That has been the vision behind North Otago farming couple Nick and Kate Webster expanding their business to include the Totara Store, which opens its doors tomorrow.
The building — just south of Oamaru and once the local community’s hall — previously housed Brydone Wholefoods which closed earlier this year.
It has been an extremely busy time for Mr and Mrs Webster who, in the space of several months, also bought The Natural Dairy bottled whole milk business which was based up the road at Deborah and the former organic market garden next to the Totara Store.
The couple said the new coffee machine had become their best friend as they worked to get things ready.
Highlighting local produce was something they had long been keen on. When they bought the land, which they had previously leased, around the Brydone Monument — honouring Thomas Brydone who is credited as the father of the New Zealand frozen meat export industry which began at Totara Estate — they knew there was a branding opportunity.
And they had always had an eye on the old hall, particularly given its prominent State Highway 1 location.
Mrs Webster would pop into Brydone Wholefoods to buy the likes of salad greens, strawberries, coffee and vegetables and she liked supporting other locals.
The couple spied an opportunity to highlight growers in the area, through the paddock-to-plate model and what North Otago had to offer, bringing it together in one place.
The Websters already have a busy farming operation, milking 800 cows on a dairy farm at Enfield, growing all their own feed for the dairy farm, finishing several thousand winter lambs and rearing calves, but a good team had made it all possible, Mr Webster said.
As farmers, they were constantly being told about the frustration of local consumers not having access to local produce, which was either exported or potentially sent to Christchurch to then be returned to supermarkets, clocking up the food miles.
Coincidentally, when he was growing up on a nearby farm, Mr Webster picked potatoes for Lindsay and Sue Smith, the previous owners of Brydone Wholefoods, which was ” a bit of a rite of passage” for youths in the district.
And when he was competing in the Young Farmer of the Year competition, the two-time grand finalist had to do an Agmardt project for which he focused on the opening of Mr and Mrs Smith’s farm shop.
With everything happening around the same time, they came up with a loose plan very quickly, Mrs Webster said.
It was fortunate commodity prices were good at the moment and there was some positivity in the rural sector, Mr Webster said.
But he acknowledged things had been “bloody tough” and there was not a lot of money around, particularly in urban areas. While spending in towns had slowed, that would come right again, and discretionary spending would also increase.
The atmosphere and customer experience had played a big part in deciding what the new business would look like.
As well as produce, coffee and home-made cafe-style food would be available and there was also giftware and other products, including Topflite bird feed. Topflite is run by Mr Webster’s brother, Greg.
Ultimately, they would love to be able to stock Totara lamb, but they were realistic that they could not do everything at once.
The Websters have a once-a-day herd at their dairy farm which supplies the milk for the Natural Dairy which, at the moment, is taken to former owner Glen Claridge’s property to be bottled.
The former Oamaru Organics road-side stall next door would also stock fresh vegetables, along with milk.
Their milk is also sent to Gelato Junkie, in the Octagon in Dunedin, to be made into gelato.
Several days ago, Mrs Webster looked out the window of the store to see Georgia, one of the couple’s three daughters, looking in the window, having ridden over the hill on her horse.
She loved the idea of Georgia and her friends saddling up their horses, riding over the farm and pulling up at the store for gelato.
sally.rae@odt.co.nz
