Wildwood Farm sustainable living
Teachers
FIONA BAKER
WILDWOOD OWNER/TEACHER
Welcome,
Steve and I have been busy homesteading and raising our children at Wildwood Farm for the last 12 years. We really enjoy sharing our beautiful land, creating and hosting workshops and camps at Wildwood, our focus is to teach purposeful skills for resilient life. We hope to see you soon.
IAN SPARBECK
WILDWOOD FARM CHEF/TEACHER
Originally from the States, Ian came to NZ 5 years ago on a 3 month working holiday and never left. A chef by trade, Ian has travelled all over NZ as a wwoofer and worked as a chef in restaurants in Kaikoura, Coromandel and Wellington. After taking a permaculture design course at the Koanga Institute in 2014, Ian decided to return to Waiheke to combine his love of cooking and gardening into a sustainable lifestyle and to inspire along the way.
JULIE CRAIG
Julie is a tutor, author and columnist about living sustainably in Auckland's urban environment. An historic food practitioner, Julie preserves, makes jam, gardens, grows herbs, forages, distils and brews, and manages small livestock.
Fostering strong communities through bartering, sharing and teaching is an important part of every-day life. Julie lives in Auckland with her husband and two children. In her spare time she is involved with Kai Auckland, Glen Eden Food is Free, swims, walks and keeps an extensive herb collection from local crops.
RICHARD EVATT
WAIHEKE HONEY COMPANY
Richard Evatt (aka Sticky Ricky)
Richard is a reformed interior designer with a passion for bees. His transition to full time beekeeper came about from a down turn in the building industry while he and his wife juggled careers and raising a young family. It made sense to give up commuting, raise his own kids and do a job that was also beneficial to the wider community.
Richard will talk about the highs and lows of bee keeping; while you get a pot of gold of the sticky variety, as with all farming ventures your harvest is weather dependent and disease can wipe out your stock.
Richard will talk about beekeeping options for homesteaders. What to consider if you are thinking about getting your own hives, options to have someone else’s hives on your land and alternative pollinators to honeybees such as bumblebees and native solitary bees.
DEE PIGNEGUY
Dee believes;
· Organic gardening is the single most effective action you can personally take to build your own health and help the planet.
· Biodiversity is fundamental to having food, fuel, clean water and air and a livable climate
· Nutrition and Gardening a perfect marriage to promote good health
Dee’s latest book Grow Me Well presents the nuts and bolts of nutrition leading the reader through a journey of discovery and an exploration of the body’s relationship with food. The most comprehensive guide to health and wellness that has been developed for adolescents and their parents.
JACQUELINE JOSEPH
Rongoa Maori Native Plant Medicine Walk
Na Jacqueline Joseph
Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati Kinohaku, Ngati Toa, Ngati Rarua, Te Atiawa,
Ngati Mahuta, Ngati Tuwharetoa, also of Jewish, French, Welsh and English descent …
Native trees, plants and Rongoa/Maori plant medicine have been part of my life since I was very young. As a child, I spent a lot of time outside in the garden communing with nature (in fact I much preferred it to being with people).
My mother and father were very much into gardening, my mother
into herbal plant lore, my father passed on his knowledge of Rongoa that came down from his father and from those generations before him.
They have been my greatest kaiako/teachers feeding the passion within.
At High School I studied Horticulture, becoming passionate about
identifying with native plants.
Following on from school, I studied Aromatherapy, Massage,
including Mirimiri/Maori massage and Rongoa further feeding my
interest and passion.
After my father died in 2009, I started to make and experiment
more with native plants and Rongoa. At the time I was studying
Shamanism and reconnecting more deeply with nature. I started up a facebook page, ORA Rongoa & Healing in 2010, which gave me the space to experiment and share my findings.
I am predominately guided by my tupuna/ancestors. I believe to
share in all I have learnt. My journey I feel, has only but begun, and
an honour it is to share what I know at this stage, especially
incorporating my love of storytelling …