Peihana Farm: Maria’s Farm-to-table and Market Gardening Journey

Food event specialist, market gardener and garden-to-table cook, Maria Lempriere has used her past experiences as well as her passion for food and sustainability to develop an inspiring business model.

Maria Lempriere started Peihana Farm when she moved to Taranaki almost a decade ago and has since trained with a variety of leaders, gained certification, researched and applied new innovation to bolster her business plan and hone in on her future vision.

She has worked with local experts, such as Greenbridge, Roebuck Farm, Venture Taranaki, Seedsavers Taranaki, and Vivian Hutchinson of Community Taranaki and has participated in incubators, Just Transition workshops, as well as received a diploma in Business Management from Te Wananga Aotearoa.

She continues to learn like a sponge as she invites experts to her homestead to run workshops around various sustainable topics. Be inspired and tap into some of the resources she's used to making her dreams come true as a market gardener, chef, and food event specialist.

Maria answered some of our interview questions and reflects on her food and market gardening journey.

Maria Lempriere working on her dream farm in 2019

The Early Days

My dad always kept a good garden and was the hunter gatherer of the family. He loved tramping and deer hunting. Mum was a preserving queen and very creative with leftovers – the life of the party! As a family we were often on camping/tramping expeditions around NZ from a very young age. We all grew a love for the outdoors and natural environments, and we ate from the land and streams. My two brothers and sister are all passionate about hunting, gathering, growing and cooking. My brother Dean has recently been awarded his PhD in Environmental Science and my sister Annette manages a community garden in Christchurch and is a naturopath.

Love of Fine Food

My first regular household chore was at 10 years old making 5 stacks of sandwiches for everyone leaving the house Monday to Friday. As a teenager I worked in our local deli in Waikanae in the late 70’s and was introduced to liverwurst, pate, polish sausages, salami from Italy, sliced champagne ham, tank loaf, raisin bread and handmade pizzas. I became a lover of fine food at a young age.

Living in London

London was my home for a decade, and I used to walk everywhere – I admired the architecture and the grand old landscaped gardens. I took a few papers through the National Horticultural Society to learn about plant health, started a tiny vege garden at the entrance to a council estate where I lived, and enjoyed visiting the old castles and manors. I was always drawn to manor kitchens. For over 7 years I worked in collection management for Vernon Systems and was introduced to the ‘olde’ world and words like ‘preservation’ and ‘provenance’. One time, I visited clients Waddesdon Manor in the UK and, like all grand homes and palaces, their kitchen was seriously set up to manage butchering, baking, cauldrons and fire – it was magnificent. Another interest for me was the spectacular potager gardens and the symmetrical designs used. One amazing workshop I attended in London was designing a potager garden, and for some reason I always remember the poached chicken with fresh herbs dish our tutor rustled up. For me, now, having a kitchen garden is essential.

Gathering the Pieces

I sold organic cheese at the Oratia Farmers Market in West Auckland on behalf of Mahoe Farmhouse, and this is where I started to gather a database of all our customers who had always wanted to learn how to make cheese. After headhunting Katherine Mowbray, cheese guru, we began a long line of successful cheesemaking workshops. By the time I left Auckland, I had facilitated a string of workshops around traditional food making skills… Sausage making with Greg Scopas and bread making with Jason Olmstead were just a few personalities who were passionate about teaching others and being true to the artisan craft. Kay Baxter was also an inspirational figure, and I had the privilege to meet her while she was still living in Kaiwaka, Auckland at a seed saving introduction 25 years ago.

When I moved to Taranaki in 2009…

I realised how little I knew about living on the land. Often topics of workshops were designed around my own needs at the time. For instance, I didn’t know how to keep bees so I created beekeeping workshops with the late Marcia Meehan; I knew only a little about pruning fruit trees so I created a series of pruning workshop with Aden Lowe.

The Creation of Peihana Farm

Greenbridge, a local company that designs and builds healthy homes and regenerative landscapes, introduced me to the concept of land mapping. I happily applied this to Peihana Farm to help us work out the best place for everything. Working at the Taranaki Environmental Centre gave me time to develop relationships with some of our environmental stalwarts in our region. It was exciting to be involved with the Sustainable Backyards Trail at the concept stage and then to see it develop over the years has been a great pleasure.

Maria’s workshops can be found on Peihana’s Facebook Page and have been offered at Peihana Farm over the last couple of years!

Some help from others in our community…

“I’d like to mention Seedsavers Taranaki and Jayne Bright, who has been the face of this dedicated group of seed savers and plant lovers. I’ve learned so much through this special organisation and I continue to contribute seeds and manage the Urenui Seed Bank.”

“Jodi Roebuck and Carl Freeman have been mentors in the intensive growing space and attending Roebuck Farm workshops has been an essential start on my growing journey.”

“My small business has evolved over the years but it wasn’t until I completed a Te Wananga Aotearoa Small Business Management diploma in 2018 that I could really see the potential in creating revenue streams from our lifestyle block. In a nutshell, we are now growing food, preserving food in my commercial kitchen, running sustainable living workshops, and offering ecotours of our property.”

Our next step is to develop accommodation pods for people who are keen to get off the beaten track and enjoy the peace and tranquility of a valley retreat.

Venture Taranaki has played a big part in me being able to access important information like trends, via keynote speakers in the food industry, attending food & fiber workshops, and being involved in the Just Transition process. Their infectious passion to develop business in Taranaki, particularly in the food sector, and ongoing professional support, are something to be valued.

The Transition to Market Gardening

After being involved in the Just Transition workshops to create the Taranaki 2050 Roadmap, I met an amazing bunch of people who could see Taranaki leading the way in excellence, innovation, and across-the-board sustainability.

A past soap-making workshop held at Peihana Farm

Intuitively, I knew that I needed to spend more time on the farm, grow more food, develop food products from surplus produce and create more workshops to attract locals and tourists alike. So I left my job in March 2019 working as an employment facilitator (helping mainly youth into finding work or some direction in life) in New Plymouth and found that I was spending half my wages on travel costs and all those little temptations (coffee and food), which all added up. It has been one year now working the land and producing food for others, and I’ve found this to be very satisfying and surprisingly more lucrative than when I held standard employment in New Plymouth. My partner Simon O’Donnell had an organic farm in Ireland years ago and grew predominantly for celebrity chef, writer and restaurateur Dennis Cotter. He too has provided some good insight for my business.

A lifestyle change with some cost reductions

Our fuel bill has reduced by 80% as I no longer drive into town daily. Regarding alcohol, we purchased a brewing system which holds 23 litres of your favourite. This reduced our alcohol costs by a big percentage and bottles are now recycled. Communication (internet, phones) remains our largest monthly cost next to our mortgage.

New gadgets and methods to increase productivity

Gadgets

In the garden: a paint roller handle is great for weeding in between the beds, a broad fork from Crafty Gatherer and a pair of ARS Harvesting pruner/snippers.

In the kitchen, best tools are: a mandoline, a good weighing machine, sharp knives.

Methods

I have started working with James Samuel who has designed a produce box ordering system for me at Peihana Farm. We’ve only just started using the system and it’s been very exciting! I update my produce list, I then send the link to my group of customers, they click on the link to the ‘menu’ and they order and send back. With the data captured, it then produces all the necessary reports and lists. Using a ‘click-on,’ invoices are then instantly created in my accounting system. I use Wave accounting software – it appeals to me because it’s simple and I enjoy using it.

I aim to garden by the moon and follow a moon calendar but it doesn’t always happen this way. I loosely follow rotational planting and at this stage I’m not as intensive as I would like to be.

Any business innovation, learning or changes in the pipeline to become more viable/sustainable?

I’m involved in the Farm Next Door Project and while this is more focused on growing food in an urban setting, there is scope and potential in small farms working together collectively (like we are doing with the Growers & Producers Collective in Urenui) who can offer a diverse range of high quality seasonal spray free/organic produce.

I also completed the incubator programme with Vivian Hutchinson/Community Taranaki..to create the Urenui Country Market, followed by a Masterclass with Tu Tama Wahine. It helped me develop my purpose in life.

Who are you partnering with, and how are you meeting demand together?

Our local Growers & Producers Collective includes Peihana Farm (Okoki), Nashinui Orchards (Urenui), Pukemiro Farm (Onaero), Kath’s Gardens & Native Nursery (Ahititi), Nature’s Nest (Onaero), The Green Shed (Urenui), Lencie’s Hens (Urenui), Maxine’s Seedlings (Uruti), Pete’s Garlic (Uruti) and I am actively looking for more small growers to supply our produce boxes. Some of these growers were involved in our Saturday Growers & Producers Market in Urenui and so it was vital we found an outlet to sell our produce.

During COVID19, our local Urenui Four Square owners offered to stock our produce for no fee and they even supplied a stand for us to use. It has been so well received by the locals, it continues to attract our ‘market’ customers who collect their spray-free produce each week and it has given us a great sense of community where we are all working together to keep each other afloat.

Harvest Hampers & Produce Box enquiries to peihanafarm@gmail.com

Are you on Backyards trail again this year?

Yes, we are. We are open on the 30-31 October and 1 November. I’m aiming to have a ticketed social evening on Friday 30th (eating and drinking) and on the days we are open we will have tours and talks about Living off the Land.

We have a range of eco-features that include an off-the-grid solar system, Aquatron composting toilet (that flushes), greywater mulch basins, 80 fruit trees, coppicing plantation, kitchen garden, wood burner and shed-to-home conversion.