CENTRAL OTAGO

New Totara Estate garden flourishes

Jimmy Hoey, a Totara Estate cook from the late 1800s, is the inspiration behind a new Victorian kitchen garden at the property which has caught many an eye and taste bud.

WRITER: Keren Mackay, Anna Knox IMAGE: Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

Re-establishing a vegetable garden at our Totara property has been high on the list for a while. When longtime supporter, Alison Albiston, put up her hand to head the project after moving on from her own Victorian kitchen garden at Burnside Homestead, the offer was taken up – and with over-sized results. “We are thrilled with our beautiful vegetable garden and so are our visitors, with many making a bee line down to investigate what’s growing or to sit for a moment and contemplate the beautiful surroundings,” says Property Lead, Keren Mackay. The cook shop was the powerhouse of the great estates of 19th century New Zealand and Totara Estate was typical of the time. With nearly 15,000 acres of land to be worked, there were a lot of mouths to be fed.

One cook at Totara, a character known as Jimmy Hoey, worked on the estate for a number of years in the late 1800s. Little is known of Jimmy – he certainly wasn’t born with that name. According to Bill MacPherson, son of the Manager, John MacPherson, who was a child during the time, he was thought to have come from China via South East Asia and was uncommonly tall – being close on 6 feet. He was obviously well thought of and his station brownie and soup were famous. The garden would have been central to Jimmy’s work. He would have regularly gone out to grab a cabbage or two for the soup, or pick some mint or rosemary to go with the endless quantities of mutton served. It was with Jimmy in mind that work on the garden began. Community support for the project has been generous, with beams coming from the original Holmes Wharf repairs. Donations of woodchip for the path, sheep manure and straw all helped to create rich abundant soil that has produced a season of marvellous produce. Staff laid out the beds and current chief cook, Annie Baxter, has been reaping the rewards, using herbs and flowers to decorate food made here, as well as using rhubarb, carrots, beetroot and even a giant parsnip (pictured) in some of her famous cakes. n

Gardener, Alison Albiston, and Totara Estate host, Jim Howden, with an impressively sized parsnip.