Kaitiaki for 43 Hectares of Steep, Regenerating East Coast Bush at Whakataki (Near Castlepoint Beach)
Janine Ogg
Kia hiwa ra! Kia hiwa ra.
Kia hiwa ra i tenēi tuku, Kia hiwa ra ki tērā tuku
e ngā waka, e ngā mana, e nga iwi, e ngā hau e wha.
Ka rongo te pō ka rongo te ao. I hono ki te wairua , kite whai ao , ki ao mārama.
Tihei Mauri ora!
Whakataki is known to be the Kainga (home) of the Te Hika o Pāpāuma rangatira, Paora Potangaroa, and his descendants remain there today. Hapū associated with Whakataki include Te Hika o Papauma and Ngati Haamua. We also recognise our whānau whāngai, Ngai Tūmapahia-a-Rangi to our south at Whareama.
Ki nga mana whenua o te motu tai rawhiti, tenei matou, nga whānau ō Bull Gully e mihi ana. To the mana whenua of the east coast, greetings from our Bull Gully whānau.
How We Came To Be Kaitiaki of This Special Place
We still have to pinch ourselves sometimes that we’ve had the opportunity to buy land, it’s a privilege we don’t take for granted and one we didn’t really expect on an artist’s wage. Lucky for us, back in the 90’s Sam’s Uncle Wayne was scoping land to invest in forestry and he came across the place (apparently investing in forestry blocks was all the rage as a retirement plan back then).
A decent number of people got onboard, 160 hectares was purchased, and a few hectares were planted in pine. Kanuka was felled and sold for firewood- not so great but also what everyone was doing back then - and eventually the land was sub-divided into three smaller lots.
Being so close to Castlepoint Beach, the land became a recreational place for friends and family to camp & play for the summers. During that time young Sam spent many happy days planting and working with his uncle, and exploring the steep hills and gullies.
Cue 2006 - Sam meets Janine and introduces her to the place. They get engaged in one of the ramshackle old forestry huts and their fate is sealed❤️ Not long after, an opportunity comes up to buy in, faxes are sent back and forth from overseas travels and the deal is done - at what we’d view today as a ridiculous price for so much land.
Before we knew it, we were the proud co-owners of 43 hectares of steep, regenerating Wairarapa East Coast Bush and a falling down forestry hut.
Then the Doubts Set In…
We dreamed up so many plans, ideas and adventures for the place but once babies, jobs and a busy pottery entered the scene it quickly began to feel like we had bitten off more than we could chew. We learnt fast that land management is not easy - or cheap.
It didn’t help that we’ve been part-time caretakers, visiting around a busy life in town and our responsibilities as unschooling parents (a type of home educating based on natural, child-led learning).
It’s been a rich, busy life for the past decade but sometimes it feels like all the ideas we had for this special place were a crazy pipedream. As most families with young kids will get, we’ve had some great times but money has been tight and progress has been slow!
Fast Forward to 2024
A good decade or so has passed, the youngest child is 11 and suddenly life is looking a bit more open. The pottery is well established, income has improved and the kids are increasingly independent.
All of a sudden it feels like we can start to invest more time and money in the land.
And despite the feeling we’re never getting anywhere, we realized we have taken some pretty big steps.
We’ve learnt a lot about managing the land - usually the hard way 😱 (see photos below)
Sam has invested in tools and built his skill set in building, tree management, access roads and maintaining drains & culverts
J9 has completed a Permaculture Farm Design Course and we’ve created a comprehensive land management & permaculture vision/plan for the property.
The native bush has been regenerating quite happily all on it’s own
We’ve planted our first food forest!
Most important of all, we’ve built some beautiful memories on the land with friends and whānau.
Where To From Here?
We’ve got some exciting ideas for how to integrate our town and bush block life, and we’re ready to commit. There are a few obstacles of course, but we’re up for it 💪🏽
We’re not going to give it all away in this blog post, but it’s definitely going to involve nature stays, pottery, wood-fired kilns, earth building, food forestry, bioblitz’s, pest control, pro-surfing and other exciting adventures in the coming years.
We’d absolutely love for you to be on this journey with us, so consider yourself officially invited along for the ride.
Nau mai haere mai - share in the ups & downs with us as we stumble haphazardly toward our vision to restore and renew the whenua, waterways and wildlife, live on the land and build resilience for our whānau and wider community.
Keep an eye on this blog for more updates or join our newsletter if you haven’t already!
Pai Tū
Pai Hinga
Nawāi Rā
Ka Oti
~ Good to stand, good to fall, carry on and eventually the work is completed ~
