaces, fruit trees galore, berry bushes and a very unusual chicken run.
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Mieke's xx(size) shady 5-tiered garden is designed with permaculture in mind. You’ll wander down from the espaliered front yard, past tree hut, sleepout, rainwater collection, compost, bokashi and wormfarm through propagation tunnel and vege/herb garden until you reach the secret garden full of natives and sub tropicals such as banana, pawpaw, and cherimoya. Feed the chickens a treat and watch the busy bees at work creating honey!
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Wade and Anna have used permaculture and organic gardening principals to make the most of a small urban property with as few inputs as possible. The property navigates high winds, has a range of upcycled projects, including a propagation station and comfrey press. Tidy vegetable beds at the front and a wild food forest out the back combine to make for a highly productive garden on a budget.
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Stu and Wendy use many sustainable practices on their 1.6-acre property. Along with repurposing what they can on their property to reduce waste and live sustainably, they integrate chicken and sheep waste, bokashi, composting, worm farm, making biochar and their own liquid fertilisers to feed their ‘no dig' garden beds, polytunnels and berry cage. The result is an abundance of vegetables, berries, citrus and ingredients for their homemade wines.
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Martina and Donald's kitchen garden is based on organic principles and sits centre of their 2-hectare property. Explore raised garden beds surrounded by a Douglas Fir field as a wood for posterity, coppicing eucalyptus patch for firewood, a terraced espalier orchard, and large culinary and medicinal herb field. Learn about mulch uses, composting, worm farms, comfrey liquid fertilising, and more.
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Caroline's mission is to empower individuals to cultivate healthy soil, grow nutrient-rich foods, and foster a community that values the health of soils, plants, animals, humans and the planet. This is achieved with organic practices, permaculture design, and soil food web science. Dive into experiments with composting, Solanaceae, regenerative agriculture, forest foodscape biodiversity and meet donkeys, chickens, bees, and soil microbes!
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Cat tends to an organic, off-the-grid, 2 acre property high in the Pouakai Ranges. As a naturopath and herbalist, Cat has created a medicine garden showcasing over 60 common and less commonly found medicinal species to help inspire you to grow and use your own phyto-medicines for better health and wellbeing. The property also includes a young syntropic-style food forest.
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Verna, John and Di are your knowledgeable community garden hosts showcasing the variety of vegetables, citrus, stone fruit, vines, nut and herbs which is available for locals, the church and the local cafe. See uses for pallets, and ideas for collecting rainwater and garden storage. Learn about the Koia Green Prescription.
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Jane and Steve have cultivated this 1.6ha lifestyle block using organic and permaculture principles over several years. You'll find multiple composting systems, a recycled greenhouse, chickens, dexter cows, fish in the pond, an abundant bird life, integrated with orchards of apples, fejoas, pears, plums, citrus, bananas and blueberries. In the last few years, 3 paddocks have been converted into a 100 tree avocado orchard and a small market garden run by their daughter Morgan growing herbs and vegetables.
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Zoe and Ricky along with Min and Ryan share a 1 hectare property between their two families. A small scale market garden using only organic principles feeds their families year round and supplies weekly vege boxes for 9 months of the year. They grow a range of cut flowers, sold at markets and the Stratford Crazy Pumpkin, and they offer a range of workshops during the year on how to grow your own food and creating floral arrangements.
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Levina runs 1/8-acre of market gardens on 3.6 acres of farmland once owned by Lieutenant Colonel Malone. The gardens follow permaculture principles and provide spray free, organically grown vegetables to local markets. You'll find hot and cold composts, no dig gardens with companion planting, chickens, sheep, and solar running the wash and pack room. A great property to hear about clay soil and compaction, natural weed, pest and disease control.
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John raises organic heritage rare breeds on the farm which holds livestock genetics from yesteryear for the future. The property breeds and promotes a range of different cattle, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys and poultry. They run workshops on self-sufficiency, host farm stays and group tours, and sell produce from their heritage orchard and more.
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Nell's organic garden is set on a small rural property and full of food and herbs. This garden is an inspiration to anyone wanting to grow their own organic food and herbs. It combines seasonal crops and edible weeds into our daily diet while navigating extremes in seasons. Nell loves to share knowledge of her plants and the constantly changing landscape which follows nature’s principles of being wild and free.
