38 | Aotea Organics REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Diversity drives couple’s dream The farm now has four sources of revenue to add to the older one of stock raising. T T Sue Russell It’s somewhat outrageous to imagine that a couple in their early sixties could buy a rundown West Coast farm and make a ‘go’ of it. It cannot be easy, especially when the farm was five years unsold prior to their 2015 purchase , and years behind on maintenance and inputs. Dan and Kazuyo Friedlander, have certainly given it their all. Now with fences and interior farm roads decimated from the cyclone, they are continuing their rebuild and upgrades of the farm. Their determination to tell an expanded story about modern day farming and country life that is both inclusive of the public, progressive in it’s outlook, and desirous to share the bounty outside of New Zealand’s borders is what makes their story so compelling. Dan says reviewing their last eight years of ownership, the first year meant a deep cleaning with the filling of 20 of the largest dumpsters with the debris of many prior years, 25 derelict vehicles, piles of old silage wrappings, and more. The majority of the farm was nonetheless organic. “We then created four acres of vineyard and remodelled the barn. Then the four acre vineyard went in. Then the remodelling of the barn, lodge, cottage, and manager’s home was completed,” says Dan. Next step in the journey was to build a new refrigerated processing plan and build Dan and Kazuyo’s own home. “After the cleanup one could see the beauty of the setting on Kaipara Harbour. Then one could appreciate the rows of pine windbreaks, orchards of macadamia and persimmons and more.” Today a visitor drives through the seven year old vineyard, where harvests have doubled each year, and on to the farm’s roundabout, deciding at this point whether to head toward the new glasshouse event space or towers. The farm has four sources of revenue to add to the older one of stock raising. Eight years ago it was primarily the sale of 3 year old stock. The dairy was worn out from the days years earlier when the farm ran a dairy team of several hundreds. But this was absolutely past it’s time . Aotea Organics has attained Asure Quality and the prestigious Hua Parakore certification, based on their uncompromisingly organic approach to all farming practices. Living very much the mantra of ‘diversity in harmony’ Daniel says the farm has evolved, as expected, in a very organic way as he’s seen opportunities present. “I carry a design background and when we bought the property we set to and mapped out how we wanted things to look. “It had a bedraggled look but we could see immediately the potential of this beautiful piece of paradise.” Kazuyo came with a background reviewing restaurants and the couple also owned an organic restaurant in San Francisco so it wasn’t surprising that looking at foodie opportunities would be on the to-do list. “We didn’t want to run a restaurant again but we could see that with our cattle and their organic status we could turn their meat into something quite unique in New Zealand. This is how we came to research and then eventually build a meat processing facility on the farm; making organic salami and sausages.” The salami range extends over beef, lamb, venison and kingfish which can, along with organic beef and lamb sausages be bought through Aotea Barn Meats online shop. This year, Aotea Barn Artisan Meats received a medal at the NZ Food Producers Awards for their Lamb Salami. Dan says they are working on new products to create, sell online and to export to markets in Japan, Singapore, Dubai and further afield. “We’re fortunate to have great consultants supporting us to establish in these markets. It’s a case of having the determination to just do it.” Turns out Daniel has butchery in his blood as he’s discovered that going back through the family tree, he has seven generations of forebears who were either butchers or rabbis! Salami has now been produced for five years, cured the ‘old-fashioned’ way - without nitrate and using no pork. The primary focus now, with the enterprising couple is to really make inroads in the markets overseas, given the capital expended to create the manufacturing plant. Caleb Jackson Contracting Contractin Rural Business specialising in: • Round Hay & Silage Bales • Conventional Hay Bales • Full Paddock Renovation • Re-grassing • Fencing • Other Ag Services Rural Business i li i g in: hayandsilage@gmail.com CalebJacksonContracting 027 252 5526 il il. Cale i www.orewataxation.co.nz admin@otsl.co.nz (09) 426 4640 Supporting sustainable businesses in our community In conjunction with Aotea Organics “It had a bedraggled look but we could see immediately the potential of this beautiful piece of paradise.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=