Best Laid Plans

What inspired the business? When I met my husband, Scott, in 2019 he had established the Free Range Egg Farm from the ground up. From there, we wanted to sell the eggs direct to market, so Local Food NZ was created as an online farm shop. We started it with the hope that it could be a platform for us and other local farmers to showcase their high-quality produce. I grew up in the King Country, on my family’s 500 hectare sheep and beef farm in Taumarunui. I’ve always believed New Zealand grows the best food and that local and fresh is the way to go. We wanted a place for farmers to work together and where consumers could connect to those growing their food. It started with Scott’s dad, Craig, delivering eggs to customers in the area and Scott’s mum, Vicky, helping out in the egg-collecting room.

Did it take off right away? The reception, since day dot, has been awesome. We’ve come a long way from hens in an old wooden deer shed –literally! When I first met Scott, we had a handful of home-delivery customers and cafes in the Manawatū. Now we supply homes, cafes and restaurants right across the lower North Island, from Scorch-O-Rama cafe in Wellington’s Karaka Bays to local butchers in Taumarunui and everywhere in between. We have grown our flock of laying hens on our farm in Halcombe and we now employ a small group of staff to help with deliveries and packaging. Slowly, we’re introducing more products to our range. We sell honey from hives on our farm, olive oil from neighbours across the river and asparagus from down the road. I’m currently looking into various nuts and garlic, and one day I’d love to develop a refrigeration system so we can introduce meat and dairy products.

What’s your day-to-day like? I’m still working in radiology. Two days a week Itravel forty minutes to Palmerston North, where I specialise in mammograms. The rest of the time you’ll find me doing HR, administration, marketing and packing eggs for Local Food. The egg packing is done here in Halcombe. Around nine every morning, the hens finish laying and they pop outside. The shed has nesting boxes with slanted floors, so the eggs roll down onto a central conveyor belt and are taken straight to the pack room to be sorted. It’s really impressive to see it all work! Scott and I actually live in the old deer shed the chickens used to live in. Scott’s parents live just down the driveway, in the original homestead, and there are two chicken sheds on the property, too. It’s very communal!

Wow, you’re balancing a lot! For a while, I found juggling the different hats really tricky. For many years I went to work at 8am, did my job, then left. Unless I was on call, I didn’t take work home. When I fully came on-board with Local Food, my phone was pinging at all hours. It was chaotic to say the least! Now, I’ve got systems in place to keep my balance. I’m a strong believer in having hobbies. It’s important to have time away from the farm and business. Scott and I love running, and often enter in triathlons or multisport events. It’s a great way to meet people, and not always talk about chickens! When you’ve had a bad day at the business, you could have a really good day out running. Or, you could have a bad day running, but a really good day with business. You’ve got to have a bit of both, or else life could get a bit tough.

Where to from here? We still have lots of the original customers, and I’ve started couriering the eggs as well, so smaller towns don’t miss out. Local cafes love them – especially for poaching, because the fresher they are, the better they hold together. However, some things never change – Craig is still our delivery driver. Everyone loves Craig! Local Food is always a work in progress, but what keeps us motivated is bridging the gap between farmers and the city. Sometimes I feel there’s a wee bit of a misconception about what farmers do, and so the whole point is connecting people to what they eat and where it comes from. The best thing since we started has been meeting other farmers just like us, producing really good, local food.