New LSB owner in Northland

Hi all
Just purchased a 10 acre lifestyle block in Northland and will be building in the next 6 months or so. Cant wait to get out of town and live the quiet life with some cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, orchard, vege patch and later down the track a pony for my daughter(only 1year old). Any one else in the north? hints and tips welcome

Welcome to the forum. There are quite a few Northlanders around, spread over the wide expanse of the region; which bit are you living in?

Tip: never underestimate Kikuyu.

Tip: Don't expect that "cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, orchard, vege patch and later down the track a pony for my daughter" will give you a quiet life.

I'm in Northland too, as Ruth says, it's a bit place

Hi Ruth
I am in Otaika Valley which is just out of Whangarei.

Hi there. Welcome to the forums. We are a few km out of the other end of Whangarei - Ngararatunua.

Welcome to the forum! I'm not as far up as Whangarei, but compared to Invercargill I can claim to be "in the North"

And I'm a bit further north again at Helena Bay

We do have occasional get-togethers where we meet up at someone's place. Maybe we should organise another one when spring is here?

hi there
A spring get together would be great. Am interested in talking to others to find out what they do on their land and how to get the most out of it.

Welcome! We are in the Far North (just inland from Mangonui).

We are mainly orcharding and a teeny bit of timber crop. Mostly it's trial and error to see what likes the soil and climate and what doesn't. Just because it's supposed to do well in our type of climate, doesn't make it so. We've killed more avocado trees than I care to admit and the hazelnuts seem more interested in growing leaves than nuts. However the plums, citrus, apples, feijoas and maccadamia's crop heavily (much to the delight of the wild pigs and possums). We've had mixed success with kiwifruit, passionfruit and grapes but blue berries and bananas seem to do well - as do tamarillos and watermelon. Our one experiment with raspberries was an utter disaster. The damn things sent runners EVERYWHERE and yet hardly fruited at all. I guess because we are in a valley we tend to have a microclimate. It can get down to minus 1 or 2 in the winter and as high as 43 or 44 degrees C in summer. People don't believe us until they come and experience it for themselves.

In terms of getting the most out of your land, I guess it's all down to doing what you love and giving stuff a go. One thing is for sure, you'll never be bored!

Welcome......and remember that not every year is the same. One year it will be good for pears, next year it's apples, and so on.
Keep the trees well pruned so that they don't become huge overproducing monsters. Better to have a little of good quality.
I see you can you grow passionfruit there, lucky you! Yes, raspberries are tasty but spread like crazy. Blackberries are good, cut them right down each year.

welcome to northland...we have 30 odd acres 15min sth of whangarei in mangapai..

I was born in Kawakawa hospital and spent 8 days living in Kaikohe, so I suppose that I'm a Northlander too :lol:
As tony stated above, the difference between years can be huge, and without irrigation is a hugely limiting factor. I have been keeping rainfall records for 22 years now, and the wettest year was 1800 mm with the driest 650 mm. It makes planning very difficult.

Welcome from Maungakaramea!
Eat the elephant 1 bite at a time