Michelle Busby with her children Adelyn, 7, and Cason, 3, and her niece Alice Smith, 5. Photo/ Supplied
A south Taranaki farm selling fresh produce is part of this year's Taranaki Sustainable Backyards Trail.
The public will be welcomed on to Michelle and Jarrod's 3.78-acre property, Goldbush Micro Farms, during the annual event, which celebrates local backyard efforts in sustainability and inspires the public to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
This year's backyards trail runs from October 29 to November 7.
Michelle moved to fulltime work on the farm in April.
"Between homeschooling, my children Adelyn, 7, and Cason, 3, and running the farm, I'm quite busy but I enjoy every minute of it. Jarrod is a mechanic and has a fulltime job. He's also very helpful on the farm and has built a number of things for the property."
Michelle's goal is to provide south Taranaki with fresh produce.
"I started going to the markets in 2017 where I met a lot of my clients. It was a great way to talk to people and see where the demand was. In 2019 I had to stop going to the markets to keep up with the demand for fresh produce."
Michelle and Jarrod have entered the Sustainable Backyard's Trail since 2017, and Michelle says they have enjoyed it each year.
"In 2017 we had just moved onto our new property and had only planted the fruit trees. A person from Sustainable Taranaki asked us to join and said it would be great as people can come back each year and see how the property has evolved."
Their property features beef stock, a house garden, a woodlot, and a food forest.
"We had to come up with a way to maximise our space so we have fruit trees as the top layer and then shrubs and other things on the bottom."
During the 2020 alert level 4 lockdown, the company introduced deliveries.
"We've kept them going. On Monday our customers receive a newsletter of that week's vegetable bag and they can make adjustments if they like. We harvest our produce on a Wednesday morning and get the deliveries out that afternoon. It ensures people have really fresh produce."
The pair run a commercial garden and running workshop and Michelle says she likes showing visitors what they do at the farm.
"People are always enthusiastic and take different pieces of knowledge away. I like talking to people and offering them advice that they can apply in their own gardens. "
During this year's Taranaki Sustainable Backyards Trail, Michelle says she will talk to the visitors about human-scale agriculture.
"I'll discuss what we do here, how we only use human-powered tools and discuss the layout of the gardens, the width of the paths and how it all helps grow as much as you can in a small space."
She says the backyards trail is a great way to showcase what different people do for sustainability.
"There's a lot of people doing different things and it's really helpful for people starting out, and those who want some more tips on how they can do things. We're really hoping a lot of local people get behind the trail this year."
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