Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

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 / Whanganui Chronicle

Hard work recipe for success

By Lin Ferguson
Whanganui Chronicle·
21 Jun, 2016 09:39 PM3 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

ARDENT PRESERVER: Marie Mullins sells a large range of chutneys and pickles - all from homegrown produce - from an old church hall in Sanson.

ARDENT PRESERVER: Marie Mullins sells a large range of chutneys and pickles - all from homegrown produce - from an old church hall in Sanson.

Marie Mullins' hands are never idle.

She's either gardening, cooking or head down dealing with mountains of office work. Otherwise she is thoroughly entertaining customers with a bright smile and a hearty laugh.

And she moves fast.

"I have to keep moving to get everything done."

With husband Phil, the couple own a lifestyle block in Marton where her gardens flourish all year round.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

They need to because Marie, who has been known for years as the pickle lady, produces a huge range of glorious jams, chutneys, pickles, sauces and cordials sold from her Eclectic Country store in Sanson.

The store is a converted Methodist church hall with a large commercial kitchen at the rear. Pantry shelves in a special corner are stacked with gleaming jars of produce.

"I started out in the what is now the barber shop in Marton. But I always wanted somewhere on a highway. There wasn't a lot of foot traffic in Marton."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Because of the slow stream of customers in Marton, Marie would head off every weekend to markets like the Farmers Market in Feilding.

"I did really well and people got to know me and my produce."

But because because she's now on a main highway her customers are from all over New Zealand, she said.

"I have people who travel weekly, for example between Auckland and Christchurch, and of course dozens of truck drivers stop in and buy up their favourite pickles and sauces."

Marie said her grandmother was instrumental in teaching her how to grow and make delicious food.

"And how to work long hours and enjoy it.

"My grandmother was a very hard worker. If she wasn't cooking she was in the garden. It was all about work and I grew up with that."

Marie's gardens are spread throughout their block and at different times of the year there are vegetables, fruit and flowers.

Vegetables including gherkins, beans, cabbages, corn, carrots, garlic and onions.

"It's time to plant garlic right now."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Fruit from Marie's land includes lemons and grapefruit, feijoa, huge Monty's Surprise apples, quince, tamarillos, cape gooseberries and rhubarb.

And as well as her own produce Marie has also created in her special country store an array of other goods.

Throughout the old hall are ranges of natural wool knitwear, body products, soft bright leather handbags, outdoor furniture, handcrafted jewellery and pottery.

"I love everything here it's all so bright and cheerful."

The Sanson store opens seven days a week between 10am and 4pm.

In the warmer weather it is constantly busy, she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Even though she has help a few hours a day and a fulltimer one day a week, when Marie closes the doors at 4pm she's straight out back and into her kitchen.

Out come the pots, pans dishes, jars, the range is switched on and the cooking is underway.

"There's no putting it off it has to be done. I'm used to just getting straight to it."

But if there is a a large amount of stock needing cooked then it's nothing for Marie to cook for hours and sleep overnight at the back of the hall.

Though she is passionate and self confessed workaholic, she said the day is fast approaching that in "about a year" it might be time to shut up shop.

However. her success has been thrilling, she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I've realised my dream. Cooking pickles and gardening."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Kāinga Ora needs to be ‘responsive to need’, says minister

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Work begins on key phase of port project

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Pop star to speak on new book at Whanganui Literary Fest

04 Jul 04:57 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Kāinga Ora needs to be ‘responsive to need’, says minister

Kāinga Ora needs to be ‘responsive to need’, says minister

04 Jul 06:00 PM

'We want to take a very detailed specific look at what Whanganui needs' – Chris Bishop.

Work begins on key phase of port project

Work begins on key phase of port project

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Pop star to speak on new book at Whanganui Literary Fest

Pop star to speak on new book at Whanganui Literary Fest

04 Jul 04:57 PM
Premium
Gardening: Pruning deciduous fruit trees and roses

Gardening: Pruning deciduous fruit trees and roses

04 Jul 04:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

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
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP