Meadowbank Farm – farming with nature in mind

Pete and Susan Fenemor and their son Jonathan farm a beautiful 247 hectare piece of land in the Tadmor Valley that abuts the Motueka River.

They currently have 2,400 ewes, 25 Angus beef, most of which get exported, and a small amount of forestry. It’s been a very dry summer and Pete says it’s been tough but they’re doing OK. They’ve been feeding the sheep with winter feed for two months because of the drought so this means they’re eating into feed reserves. They’re also just hanging in there with stock water. In addition, prices are low, considerably down on last year, and they’ve had to sell off some lambs as stores early due to low feed. Standard wool doesn’t have any value – it basically costs money to shear the sheep.

Pete is a third generation farmer on this land – he grew up in the house they’re still living in. He enjoys the climate – the finest in NZ according to him. He also enjoys having the locals around and most of his family were here. Jonathan, their son who’s in his early 30’s is now in partnership with them with the farm. He went off to be a chef but came back to the land after chef work didn’t suit him.

Him and his wife Abby have a new baby and a 2 year old, and they live in a house just up the hill on the farm too. Jonathan likes being his own boss and choosing what he does and he likes being outdoors by himself.

When new rules looked like they were going to be introduced requiring farmers to do more to address water quality issues, Susan got proactive and started looking around for ways to look after the waterways on their farm.

She attended meetings of an upper catchment group that was forming of motivated farmers. Susan then invited Annette Litherland, from NZ Landcare Trust, to come and look at their farm and provide advice on what to do. Annette made some suggestions mostly around protecting a small stream in a gully from releasing sediment to the Motueka River.

“We followed Annette’s advice. We made a sizeable sediment trap near the bottom of the gully then fenced along a stream. We then had an open day where community members helped us plant 450 natives which were funded. We then realised “heck” we’re going to need a heap more. Kate Radloff knew there were a number of farmers needing more trees so she started up a group to learn how to do all the steps associated with propogating plants – learn the names of plants, how to gather seed, how to grow seed, prick out, plant the plants, weed, which plant guards to use, and how to look after them once planted. This learning has been invaluable for me.”

Then, being the enthusiastic, action focused person she is, she jumped in boots and all and joined the Tapawera Propogaters group which was set up to help people to grow natives, organised by Kate Radloff who is the Chair of the Biodiversity and Restoration Thematic Group of the Motueka Catchment Collective.

After attending the propogation group regularly and being given a number of plants from that nursery, Susan decided she’d like to grow her own plants. She asked for a seed shed for her birthday so Pete and Jonathoan built one for her to her strict specifications. It’s now going really well.

Since then, they’ve planted another about 2,500 plants.

They also have a sizeable area of original native bush on their land, which they’ve been told includes a number of rare native plants. This is unfenced largely at present but contains a lot of bird life which could be seen flying in and out of the bush.

Jonathan has come along to some of the MCC Biodiversity and Restoration (B&R) events. Susan had to twist his arm to start with, but he sees the value in it now. One of the workshops was how to set up nets to collect seeds so Susan’s taken that on too, and has now set up nets under their native trees.

This was brand new learning. Kate brings different ideas from DOC where she volunteers. Now we’re hosting a seed collection workshop at our place in the weekend.

Susan is a part time social science teacher at Tapawera Area School and her Year 9 and 10 students have visited their property – where does she find the time for that!?? She’s used the planting they’ve done, and the knowledge of natives for learning with her students. With assistance from Kate, she introduced students to gathering seed, and planting harakeke. Students learnt how to prick out plants and also learnt about the cultural importance of harakeke.

The Fenemors aren’t stopping there. They want to continue the impressive work they’ve already done to look after the environment which benefits both their farm and the wider catchment. They plan to keep planting further up their gully, manage weeds, keep collecting seed and keep the nursery thriving …. all the time learning along the way.