7.45am. I wake and, on the days I don’t head into the factory, I love nothing more than sitting in my dressing gown outside in the sun with a fresh coffee before everyone else is up. It’s a still and quiet moment to plan, write emails and get a little fresh air.
9.30am. My family have always been entrepreneurial, and my grandmother gave us the knowledge and appreciation of plants. She turned that passion into a business by opening her garden to the public, along with her country store selling her pottery, crafts and dried lavender, and serving Devonshire teas. My day is like many other small business owners’: varied, sometimes crazy busy, and we wish that we could clone ourselves. My husband, Antony, and I have added homeschooling into the mix – which means our two children, Ruby, 9, and Hugo, 6, see, hear and feel every day what we do. I’m sitting at the dining table, quietly navigating in my head how my day is going to go. But first I need my second coffee…
10.30am. I had many orders from stockists over the weekend, so I do up those invoices, then make my way into my packing shed – our double garage at home – to do as much as I can before the courier arrives. I spent Sunday getting the majority of this done, as I often do during the really busy months, so I feel slightly ahead. Meanwhile, my husband is partway through the schooling session at the dining table. It’s nice listening to them converse about topics they’re learning.
12pm. A quick lunch, often made by my husband, which I’m grateful for. We sit down together outside with the kids and enjoy the sunshine.
12.30pm. I head off to the Botanical factory, a fifteen-minute drive towards Motueka, to catch up with our team of four. They are flat out making bath bombs, shower steamers and keeping the wheels turning. I jump in and give them a hand until they finish for the day at 3pm. Our culture is awesome – the team all have such amazing initiative, and they’re encouraging and positive. Their hours are 9.30am to 3pm because I always wanted this business to fit into life with kids. I love that we all have different things to offer, and it’s really nice to see friendships develop. It’s so important to me to find people who will gel.
3.30pm. Before I finish up at the factory, I like this quiet half hour to myself. I often schedule calls or take Zoom meetings with potential stockists or leads.
4pm. I drive home listening to the radio to wind down. I often do some of my best thinking during this time – dreaming up new products, ideas, or designs for packaging often happens when I’m in the shower or driving. Drawing the designs, using botanicals as my inspiration, is something I need to do on a free day – usually on the weekend. I have to have a clean and tidy house first. Then I just start – pencil first, then pen, then watercolour. It can take me weeks to finish a drawing, which will then be photographed and transferred in the box design. I get home to the kids running around outside and playing with their pet guinea pigs. They have nearly thirty – we nearly qualify as a farm! The rest of the afternoon is spent catching up on life jobs, gardening, or hanging out with the kids.
6pm. Dinner time. A sit-down dinner with the family is our ritual. Time to chat, with no phones, no TV. After dinner, it’s clean-up time and dishes, the kids take their showers, and we recollect ourselves for the next day. Some nights, depending on the time of year, I pack orders after dinner.
8.30pm. The kids make their move towards bed, and we read them some stories and say our final goodnights.
9pm. I work on my emails. I don’t enjoy my kids seeing me on my phone during the day, so I condense it down to the end of the day – I have fewer interruptions that way.
10pm. I put my phone or laptop away, and my husband and I finally turn on the TV for a quick binge-watch of our fav show, whatever it is at the time. Slow Horses was a great watch. I enjoy this with a cup of herbal tea and maybe a wee bit of chocolate to put a full stop on the day.
11.30pm. We make our way to bed. I take a quick shower, then it’s lights out. We’re both night owls, and this can sometimes be a lot later. My week varies a lot. I love being able to change things – to take moments here and there for horse riding or netball. I am finding – last year especially, as it was our biggest yet – that I’m losing time to do the little things. But being a business owner is all about finding solutions.
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) has supported production of this story. RWNZ, in partnership with NZI, celebrates rural women running successful enterprises across Aotearoa through the 2026 NZI Rural Women Business Awards. Entries close on March 27. To find out more, visit ruralwomennz.nz.
This story featured in our Ngahuru Autumn Edition 2026.
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