City girl loving new rural life and her animals
Courteney Chenery doesn’t think of herself as a rural girl, but her menagerie of animals on a lifestyle block just outside Christchurch would suggest otherwise.
Born in Wellington, Chenery grew up with her three sisters, four pet sheep, a goat named Gordon, a couple of cats and a labrador named Penny.
She’s now working fulltime in the agriculture industry and is living a rural dream she never knew she had.
“This one really snuck up on me and grew as I settled into the slower rural space. It feels like such a lovely slot for me now to be a little removed from the city life,” she says from the 6-hectare lifestyle block. “It’s lovely to pull up the drive after a long day and be out of the hustle and bustle of the city.”
She insists the lifestyle block where she lives with her friends, couple Daniel Pengelly and Caleb Griffioen, is “not a proper farm”.
The three mates raise half a dozen beef-cross dairy calves each year, have eight ewes, breed 150 heritage chickens, which produce 800 chicks at the height of the season, have a couple of caramel labradors, several cats, half a dozen ducks and a pair of grumpy Cape Barren geese.
“In our first year Dan and I basically picked up any lambs which were going cheap or free. We ended up bottle-feeding half a dozen orphans or triplets and through a lot of advice from very patient and kind farmers, both online and in person, every one of our lambs survived,” she says.
“I guess I am a little different from the average person you meet working in agriculture. I am a lesbian living with her gay bestie and his partner. Raising a handful of sheep and cattle whilst learning about raising animals from scratch very much on the fly is certainly not the norm.”
Having skin in the agriculture game in her day job at New Zealand Beef and Lamb as a southern extension co-ordinator, Chenery knows there really is no “norm” when it comes to Kiwi farming.
“Community in a rural setting is just a bit different. You make these incredibly strong connections based on oldfashioned systems of giving each other a hand or bartering.
“We swap eggs for fresh produce our neighbours have grown, or lend the yards to a neighbour who has promised horse-riding lessons in return.”
There are traditions that still exist, and it can be a brutal industry to enter. But given New Zealand had its first female Young Farmer of the Year in Emma Poole earlier this year, times are changing.
“I’m constantly meeting such inspiring women who are doing so much in the rural community, it’s hard to imagine ever measuring up to them,’’ Chenery says.
“We have truly incredible women I work with ... Farmers at different ages and stages of their careers like Tarsh Newport, Jenny Mcmurdo and Kerry Harmer, as well as Robyn Dynes of Agresearch. I love how passionate they are for the ag sector and get a lot from them.”
The thing you notice most about Chenery is she doesn’t mind laughing at herself. Whether she’s out of her depth, or well above water in the daily-farming tasks, she sees the funny side of life.
With that laughter, however, comes a bit of impostor syndrome, she says. A city girl in a hardy rural industry has its challenges.
“I do find rural people can form cliques which are harder to break into, although this of course isn’t unique to rural living, but, on the other hand, once you’re in then you’re never getting out.
“Sometimes I feel there’s a disconnection with my place in the community and so my colleagues can be a step ahead with practical knowledge I just haven’t been able to pick up yet.”
For the most part she has found farmers have welcomed her and the guys with open arms. “They are also surprisingly non-judgmental considering I’m such a novice,” she says.
“I was a bit embarrassed recently explaining how long it took me to do some farm jobs to one of the farmer counsellors I work with, but he was fantastic at reassuring me how normal it was and reminding me to be kind to myself.”
The trio buy their sheep from a North Canterbury farmer and calves from local Ashburton dairy farmer Craig Hickman.
“He’s an awesome source of knowledge for me, too. I feel like I’m annoying him every couple weeks asking for more advice.
“Last time we picked calves up he popped the sweetest little pale-coloured Jersey on the trailer. We weren’t looking for a dairy cow at that point.” They have called her Rosie.
Like many other Kiwis, Chenery did her big OE in London, lived the city-girl life, and loved it. But something has since called her to a rural life.
She says meat is the best thing about farming. “Tops is having our friends or whānau round and feeding them some slow-cooked lamb or beef that we have raised ourselves. Knowing that we have put in so much work into the sheep, duck, chicken and cattle we eat, and that they have had the best lives we could provide, is so rewarding.”
If Chenery sounds passionate about her animals, it’s because she is. Despite some of the challenges such as wool and dairy prices, and regulations, she says that passion is shared industry-wide.
“I get to work and talk with New Zealand farmers all the time. I love hearing the passion in the community and how many awesome initiatives are being driven by some truly talented people.
“Ag is a career I never considered while I was at school. I think a lot of city kids don’t have it on their radar at all, which is a shame because I probably would have studied differently had I known how fantastic the industry is back then.”
Outside all the dirt and mud, Chenery is learning te reo Māori, pottery, roller derby (which she says she’s too soft for) and volunteers at Pillars, a mentoring organisation pairing kids who have a parent in the justice system with adults.
All said, would she move back to the city?
“For the right circumstances I would. At this stage I don’t know what those circumstances would be – but maybe if the right lady came along.”■