By Karinne Dadigan and Melissa Zegnoev
This past week we found our home away from home at the Hart family farm (Mangarara). The owners, Rachel and Greg, along with Nikki and Shane, showed us how to work hard for a purpose and truly treated us like family. Every person in our group was impacted in so many ways. From domestic chores to manual labor outside (the best kind), we truly experienced farm life. We all milked cows, collected eggs from happy chickens, hand-fed calves, tilled the garden (with no help from the lazy farm cat who just lounged in the sun!), and even docked lambs (AKA cutting off their tails and giving ’em the ol’ 1-2-neuter!). Our efforts were rewarded with fresh milk, homemade bread, natural yogurt and delicious beef and mutton from the livestock of the farm. Needless to say, we never went to bed hungry!
A major part of our experience on the farm was learning more about sustainable food systems and debunking the buzzword, “organic.” The farm itself has been in the family for two generations, and has served as an educational center for the past few years. Their focus is mimicking nature as much as possible throughout their food cultivating systems. For instance, the toilets are composted to a worm farm, where the worms break down the soil and make it highly fertile. This soil is then used across the farm for replanting. Wow!
The Harts want people to be well educated and informed about where their food is coming from and how it was raised. They would rather take the time and effort to teach people first hand; their goal of reaching sustainability is teaching everyone that they can start small in their daily consumption habits that will eventually lead up to larger, macro changes.
On our last night on the farm, we all shared a huge family feast. Lamb ribs, BBQ sausages, delicious salads, and even a traditional kiwi dessert (Pavlova with fresh kiwi!) were served. Together we danced, shared stories about our experiences on the farm, and shed tears as we said goodbye. The night ended with an awesome bonfire next to the lake with S’MORES (they didn’t want us to feel too far from home) and scary ghost stories. The Hart family showed incredible hospitality, introduced us to a new way of thinking and living. We are forever thankful!