Innovation and Inspiration at Awhi Farm

As cyclone Pam circles north east of New Zealand and the rain subsides in our current part of the north island, I have been rewarded a chance to sit down and write about some of the activities that Lindsey and I have been a part of for the last week while working at Awhi (pronounced Ah-fi) farm.

Awhi Farm is the creation of local culture and food advocate Lisa Isherwood, located on a small piece of land outside the trout fishing capital of NZ, Turangi. It is on this land that Lisa is encouraging all those within her immediate community of traditional land owners along with the greater community of interested travelers to look at sustainable food practices as a way to reconnect with their ancestral lands and culture. For those of us just passing through, we are free to both become a part of Awhi Farm's endless opportunity for learning and also to give back any information or innovation we ourselves have learnt on our respective journeys.

For Lindsey and I, this has meant a lot of time sharing our love of food and cooking in the kitchen, and in return having the chance to become engrossed in many of the exciting projects that creep from the blackberry brambles at every turn. 

Innovative Technologies: It becomes immediately obvious when you arrive at Awhi Farm, that the movers and shakers and their collaborators have achieved an incredible amount in a short time period and with little resources. The amount of recycled material that has found its way into the kitchens, houses, accommodation and gardens is outstanding and plays a big part in making Awhi Farm exist happily off the grid. With limited power resources for things such as heating and cooking, we have never felt without, with alternative technologies like the solar shower, composting toilets and the outdoor kitchen's rocket stove leading the way.

The Awhi Farm water heater. An old converted metal drum that heats our water every day with a small amount  of firewood in about 20 minutes. 

Awhi Farm's rocket stove, in my mind, puts other conventional cooking options to shame. Its simple design and construction from earthen materials and a few items from the dump has us baking banana bread, roasting potatoes and baking quiches (with our fresh supply of a dozen daily eggs thanks to Awhi's hens) all through the simple idea of air transition, or movement. The rocket stove requires very little preheating (about 5-10 mins), and uses minimal resources (a few small logs at a time), to generate heat which moves from the outside back of the oven (where the fire is lit), through a chimney and into the oven, where it cooks and then leaves again through the oven door, which remains cracked to allow the flow of air to escape. Contrary to our preconceptions of how an oven should operate, instead of using energy to generate heat and then trapping it inside an insulated structure, the rocket stove allows the heat to move naturally through the system and thereby continues to heat with little addition of more firewood.

Adding fresh wood. A piece of wood, like the one of the right, provides sufficient heat to the oven for about half an hour. 

The back of the rocket stove, which is just an old oven with a clay chimney installed, running through its center.

The small fireplace at the back of the oven. The wood goes in here, then the heat and flame is drawn backwards through the chimney and into the oven.

The front/side. Note the door must remain cracked to encourage the air flow to circulate through and not to remain stagnant inside the oven. 

Food Forests: For the last two years Andy Cambies has been a resident of Awhi Farm. On the run from a German society run by rules and regulations, he has found an outlet in permaculture and through the natural systems of nature. Andy sees no reason or sense with gardening practices enforced on nature by humans to produce food but instead sees logic and practicality in the systems that nature creates for itself. He has spent his time in New Zealand researching and practicing the creation of food forests, the idea that cooperating with a piece of land's natural wants and desires can, through little maintenance in the first few years, create a self-feeding, self-watering and self-weeding food production system that will last a lifetime. 

Andy's concept comes from the pioneering work of Robert Hart and works on the idea of mirroring nature's system of layers: the root layer, the topsoil, seedlings, climbing plants, ferns, shrubs and perennial trees. Should you be able to achieve a harmony of all these layers, your area or food forest should do the rest of the work for you and will provide you with an abundant crop of fruits and other perennials with very little effort required from the gardener. This idea does't work well with many annual crops like carrots and tomatoes which require more attention and weeding, but Andy is looking towards achieving food security and longevity and is not interested in a conventional or specific idea of what food we should have growing in our gardens. 

In this orchard the final goal is to replace the weeds that have grown over with fresh soil and clover. The clover is self sustaining and will prevent the development of new weeds and unwanted plants in the food forest. 

We first place down a thick layer of cardboard, to be followed by mulch. This will kill the weeds, and once composted and turned to soil, we can  begin to grow the clover and perennials we want without having to battle more weeds. 

The area, completed with cardboard and mulch. 

Andy's enthusiasm for Food Forests has grown so much that he has published a manual online for anyone interested in the idea to access free of charge. You can take a look at his work here.

Lisa: Lisa herself has been one of the most inspiring aspects of our time here at Awhi Farm. Lisa is a wonderful and tireless educator, and it's not long before you are taken along by her patience and passion and you are transformed into a beacon of optimism with a can-do attitude. From the remains of an old road's management site full of trash and gravel, Lisa and a host of collaborators and volunteers have turned what was an unloved site into a productive, inspiring and innovative space that contains gardens, orchards, alternative technologies, accommodations, laying hens, recycled materials made into everything and anything, naturally constructed houses, food forests, bees, mushrooms, compost and space for so much more.

When not busy with any of the above,  Lisa spends her time hosting a number of school groups that visit her for a practical hands-on learning experience. She also manages to spread her passion at the local school where she runs the school's garden program. Although you may have to peer behind the always advancing blackberry to see it, Awhi Farm is a place of joy, of productivity and is a clear expression of Lisa's love for living off the land.

Nothing beats a freshly laid egg.
Thanks, chicks!

Manuka-blend, anyone?

In a few days we will leave Awhi Farm as we head south to our next property. We will leave fully enriched from our short time with Lisa and at Awhi Farm with heads full of new information and ideas. Ideas that we hope we can share and spread with others as we continue on our journey. 

Blessed with beautiful sunsets.
This was the night before cyclone Pam passed over the north of the country.