THE BEAUTY of provincial Aotearoa
I’ve always found seemingly ordinary stories fascinating. People going about their daily lives making an impact on the community, on family, on their business, but it’s just happening, no fuss, no fanfare, just life. Especially in provincial Aotearoa and especially women. Perhaps because in the past there was only one story for women rurally – or one that was told in any case (or not told at all) – a supporting role, taking place silently, behind the scenes.
And while deeply important, I’ve found that this singular perspective is just not enough to reflect the ways women are living, working and connecting with the land, myself included.
Living rurally can be very isolating, not necessarily – or just because of – the location, but because of the life you have chosen. Working on a farm is highly demanding. There is no 9-5 or regular hours or often weekends, which presents huge challenges when juggling family life, the business side of farming or your own career. But this is also what breeds the creativity and wonderful stories that the backblocks of New Zealand are overflowing with. Documenting these stories that are just beyond the surface of what people know about rural life has really helped me to connect and feel at home in rural New Zealand.
Finding women who are juggling family and the farm in whichever way they are is a constant source of inspiration for my life, as well as a comfort that you can make your own way rurally and there is no one set path. I was embarrassed to admit it at first but now I’ll happily say I don’t have a role in the day-to-day running of the farm and our lives are much happier for it. But for other women, being hands-on is non-negotiable and that’s what I love about the stories of rural life. There is no one-size-fits-all approach and I feel a very real sense of needing to tell these stories to help women out there wondering if what
they are doing is “right” when there is no right way about it.
Desma Featkins, for example, is a mum of nine. She runs a dairy farm in Rūātoki Valley, alongside her partner. The kids have grown up on the farm and have helped with milking. She gets the kids up early every morning to bring the cows into the shed. She says when she gave birth, she would hand the baby over to her partner and be back to the farm, sometimes the next day. He would ring her if the baby needed a feed. As well as her own kids, she is teaching/giving practical training on farming to kids from the local high school.
A few months ago, in search of a rare weekend off the farm, we stumbled across the beautiful Waihua Cottage, run by the impressively resourceful Rose Haynes. Haynes has created a beautiful cottage-stay on her family station at Wairoa. It’s the most magical surprise tucked off a side road and Haynes is at the helm. She is a farmer, single mother of two girls and runs the cottage. As well, The Farm Shop sells station-grown lamb among other things.
At the other end of Aotearoa, Anna Guien Dakila, from Rimu, Invercargill, is share-milking with her husband. She moved there in 2008, two years after her husband, and arrived with her two sons and a bag of clothes. Supporting her husband in his goal to become a dairy farmer, she does the calf-rearing and relief milking on the weekends when their staff have days off. She says she loves saving lives and nurturing the calves, which can be quite weak to start with.
In her spare time she makes and decorates cakes and has a thriving business selling cakes from a caravan on their property.
The many and varied ways women are involved in farm and rural life are repeated down every road in provincial Aotearoa and are endlessly evolving. So know this, if I’m ever down your road, I’ll always be available for a cup of tea and a chat about life in your patch.
Kirsty McGregor is publisher and editor-in-chief of Shepherdess, a magazine that tells the extraordinary stories of everyday life in rural Aotearoa.