Opening the gates to phytomedicine Phytofarm, a medicinal plant farm and passion project designed and developed by herbalist and naturopath Valmai Becker, was one of many farms around New Zealand to host an Open Farms event on 21st March.
Director of the Canterbury College of
Open Farms was started in 2020, to
native bush that invites native birds,
bridge the knowledge gap between
particularly morepork back to nest.
urban visitors and rural farmers and
“While I enjoyed the Canterbury
growers. 37 farms around New Zealand
College of Natural Medicine, I missed
hosted approximately 2,500 visitors from
having a garden. The position
both urban and rural backgrounds and
within the college involved a lot of
luckily, the weather held out for most!
administration and I wanted to get
Farmlands Amberley Salesperson Chris
back to the land,” Valmai says.
Jackson visited Phytofarm in Little River,
“At the time of buying the land, I was also
Canterbury to learn more about land
running a natural retreat in Nelson and
diversity and creating your own balms,
one attendee asked if I wanted a ginkgo
teas and herbal medicine.
tree. Ginkgos are an amazing tree with
“Phyto” means plant and for Farmlands
a long history of medicinal research into
Flourishing flora and fauna
shareholder Valmai Becker, plants are
supporting brain health and preventing
a way of life. After graduating with a
Alzheimer’s and dementia. That tree was
Diploma in Naturopathy in 1980 and
one of the first to be planted and started
holding a position as Co-Owner and
my education garden.
Diversification is a theme within Phytofarm, with Valmai growing between 65-100 different species of plant, including the herb garden and trees.
20 | THE FARMLANDER
Natural Medicine, Valmai purchased 12ha of land in 2002. The diversity of the property drew her in, with wetland and forest complementing the bare land. Valmai has since allowed the forest to regenerate back into
“At first I was just growing enough for myself but eventually ended up producing enough to teach a class how to grow, process and harvest herbs and other plants before blending them into teas and other products,” Valmai says. “Investigating how to process and dry each plant became the main focus, until the garden was growing enough that I could start producing a product range to sell. I also started up an apprenticeship program for people wanting to learn about what plants could give back to you in more depth. “Most of the apprentices are off lifestyle blocks and are wanting to farm more than just sheep and cattle — they are wanting to diversify how their land is being used.”
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