Abundant fruit on a lemon tree near Lesley Grant's house.
Abundant fruit on a lemon tree near Lesley Grant's house.
Lesley Grant has been a Tree Cropper for the past 15 years and has lived on her Manakau property for 23 years.
“Tree Croppers are great. You make friends, pick up ideas by visiting other properties and acquire a lot of useful skills, from how to prune a fruit tree, to grafting, to dealing with diseases. The latter has been their biggest contribution, as far as I am concerned.”
Lesley Grant with one of her furry friends.
Her nine-acre property sits comfortably at the bottom of the foothills down a narrow windy lane, and has been divided over the years into ‘rooms’ by plantings, hedges, and fences. There is a creek which ends in a lake, and that comes complete with a crocodile - yes!
She has a vege patch (enclosed so the chooks do not destroy it), a lot of fruit trees (plums, apples, walnuts, lemons), some heirloom ones and unusual flowers like Balm of Gilead and a golden elderflower. There are plenty of native trees, too. Everything is accessible thanks to mowed strips of path that wind from room to room and around again. Around every corner there is a new sight.
An army of chickens, ducks and geese roam around in the garden, inquisitively following any visitors. Some of these protective critters are determined to block the accessway via sinking into a slumber in the middle of the path - if they are not trying to get inside the house, that is.
Plenty of feathered friends on the road to the entry point.
The property - which is mostly on a gentle slope - has a few paddocks and, further up into the hills, walnut trees which are guarded by a bunch of llamas.
“They are the only animals I know that leave the walnut trees alone. Most other ringbark trees and that; kills them. They keep the grass short for me, too.” She shares her walnut harvest every March with friends who can come and collect.
Eating any of her livestock is out of the question for her.
A couple of cats hang around the house, which bathes in sunlight, but catches just enough shade to be comfortable.
The lake has a jetty and the creek has a few bridges, all structures put together by Lesley’s late husband.
A creek winds its way through the property.
Lesley said she’s always used permaculture principles in her gardening, so the garden is untidy.
“There is no point going around getting rid of every sprig of something that shouldn’t be there.”
Treecropping is about trees, and several decades ago some people thought it might be good to do something about growing useful trees and attracting farmers, gardeners and scientists. Farmers and lifestylers saw benefits in trees as shelter belts and a way to supplement income. Trees help with soil and water conservation, too.
“Most treecroppers tend to specialise in something - unusual trees or peaches, or a particular berry. We swap a lot of seeds, too. Yet we are all doing something similar, and it is great to be able to visit others during monthly meetings to see what they do.”
A big talking point among visitors: a fake crocodile awaits you near the edge of the pond.
Tree Croppers can be found around the country, and Horowhenua members join in with Wellington. Their branch is organising next year’s annual conference. The association has a website, a quarterly magazine, and each branch hold meetings as well as workshops. Annual membership is just $50 a year.
Lesley’s been to a few conferences, which she has found useful. “They select very good speakers about soil management [and] climate, as well as climate change, for example.”
A bamboo fence surrounds the vege garden.
Next year’s conference, which will be held in Ōtaki, offers a few tours and speakers about making biochar, growing specialist crops like Pinoli pinenuts and rongoā Māori.
