Rural Living - 7 October 2022

Lexi Cardey is confident with reins riding her horse Buzzy.

Photo: John Borren.

Going bananas in BOP

It was his fond childhood memories of eating fresh bananas in the Cook Islands that inspired Mathew Bergersen to try his hand at growing them.

“I spent four years living on Rarotonga so I got used to delicious bananas bought from roadside stalls or we’d be given a bunch by neighbours,” says Mathew.

“ ere was no shortage of them and they tasted so good. We came back to New Zealand when I

was eight years old, but I’ve never been a fan of supermarket bananas.”

Mathew helps run his family’s four-hectare property at Te Puna growing avocados and kiwifruit – and, until a few years ago, calla lilies were grown in a 1000m2 greenhouse.

Untapped market

“It was going to be pulled down so I wanted to put it to good use. I looked into growing berries but they’re labour-intensive so I thought of bananas and how they’re an untapped market.

“It was a last minute decision and a bit of a punt.”

Two years ago, Mathew bought 155 trees from a subtropical fruit tree grower in Northland.

“It was a long round trip towing the horse oat and thinking about how much I needed to learn. I knew bananas could be grown here in the Bay of Plenty – I mean, there are bunches hanging over garden fences all over the place and growers all the way down to Gisborne.

“But yeah, it was a bit of a reality check when I rst unloaded them.”

In spite of caterpillar issues in the rst year, Mathew has kept his bananas organic, which appealed to local eatery Te Puna Deli.

Chemical-free Owner Sam Darragh jumped at the chance to sell locally-grown bananas about four months ago. “We love that they’re chemical-free and there’s no

freight involved getting them shipped from another country. Mathew simply drops them in as he’s passing, and people buy them up as soon as they arrive. e mini Cavendish are very sweet and creamy and the lady ngers are popular. ey have a tropical, fruity avour.”

Mathew is now selling about 15kg of bananas a week through the deli. “It’s still only early days. Banana palms throw out bigger bunches the older they get. I was told I wouldn’t see fruit for 18 months, but we were picking bananas after eight months.

“I don’t mind the odd blemish but I’m tough on my grading so I still give a lot to family and friends. I’d estimate I’m producing between 20kg-25kg of bananas a week.”

Waste re-used Waste from the banana palms is used around the orchard. “We chop and mulch banana leaves to use around other plants. It’s quite brous so creates a nice, thick mulch around the avos.

“ e lady ngers grow 5m tall and only fruit once so when we chop it back to waist height, there are a lot of trunks to chop up.”

Imported bananas are harvested green, so they don’t ripen during shipping and are fumigated on arrival.

“I’m not taking my bananas far, so I can leave them to ripen naturally. In fact, an indicator is sometimes that a banana splits and that’s when the whole bunch is harvested.

“ at means it’s at optimum avour when it hits the store.”

For now, Mathew is “having fun” with his sideline business. Debbie Griffiths

It’s time to harvest the bananas.

Mathew Bergersen takes a stroll through the bananas in the greenhouse.

Creating forest corridors to expand the native kōkako’s habitat is one of the key ways to protect these stunning native birds of the Kaharoa Forest.

For ve years, a group called the Kōkako Ecosystem Expansion Programme has been collaborating to save the Kaharoa Forest kōkako by growing the bird’s habitat, which they desperately need more of. e collaborative conservation e orts are a major feat too – Tapuika iwi, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, the Department of Conservation, Bay Conservation Alliance, Kaharoa Kōkako Trust, Forest & Bird, Ōtanewainuku Kiwi Trust, Kōkako Recovery Group, Paraiti Catchment Care Group, Port Blakely Ltd, QEII National Trust have all teamed up for this project.

“ is conservation project wouldn’t happen without collaboration between people who have a passion for nature,” says Kaharoa Kōkako Trust chairperson Graeme Young.

Secure to save Kōkako are recognisable by their blue wattles – and the Kaharoa kōkako are a particularly special group of this endangered species.

“Our population is an original one so its genes are intact and always were,” says Graeme. e KEEP project was developed after genetic research uncovered the amount of habitat space kōkako require to survive.

“Some time ago, a geneticist worked out for kōkako to survive as a genetically secure population, you need 250 pairs and each pair needs roughly eight hectares of territory,” says Graeme.

“ at means you need 2000ha of forest and Kaharoa doesn’t have that – Kaharoa only has

Kaharoa Forest’s kōkako

many native birds, main predators of the kōkako are rats, stoats and possums – which KKT continue to control. “Without pest control, there’s no chance for them – the birds will die, whether it’s kiwi, kōkako, robin…without pest control they’re

doomed,” says Graeme. Overall, he says this project working to save this part of our environment is bigger than people realise. “It’s enhancing people’s feeling about the world and life and the way things should be.”

about 1000ha.” erefore the KEEP programme is encouraging Kaharoa’s neighbours to protect forested areas so the kōkako can spread from Kaharoa and successfully breed.

“Our hope is to extend these long corridors all the way to Otanewainuku and then potentially to other areas like Mangorewa,” says Graeme. “We’re probably, up to about 1100ha-1150ha, so already the projects working really well.”

Using corridors

Creating corridors and networking forested areas to expand their habitat is particularly unique and necessary to the kōkako. “ ey’re terrible yers,” says

Graeme. “In a patch of bush that’s surrounded by farmland, they can’t escape and are stuck in that bush forever.”

Graeme says kōkako can glide up to 100 metres but need to gain height if they’re to go further. However, the forest corridor work is going successfully. “With the patchwork of native forest and a few pine plantations, we actually almost have corridors now existing all the way to Ōtanewainuku and we’re trying to encourage birds to use them.”

Keeping the kōkako corridors and Kaharoa Forest free of predators is key to their protection too. Like

Georgia Minkhorst

Above: Native kōkako enjoying some tasty banana courtesy of Kaharoa Kōkako Trust volunteers.

Left: A native kōkako up-close. Photo: Matt Binns.

traps is part of the kōkako Ecosystem Expansion Programme mahi (work). Photo: Kim Collins.

Miss Birley and

It’s the end of a sacred era for a small historic chapel in Ohauiti.

e St Francis Māori Anglican Chapel at 103 Ohauiti Rd – also called Miss Birley’s chapel – began life in 1937, as the base for Elizabeth Birley, who was born in 1893 in England.

Arriving from her home country in 1932, Miss Birley, as she was known, was a voluntary missionary to the Diocese of Waiapu until she was 78. e letter sent with her from London was very clear that she was an ‘honorary associated missionary’ and that the Diocese of Waiapu had not undertaken to provide her with any nancial assistance.

Her family’s home in London was an elegant vestorey Victorian terraced house in Gloucester Terrace close to Paddington Station and Hyde Park. Stories handed down tell of her serving as a nurse during World War One, before coming to New Zealand, and being a woman of ‘tall and eloquent stature’.

A pony and a dog

Arriving in Auckland, she went on to a missionary posting in Rotorua, where she stayed at the Whakarewarewa Mission House. Purchasing a pony

for four pounds, with a dog thrown in as part of the bargain, she rode from Rotorua to Tauranga, settling on a property in Ohauiti Rd.

In 1933 she founded the Mission at Ohauiti, using her own capital to purchase the land, building a small mission house which was her home for nearly 40 years, and then the chapel. e Ohauiti property still has the chapel, a garage and a hall, but the mission house is now at Ōtanewainuku.

Remembered as being a very shy lady “and a most saintly person”, Miss Birley was greatly loved by the local Māori and Anglican community, valuing

TOTALLY SORTED FROM START TO FINISH

education and teaching the Gospel.

“She was always ready to teach and help any in need,” wrote W.H. Poole in a church publication in 1980.

“By the time she retired she was in some cases teaching the grandchildren of her earliest pupils and it would be di cult indeed to appreciate just what her work and example has meant to those she has given her life to serve.”

She is fondly remembered today by several of the older congregation of All Saints Anglican church in Maungatapu. Ngahuia Smith remembers, as a 12-13-year-old, going to Sunday School classes at the chapel with Miss Birley; for rst communion, then con rmation.

“I was fortunate to be one of Miss Birley’s godchildren,” says Ngahuia. “I would say she was godmother to a lot of children back in those days.”

Orchards and pūhā

vacant sections in the 1960s. “ ere were hardly any homes, that’s why there was a lot of pūhā around. Up here on the other side of the road there were orchards. I was allowed to go and pick fruit for the children for Sunday School. Miss Birley used to come with us and get pūhā, and we fed the children after church,” says Anne.

“It didn’t matter what religion people were, they came from Matapihi, Whareroa, Bethlehem, it was quite full sometimes. We always had something to eat afterwards for the children.”

People in the area suggested the chapel be named after Miss Birley, however she reminded them that the chapel already had a name – St Francis.

Horseback to Austin

For many years Miss Birley travelled about her large area on horseback, but in the 1950s she purchased a small Austin car which she used until failing eyesight caused her to stop driving.

TOTALLY SORTED FROM START TO FINISH

TOTALLY SORTED FROM START TO FINISH

“ e whole of Hairini came here,” says Anne Te Purewa Kururangi, who brought her seven children to Sunday School classes. “We used to have a concert in the hall for Christmas.”

Anne recalls Ohauiti had many

“Miss Birley had a little trusty green Austin, and she’d pick up three of us and bring us to the chapel here and we had our rst communion classes.

“She had us here from Friday through to Sunday,” says Ngahuia. “ ere were quite a few of us, children from Bethlehem-wide, around town and Matapihi.”

