Palisade p¯a will nurture native trees
Apa¯ created from fence posts and ingenuity is part of a South Taranaki couple’s plan to bring back native trees and Ma¯ ori values to their family farm.
Damian and Jane Roper have created a traditional tuwhatawhata [stockade] pa¯ on their farm at Hurleyville, near Ha¯ wera.
The pa¯ , O¯ haurai, is a traditional Ma¯ ori design used to protect gardens.
The high walls act as a very effective windbreak, sheltering the large plastic-clad propagation house they’ve named Rongo-marae-roa, and a smaller shade house, Tane Mahuta.
It has been built with nearly 4000 round fence posts in different lengths, their tips shaped to sharp points, and cost them about $60,000 to build.
The idea came after the couple began learning te reo last year, Damian Roper said.
‘‘They were talking about how Ma¯ ori used to garden, and I thought, that’s a no-brainer, we may as well do that, and it snowballed from there.
‘‘We feel that Ma¯ ori environmental beliefs, especially kaitiakitanga, align really well with ours, and we wanted to bring more Ma¯ ori culture to our farm.
‘‘The propagation house for the trees needed a windbreak and I thought a tuwhatawhata pa¯ was the right answer, it brought the culture and a bit of
Ma¯ oridom back to our farm.’’
Once the irrigation system is set up, the family will use the new buildings to seriously ramp up production of natives, including swamp maire, totara, kahikatea, tawa and rimu, which they’ve been growing in their farm workshop.
The Ropers have planted about 18,000 indigenous trees around the property since they bought it in 2006, and plan to supply others with trees once they have them in production.
‘‘We are wanting to bring back the biodiversity and birdlife back to our doorsteps, back to our farms,’’ Damian said.
‘‘If we are going to be predator-free by 2050, we are going to need a lot of habitat and feed trees for the increase in native birds.’’
The pa¯ project, built over the summer, was a team effort by about 20 people in the community, from builders and tradespeople to iwi members who gave cultural advice, Damian said.
Fencer Colin Schrader invented machines to turn the points on the thousands of fence posts and remove the bark from the larger poles.
The pa¯ stretches 27m along a hilltop, and encompasses nearly half a hectare of land.
It has two balconies jutting off the western side which give views across the farm.
Representatives from Nga¯ ti Ruanui iwi blessed the pa¯ at the official opening on March 27, which was the first time Jane got to see it from the inside.
‘‘During the building process we followed all the protocols, including not having women on the site,’’ she said.
She wasn’t bothered by the practice.
‘‘The first time I entered it was on the Saturday of the opening, I felt really excited, it made it extra special.’’
Before visitors enter the pa¯ , the Ropers say a karakia that brings a blessing.
The maze-like entrance leads visitors into a sheltered space that is surprisingly warm on a breezy autumn day.
Damian is planning to build a living wall along one side of the plastic house to help keep the temperature stable, and wants to create a mushroom garden on the clay bank in the building’s shadow.
They’ll also install some raised beds for growing vegetables beside the propagation benches.
He is sourcing tree seeds from
patches of remnant bush around the community, and also some QEII blocks, as well as their own farm.
‘‘We’ll be starting small and ramping up,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s a lot to learn.’’
The Ropers are passionate about the environment, and are multi-award winners for responsible dairying and land stewardship.
Damian, a DairyNZ dairy environment leader, said the environment is their first priority with every decision, and the pa¯ is part of this.
‘‘Our mission statement is we want that you can have a tidy, professional and efficient dairy farm business with little environmental impacts. Our goal is to leave a meaningful legacy behind.’’
The Ropers worked their way up to farm ownership through 23 years, starting as farm workers and ending up with several years 50/50 sharemilking at Waverley.
They bought the farm in 2006 and added another block in 2008, but continued share milking at Waverley until seven years ago, when they moved on to their
own farm.
The farm is a family effort, with all three children involved in the farm and the planting projects.
Their whole family has been involved in planting trees and building a boardwalk in a 2ha block of remnant bush behind their house that is home to NZ velvet worms (peripatus) as well as a myriad of birds including bellbirds, piwakawaka and kereru. It is classified as a Key Native Ecosystem by the Taranaki Regional Council.
Their 25-year-old son Jack runs Roper Agriculture, specialising in no-tillage operations, and works on the farm.
Daughter Harriet is a teacher in Ha¯ wera and Adelaide, 17, is in her last year of high school.
Life since they bought the farm has been full on – with their first projects including a new cowshed and feed-pad.
They have 320ha, with 158ha used for dairy, 20ha for sheep and beef, and some forestry.
The cows are released by timers on gates at 3.30am and make their own way to the shed
for a feed, saving the job of getting them in for milking.
They’ve been steadily improving a lot of small things that have added up to large environmental improvements.
They milk 420 cows, having reduced the herd size since moving on to the farm, culling the least productive cows.
‘‘We used to winter 510 but over the past five years have dropped numbers down to the optimum number we feel that matches the land,’’ Jane said.
‘‘It’s enabled us to reduce bought in feed and taken a labour unit out of the system, and we’ve found profitability hasn’t been affected.
‘‘We now are able to understand which levers to pull to reduce our environmental footprint.’’
They have been steadily retiring less productive land, including a neglected gully full of willow and pampas, which they turned into a lake in another major project.
‘‘I’ll get an idea, then if we like the sound of it, we will work out how we’re going to do it,’’ Damian said.