Claire's sustainability journey

This Is The First Of Our New Community Stories Series, Where We Will Be Sharing Articles, News And Photos From Taranaki Families, Individuals And Organisations That Are Currently Engaging In Their Own Sustainability Journeys.

Thank you to Claire Mullin, who is the first to share her family’s sustainable initiatives with us. Claire is based in rural Opunake. Her family produces their own meat and milk; they have pigs, sheep and cows; and are trying to reduce their home expenses by producing more of their own food.

My husband and our five children (aged 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9) have loved our journey of sustainability. Last June, my husband and I decided that we were going to live on as little money as we possibly could in order to help our business thrive. We were never big spenders but as you can imagine it costs a lot to feed a family of seven.

So our first focus was to reduce our spending on groceries. I set myself the challenge to only buy essential ingredients for making food from scratch. Kids lunches were the biggest challenge so I baked and baked and baked some more. I made cakes, muffins, crackers and all sorts. The kids didn’t even notice. First success. 

What rolled on after at that (as you can imagine) was a massive reduction of waste. We had always recycled but it was much more than that. We changed from filling a black bag every couple of days to every two weeks or more. Our recycling reduced as well. I have never liked the term “zero waste” as to me, it seems like an almost impossible task and often put in the “way too hard basket.” So we decided to live with as little waste as possible and we really thought about what we put into that big black bag. In fact, the first thing we did was get rid of the big black bag and replace it with an old sack off the farm. This made us super aware of how lazy we can be, chucking stuff in the bin that could go somewhere more productive, like the compost. 

We compost.... everything from cereal boxes to grocery bags to nappy liners. This was a passion project of mine and so much fun (great science for the kids too). This will be great for our ever-growing veggie garden in a few months time. 

I have never had much of a green-thumb but with the help of a few books, I have had my first successful season growing most of the veggies we eat as a family. That’s a lot of veggies. It has been so rewarding and so much fun that I am planning on restoring an old greenhouse on the farm and expanding my veggie garden soon, as well as planting an orchard. 

These sustainable practices now are ingrained in us and we are looking forward to what other exciting changes we can make to our home and business. It has always been our dream to be self-sufficient, but we didn’t see it as a realistic goal. It is now our main personal goal for our family and we are excited to see what the future has in store of us.