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Aaron and Melissa have created as many closed-loop systems as possible on their 3.4-acre property. Upcycling is crucial with a focus on encouraging wildlife. Come and see an established food forest and veggie garden on steep terrain, greywater and composting toilet system, root cellar, passively heated rammed tyre glasshouse, electric vehicles, and insect farming. This is an inspiring property to visit on the way to Rotokare Scenic Reserve.
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In eight years, Dan and Kylie have transformed 3 acres into 240 truffle-inoculated trees, 500 lavender plants 100 white sage plants and 100 hazel nut trees. They have introduced cycles within the property, created machinery - and raising three children. MRE make products to reduce the impact of stress and will soon be selling truffle and hazelnuts nationally. Learn about a diverse small business making a positive difference.
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Michelle is working with a very windy 3.8 acres growing vegetables, fruit, native shelterbelt and a biointensive market garden. You’ll see hot and cold compost setups, companion planting, permaculture, hugelkultur and an early-stage food forest. There is a DIY caterpillar tunnel, compost sieve and upcycled structures such as raised gardens. The wormorator septic, mulch basins and grid-tied solar round out this eco-conscious build from 2016.
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Chris, Krystel and their children are a typical family with an urban backyard section producing a lot of food in a small space. You'll see a variety of fruit trees, no dig annual and perennial vegetables and herb gardens both culinary and medicinal, as well as growing mulch onsite. They have composting systems, worm farming, garden framing using recycled materials, water roof collection with a garden wash station, and a rotating chicken coop.
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Viv and Rob weave creativity and sustainability into their 1-acre urban farmlet. Explore organic, no dig and lasagne garden beds, orchards, a food forest and natives. Learn about companion planting, ducks and chickens, DIY fertilisers, windbreaks, rainwater harvesting and irrigation, solar power, predator control, compostable toilets, and soil recovery. Their harvest provides food but also dye and fibres for cordage, paper making and basketry.
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Sam manages 2 acres with two fruit orchards, an avocado orchard, market garden, chickens, and small scale nursery. Pouakai Farms is part of the Venture Taranaki Branching Out project growing ashwaganda and garlic as part of the medicinal, food and fibre trials. The farm is non-certified organic following permaculture principals and all the food grown is spray free.
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Tom and Sarah are fast converting what was once a bare and windswept 1-hectare section at 165m above sea level into a regenerative oasis. The main focus has been on food production and land regeneration by using permaculture principles, creating shelter, micro climates, building soil fertility and encouraging bio diversity. A forest garden, vege garden, worm farm, woodlots, solar, EV and grey water system are all features of this property.
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Sue, Geoff and Gibson moved to their 1/4 acre property in 2021 and have added a feeling of tropical sanctuary to the existing edible garden. The property produces organic vegetables, herbs, medicinal plants, citrus, tropical, fruit and nut trees, with a glasshouse that provides year-round tomatoes, perfect in the wood-fired pizza oven! A great opportunity to see what can be created in an urban backyard.
We also have several schools and community gardens open to visitors, running workshops and tours.
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Newly established in 2023, the garden surrounding the Sustainable Taranaki base show what can be done in a short time including worm farms, fruit trees, gardens beds of all shapes and sizes, herb spiral.
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Established in November 2020, the surrounding community is involved in running and maintaining the 400m2 of garden space. Working bees are held biweekly on Sundays from 2 pm - 4 pm.
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St Marys Garden was established in April 2022 and is well on its way to becoming a great community garden space! A place for workshops, learning and growing together.
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Join the Ōmata students as they tour you around their vegetable and herb gardens, orchard, and chickens. Students will be giving regular demonstrations during open hours on how to make a bumble bee home and pesto from whatever is available in the garden!
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Come visit the jaw-dropping and inspiring GSNZ campus where learners will take you on a tour of the propagation and tropical greenhouse, the māra, Compass Hill and our innovative classrooms. Grab some refreshments and see our learners’ market at our converted barn, The Bridge.
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Join the knowledgeable students of Waitoriki School as they tour you around the māra including their bottle house, propagation table where we grow natives for riparian planting in our community, the community food forest and our own regenerating bush area.
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Toko School is a Beyond Green Gold EnviroSchool. All classes have enviro areas of responsibility that they learn about and maintain throughout the year. These include the school orchard, vegetable gardens, herb gardens, chickens, bees, distilling, worm fertiliser factory, recycling centre and the recycled bottle house.