NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Lifestyle

Twelve Questions: Matt Purbrick

By Emily Simpson
NZ Herald·
1 Jun, 2015 05:00 PM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Matt Purbrick has travelled widely and says he found that wherever he went those who had the least were the happiest. Photo / Jason Dorday

Matt Purbrick has travelled widely and says he found that wherever he went those who had the least were the happiest. Photo / Jason Dorday

Matt Purbrick and his wife Lentil are the couple behind the popular Australian lifestyle blog Grown & Gathered. They live on an organic farm, trade flowers for their needs and are in New Zealand to talk about sustainable living.

1. Some scientists have said it's too late to save the planet. What would you say to them?

That's such a weird attitude. There's so much hope for the planet, we just need for people to take responsibility. And if those scientists could live the way we live, they would do so regardless. I read this great quote by some old medieval philosopher. He was hoeing his garden and someone walked past and said "what would you do if the world was going to end tomorrow?" and he turns and he goes "I'd finish hoeing my garden".

2. Do you shop at the supermarket for anything?

No. We grow over 500 varieties of fruit, vegetables and flowers. We hunt rabbits and ducks and raise meat. We get eggs from our chickens. We milk our own cows and make cheeses, cream, butter, yoghurt. We make our own wine. We fish a lot of carp which is a massive pest in Australia and everyone hates it but we learned how to prepare it and it's amazing. We bake bread - gluten-free sourdough because Lentil can't eat wheat. We make fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi, pickles, chutneys, sauces. Toilet paper we get in bulk from Who Gives a Crap - they give half their profits to WaterAid.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

3. What do you give each other for Christmas and birthdays?

Cuddles. Or we go out for dinner. We have great relationships with restaurants and cafes in Melbourne so when we go out we get spoiled. We're very isolated where we live but we're super-connected.

4. You live waste-free. What about sewage?

Sewage is totally not waste. If we could we'd be putting it on the garden, but we can't legally do that. We have a septic tank that looks after itself.

5. You and Lentil grow and trade organic veges and flowers - how does that work?

We go to Melbourne every week with a van full of veges and flowers. We put a lot of love into the flowers and we try and trade for something that has a lot of love in it. We've got a year's supply of traditionally smoked and cured bacon from these beautiful pigs that our friends raise. For smaller posies you get all kinds of stuff: a bone for our dog, a CD, a book, movie tickets, a massage. It's a beautiful conversation starter and it gets people thinking about what is abundant in their lives. Some people are like "oh I've got nothing to trade" and then you find out they're a physiotherapist or an accountant or that their nana knits the most amazing socks.

Discover more

Entertainment

Man behind Lorde and Little

13 May 07:30 PM
New Zealand

Twelve Questions: Matt O'Brien

18 May 05:00 PM
Entertainment

Twelve Questions: Misal Adnan Yıldız

20 May 05:00 PM
Entertainment

Twelve Questions: Jacqueline Fahey

25 May 05:00 PM

6. What's your favourite flower?

Ranunculus. They're so female. So lacy and layered and voluptuous. I never grew flowers, ever. The only flowers in my garden were vegetables that had gone to flower. Lentil brought all that.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

7. Did you have a hippie upbringing?

No! It was conventional. Everything came from a packet. I think mum had me on formula from when I was like 6 months old. I'm half Italian, my Nonna and Nonno came over from Italy. Nonna's food was mega, it was so good, but mum never learned to cook good hearty Italian food. My old man ran a winery but he was never a farmer as such.

8. What were your school years like?

I went to boarding school. It was a very private boys' school, very exposed to society folk and the antithesis of what felt right to me. The kids that end up in those schools come from a lot of different cultures, but everyone was loaded, basically. There were only a few who were interesting. I don't have any friends from then. I enjoyed the teachers and had a few close friends but a lot of people I was like "you guys are just wankers".

9. You've said you came back from overseas changed. What did you learn on your travels?

Everywhere I experienced the same thing over and over again. The happiest people had the least - everywhere. People carry on about how impoverished they are here or there or how war-torn this area is, but everyone is just stoked to be alive, these little kids are running around playing games. It would be naive to say that there's no structure around their lives, but it's a bit wilder. I travelled overland from Vietnam to Israel in six months. I took one flight but the rest was like trains, buses, walking, riding, whatever. Just moving every day, I went up through China and central Asia, Iran, the Middle East, went down to Africa for a few months, Europe, India and Nepal. Everywhere it was the same, everyone was super-happy, living with nothing.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

10. Where do you live now?

We live on my family's winery. It's like 3000 acres and Lentil and I have a one-acre garden. We renovated one of the old cottages. Tahbilk is a big winery, one of the oldest family-owned wineries in Australia, a bit of an institution. The old man runs it and my sister, uncle and auntie are all sort of on the board - it's a big company, it's like the antithesis of what Lentil and I do, at the moment. Dad's a pretty open guy but he's a businessman.

11. How hard do you work?

Last night I was bottling a spiced Indian chutney until midnight, then I got up at 5 to catch a plane. We just do what we feel we need to do. In summer, it's light from 5am till 9 or 10pm and I'm outside most of that. We used to just work daylight hours but now we're doing a lot of education and workshops so we work all the time. It's insatiable, never-ending. Our families probably think we don't do anything but we literally work all the time. You're always preparing or preserving olives or peaches or whatever so you have everything you need at all times. And we do everything on a commercial scale. Yeah we get stressed, it drives us crazy, but only because we're sleep-deprived and we have a list this long. Admin is the biggest stress. I can go out in the garden and feel energised at the end of the day but working at a computer drives me crazy.

12. How did you meet Lentil?

It was Australia Day. There were a whole bunch of people just hanging out at my house. Lentil arrived with a $5 bottle of wine and it turns out that $5 bottle of wine is the reason we are now married. It got her drunk enough that she couldn't drive home. People who watched us talking that night have said it was like that Donnie Darko film where people are connected. We were just having a heap of fun, have been ever since.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

• Matt and Lentil are holding workshops on wholesome eating and sustainable living on June 4 and 14.

Tickets are available from littlebirdorganics.co.nz

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Lifestyle

The high-protein food boom: What it means for NZ consumers

03 Jul 10:00 PM
Premium
Lifestyle

The surprising health benefits of magic mushrooms

03 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Lifestyle

A loved one was diagnosed with dementia. Now what?

03 Jul 06:00 AM

Sponsored: Get your kids involved in your reno

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

The high-protein food boom: What it means for NZ consumers

The high-protein food boom: What it means for NZ consumers

03 Jul 10:00 PM

Nutritionist Nikki Hart says protein helps muscles, immune system, and hormone production.

Premium
The surprising health benefits of magic mushrooms

The surprising health benefits of magic mushrooms

03 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
A loved one was diagnosed with dementia. Now what?

A loved one was diagnosed with dementia. Now what?

03 Jul 06:00 AM
Watch: Smokefreerockquest and Showquest's finals around the motu

Watch: Smokefreerockquest and Showquest's finals around the motu

03 Jul 06:00 AM
Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper
sponsored

Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP