My name is Max. I grew up in the USA and came to NZ backpacking at age 18. I met my wife Suzanne and we traveled NZ for a while in our van doing seasonal work. Five years ago we purchased our small farm totaling 8.5 acres. I continued working on a commercial dairy farm but felt uneasy about the animal welfare and environmental impact of my work.

We farmed our land organicly for the first years but after hearing about permaculture we changed direction, away from standard meat, fruit and vege production and towards a food forest, more perennial veges and some but less meat. We have wwoofers come and stay and although we haven't taken any permaculture cources we have researched as much as possible on line.

We have recently dug swales across a sloping area and are now sourcing plants to more densely plant our future forest. We milk goats and have free range layer flock who are preparing a large area which will in spring become an acre plus of main crops incorporating our grey water. Always more projects at different stages of development. Very exciting times!