When Miss Birley retired she gave the Ohauiti property to the Anglican Māori Mission of the Diocese of Waiapu. On July 8, 2001, at a service dedicated to her, Elizabeth Joyce Addison Birley was acknowledged

Barbara Webb inside Miss Birley’s chapel in Ohauiti. All Photos: John Borren.

as a woman of compassion, eloquence, and of high moral standing. Bishop George spoke about the Diocese of Waiapu commitment to returning land and buildings as of right and as part of the bi-cultural constitution commitment.

However, he continued on to say the land in Ohauiti Rd was somewhat di erent in that Miss Birley gifted the land to the Bishop of Waiapu –not to the church or to the people. In her late-80s and nearly blind, Elizabeth lived with an adopted daughter, Marlene Borell in Manurewa, walking

twice-a-week to the local St Luke’s Church. e small 7m by 3m chapel was used occasionally as it is in the Parish of Holy Trinity, Tauranga, with a service conducted one Sunday each month for years.

A deconsecration

Sadly, Miss Birley’s chapel is to be pulled down as it is beyond repair. A deconsecration of the chapel was held at All Saints Anglican Church in Maungatapu on September 18. Demolition will take place inthe next few months.

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Rosalie Liddle Crawford

Ngahuia Smith looking out through a window of Miss Birley’s chapel in Ohauiti.

Miss Elizabeth Birley on her horse. Miss Birley with donkeys at Ohauiti.

The Stirling design by Advantage Designer Homes

Smiles shine bright on the faces of Greerton Pony Club youngsters as they pose for a photograph with their bright red, white and black uniforms on show and their horses in tow.

is enthusiasm is exactly what Greerton Pony Club wants to foster. e club has a goal to encourage young people to ride and learn to enjoy all kinds of sports connected with ponies and riding. “We are a youth focussedclub that supports all ages up to 25,” says Greerton Pony Club president Charlotte Taniwha.

e club has three groups of youth riders – beginners, intermediate and seniors.

Rallies

“Groups are based on their riding ability – not their age – because some kids will start learning to ride at a young age while others don’t start learning

to ride until they are older…it goes on the riding level.

“Our club holds 20 ridden rallies per year, plus unmounted rallies, a camp, two gymkhanas and fundraising shows annually at the Tauranga Racecourse, our branch’s home grounds.”

Charlotte understands e Greerton Pony Club itself was founded more than 50 years ago by the Humphries family, Evans family, Hawkin’s family and the Jamieson family.

Celebrate

Recently, the wider Tauranga Pony Club branches – Greerton, Papamoa, Otumoetai/Te Puna and Katikati –celebrated the 50th anniversary of John and Jenny Roud, who joined Greerton Pony club in 1972. “ ey have done unbelievable amounts of work for Greerton Pony Club over the years and for the equestrian park at McLaren Falls Park,” says Charlotte.

Another reason to celebrate is Greerton Pony Club is a recent recipient of a $6000 grant from New Zealand Community Trust, which will be used on riding instructor costs.

“ e grant is purely paying for those instructors so we can get good quality instruction, so that riders are learning

and moving forward in a healthy, safe and fun environment.”

Charlotte believes equestrian sport is getting harder for kids to access with expenses and less land available. Greerton club o ers 20 rallies for $200, which Charlotte says is much more a ordable than private instruction. “GPC is really keen to access riders who can’t a ord it but love horses because kids connect with horses.”

Connection

“Horses can push kids outside of their boundaries and to get away from social media.”

e sport also promotes the highest ideals of sportsmanship, citizenship and loyalty to create strength of character and self-discipline, says

The Greerton Pony Club girls stand out in their stunning red, white and black uniforms against the lush countryside.

All Photos: John Borren.

Ellie Carter gets rein led by Lacey Graham at the Graham’s farm.

Charlotte. “Many pony club riders have gone on to represent New Zealand on the national and international stage.” e club runs theory rallies at Tauranga Racecourse in winter months to encourage children to stay engaged and strive to do the NZPCA certi cate levels, which are internationally-recognised.

Safety aspects

“ ese theory certi cates are a great way to ensure that the children know the safety aspects of how and why you do things the Pony Club way.

“It is very important that riders learn to handle their horses/ponies in a safe way to ensure the health and safety of themselves, their horse/pony and of others around them and reduce accidents and injuries.” Perry Graham is in Greerton Pony Club’s intermediate group, with a mix of di erent

aged riders. “My favourite thing about pony club is hanging out with all the other horses and riding in groups,” says Perry.

Skills soaring

She shares a love of horse riding with her mother Emma Graham, and they regularly zoom across their family’s farmland at Omanawa.

Perry, who has been horse-riding since the age of seven, delights in jumping in the family farm’s arena and attending the Greerton Pony Club’s rallies.

Since Perry has joined Greerton Pony Club, Emma can already see her skills in the saddle soaring. “She’s de nitely become more con dent and with the di erent instructors that Perry has at Greerton Pony Club – it’s really cool to see her growing and improving with her riding,” says Emma.

Gabriella Douglas takes horse Harry for a jump in the farm’s arena.

Lexi Cardey is confident with reins riding her horse Buzzy.