Growing a greener life
Karen Newbrook times her holidays to beat the birds to her plum harvest.
It’s one of the many things she’s learned in her quest for self-sufficiency
Newbrook and her partner, Mark Garner, will be sharing their experiences of building a passive solar house and developing their extensive New Plymouth garden, as part of the Taranaki Sustainable Backyards trail later this month.
They moved into their home on one acre of land on upper Mangorei Rd four years ago.
Their ranch-style board and batten house uses passive solar design for warmth, with grid-tied solar panels, double glazing, a pyroclassic fireplace with wetback, a wormorator composting toilet and grey water system.
The house nestles on a ridge amid a developing garden, with an orchard tucked away in the shelter of the hill behind it.
Near the house, fruit trees flourish amongst flowering plants, with three columnar crab apple trees providing floral beauty and fruit for Christmas jellies near the front door, and persimmons near by.
Karen has also planted quite a few shrubs and flowers especially for picking and bird fodder.
She has a young wisteria scrambling over a garden shed because the property, Whitley Ridge, is named after an estate where her grandparents used to live in New Forest, England, where there was masses of wisteria.
A large reindeer antler adorns the shed – a birthday present from Alaskan friends who posted it to her after she found it while on a trip there several years back, she said.
‘‘This great big parcel arrived for me and it was my antler, engraved and varnished.’’
Growing in beds beside it are early potatoes and peas that she’s hoping will be ready for Christmas dinner. Other thriving crops include carrots, garlic, leeks and purple cabbages.
Fruit trees, including a range of apples and plums, feijoas, quince, pears and even a loquat are flourishing in the couple’s orchard. Some mark the graves of pets which have died, including two old chickens and a cat.
Karen’s hens normally free range in the orchard but they’ve been escaping into her vege patch so they’re currently in a pen with a white duck named Jemima.
‘‘We are calling this the henitentiary,’’ Karen jokes.
She is the chief gardener, while Mark builds the structures such as macrocarpa beds, steps and a magnificent strawberry frame.
Mark prefers kayaking to gardening, she said.
‘‘He’s kayaking the Grand Canyon and I haven’t heard from him for three weeks.
While he is away, she has been busy tidying the garden in preparation for its festival debut.
Both work from home. Karen is an education assessor who works with people who have dyslexia, and Mark is an engineer with expertise in air conditioning and heating, and a long time interest in alternative energy.
They would be giving talks on the process of designing and building their home on October 28 and November 4, she said.
The Taranaki Sustainable Backyard Trail showcases backyard efforts in sustainability and inspires the public to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
It runs alongside the Fringe and Powerco Garden Spectacular festivals from October 27 to November 5. Entry to gardens is a gold coin.
‘‘What sets the SBT apart from other garden festivals is our focus on education, it is really an educational programme, designed to inspire people to make lifestyle changes that begin, quite literally, in their own backyard,’’ Kati Freeman, general manager of the Taranaki Environmental Education Trust, said.
Garden hosts were available to tour people around the property, sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm, and the trail also included talks and demonstrations on topics such as composting, water capture, growing food without pesticides, vegetable propagation, and grey water recycling.
‘‘Participants tell us they love being able to learn from others within their community and to see real-world positive changes being made in backyards.’’
There are 29 properties in this year’s trail, in New Plymouth and north Taranaki, Stratford and one in Hawera.