Building Our Dirt: Have you ever looked at a challenge, perhaps something really fundamental to what you do, Have you ever looked at a challenge, perhaps something really fundamental to what you do, and thought, “There must be a better way to tackle this?” That’s exactly how we felt about our soil here in Upper Read More…
Category: BLOGS
Monthly Blogs
Unearth Your Glow: Our Ultimate Guide to Clay Masks
For centuries, civilizations across the globe have turned to the earth for its healing and beautifying properties. From ancient Egyptians to Roman spa-goers, the secret to purified, glowing skin has been hidden in plain sight: clay. Today, the ritual of applying a clay mask is more than just a skincare step; it’s a moment Read More…
Stepping into Tomorrow: Our “Blooming” Adventure with Burro Grande!
You know how sometimes you get a new toy, and you just know it’s going to change everything? Well, that’s how I feel right now. We’ve just taken a massive leap into the future of farming, bringing a proper piece of modern, tech-enabled horticulture onto our peony farm: a Burro Grande! Now, buying a big Read More…
Moisturizing Mouse: Ingredients Deep Dive
Moisturizing Mousse Here is my little Extra for Experts (or nosy, like me haha). Peony Hydrosol, obviously. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re all about the peony here – and why wouldn’t we be! Peonies are full of compounds that are great for your skin. Our hydrosol has so many of the amazing Read More…
Product Development: A Journey to Moisturizing Mousse
Moisturizing Mousse There are many steps involved in product development, but my favourite is by far the recipe formulation and the tinkering that follows. However, there are a few steps in the process that need to happen first. I’m going to walk through my process briefly with our newest product – I’m very excited about Read More…
The Great Weed War: Could Apple Cider Vinegar Be Our Secret Weapon?
The Great Weed War: Could Apple Cider Vinegar Be Our Secret Weapon? If you’ve ever grown anything, whether it’s a window box of herbs or a few acres of something more substantial, you’ll know the feeling. That constant, nagging, sometimes overwhelming presence of… weeds! They’re the uninvited guests at every garden party, aren’t they? And Read More…
Saffron, The Case For Product Diversification
The purpose of this blog is to document an experiment we are running on the viability of growing Saffron in Nelson, New Zealand. It’s Saffron season and our team is busy picking, processing and packing saffron spice. Saffron is known as the worlds most expensive spice and is widely reported as being more valuable than Read More…
Cooking with Saffron
So, brief overview – we have been growing saffron as a kind of side-gig here for 4 years now, and I have been enjoying the fruits of our labour so to speak (the spice of our labour?). We chose saffron for a lot of reasons that I won’t go into right now (ask me Read More…
The Living Wage and the Myth of Labour Shortages
In 2022 we completed a major expansion on our peony farm. Our original intention was to add between 5-10,000 new tubers however we actually added about 37,000 new tubers as we had the opportunity to buy the complete stock of a couple who were retiring from peony growing. With the benefit of hindsight this larger Read More…
Getting Back into Work Mode After the Holidays: Something I’m (still) working on 😅
The holidays are well over, and it’s time to get back into the swing of things. For many people, this means going back to work (or school), and readjusting to a more structured routine. For me, it can be tough to get motivated after a break, and recently I feel a bit like I’ve Read More…