The NZ Green Warrior

This last week saw me, Fabrice and Bryan over 3 days, drive down from Whangateau in Northland to Wellington via Taupo, the Desert Road and Palmerston North and then back again via Whanganui, National Park and Te Kuiti-a total of 1869 kms. We stayed overnight in two holiday Parks on this trip, the best being the park at Paekakariki where it was $75 for a small cabin, more like a motel room and where I was able to cook dinner for the three of us and sleep on a great bed. The reason for the quick trip to Wellington was for Fabrice to meet with the French attache in the French Embassy to sort out his passport so we can apply for new immigration visas by the next new moon. Wellington was the same as ever-I still think it is one of New Zealand's nicest cities even with the wind tunnels of the inner city streets-inner city parking is always tricky but the place has good public transport, a great South Indian restaurant and nice energy for a city-something in my mind to do with its siz...

We arrived at a time when it was hot and wet. Just before we came there was large scale flooding in part of the island. It's not cheap and we have so little money left after spending too much on three nights accommodation.  Fabrice lost some money on the plane and when trying to get it back today had to walk almost 15km there and back as no one would pick him up and give him a lift. I am not sure that he and Bryan can get any money to stay here and maybe finding exchange is not so easy- with three of us now it is quite complicated anyway.  Bryan is desparate to be with other children who at present, because it is influenced by the northern hemisphere, are all in school. They have a park not far from us where there is an outside gym, a volleyball/soccer playing area and the equivalent of a play park with swings, slide and climbing bars but when it is raining they shut this because it is slippery. Bryan speaks English to everyone automatically although actually his firs...

More and more New Zealand children with the support of their unfortunately ignorant parents and those commercial  businesses wanting to make a dollar are celebrating the Wiccan festival of Halloween or Samhain or All Hallows' Eve as it is properly called on October 31. As a Wiccan myself for over 25 years and therefore someone who considers this day as one of my 8 sabbats (special celebratory days), I am getting more and more irritated at the misuse of this festival and particularly as it is being celebrated in this country of NZ at the wrong time of the year. All Hallows' Eve or Samhain the Witches New Year, is the night when the veil between the world of spirit and daily life is thin and able to be transcended, is in fact an Autumn festival which is why you can traditionally see pumpkins hollowed out with candles sitting inside shining their light in the windows of houses. It amazes me that "kiwi" parents think that it is appropriate to celebrate this autumn festi...

The past three-four months have seen us experiencing a very wet winter-On Caretaker Farm over a metre of rain was collected in the rain gage in three months and the past month of September saw us receive another 200mls on top of what had already fallen from June until the end of August. I personally am not complaining about the amount of rain as the past two winters have been dry and with dry summers also I was getting worried that our river would stop flowing and the spings that feed it would all dry up. I needn't have worried as finally this year everything feels back in balance and we are heading into summer with full aquaducts and a river at a reasonable level. We luckily had a few long-term wwoofers over the winter staying and I am grateful for the stability and constancy that their presence gave to our continuing projects. Unfortunately the builder was less constant and didnt come at all for over 4 months so the bakery building stalled and the wet weather has meant ...

After 11 years of running a second hand and new market style shop it is time to close and move onto other things. The shop began its life 37 years ago as The Old Bakehouse Market and then became Queen Street Curio-we sold items on behalf of other people and sold everything from books, clothes, CDs, jewellery, bric n brac, pictures, furniture, farm produce and so on. Caretaker farm sold all it's organic garlic, figs and chokos through the shop and even Rawleighs products have been available to buy on a regular basis. Tucked away down a lane in between 2 cafés in Warkworth the shop has been a  hidden treasure trove for visitors and locals looking for a bargain. At one stage the shop hosted night lectures on a fortnightly basis on a Friday-the lecture topics included subjects such as earth building, astrology, te tiriti o waitangi, Bach flower remedies, NZ geological history, permaculture, women's spirituality, Iridology, Anzac stories, and so on. The attendance varied accor...

Masanobu Fukuoka (1913-2008) was a Japanese philosopher and farmer from the Island of Shikoku. He used what can be called natural farming techniques which went against the usual ploughing, tillage and scientific agricultural methods used so much today Natural farming requires no machinery or fossil fuels, no chemicals, no prepared compost and very little weeding. Even though his methods were controversial-i.e he did not plough the soil or hold water in his fields of rice as other farmers-he managed on his farm to achieve yields either comparable to or higher than the most productive Japanese farms at the time. Natural farming creates no pollution and actually improves the fertility of the soil every season which of course poses a threat to scientific and business in agriculture where they push fertilisers and pesticides and of course machinery to till the land or irrigate. On Caretaker farm I have tried to follow some of the principles expressed by Fukuoka in his book "The O...

At Caretaker Farm since the beginning of my time there in 1989 I have tried to follow the natural farming recommended and practiced by Masanobu Fukuoka-his book the One Straw Revolution which I read in the early 1980s  had a huge impact on the way I thought about and interacted with nature.  Later I discovered Permaculture with its design planning system using zones and organic methods. As a result I  use a combination of both methods in what I am trying to create on Caretaker Farm in NZ. In this essay I will describe and explain permaculture as I understand it after having attended a two week Permaculture Design course in the north of New Zealand back in 2005 and have implemented on Caretaker Farm, Whangateau, Aotearoa(NZ).  Permaculture was developed by two Australians, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, as a response to pollution of the soil, water and air; the increasing reduction of non-renewable resources; the continued loss of animal and plant species and;...