WHERE
IT ALL BEGAN
The story of Taruna Farm stretches back nearly ninety years from a time when the Whitehall Valley was a rugged landscape of ragwort and rabbits.
Our family tenure began in 1936 with the purchase of the land by Frank Gardner, an Englishman who had arrived in New Zealand to forge his own path in a hostile landscape where he knew no one and even less about farming. He proved himself to be up to the challenge.
Frank and Shirley oversaw a time of massive clearing and burning programmes on the land. Fence battens and posts were hand sawn from native timbers sourced on the farm and fencing was planned around stock having access to streams for water and the native bush for shelter. Wool prices were sky-high.
Fertiliser application, initially by hand, was a hit-and-miss affair until superseded by Tiger Moth bi-planes. How things have changed.
Over the years farming experienced the highs and lows of wool prices, the meat trade with Britain and economic subsidies.
By the 1970's when Christopher & Janet Gardner took over management of the property, things began to tighten up financially when our historic trading partners looked elsewhere for trade and the dairy industry started to flourish.
It was then that the dairy grazers first came onto the property and have been in operation ever since. Further diversification took the form of a kiwifruit venture, since sold, the purchase of additional land, and the commencement of a Riparian planting programme which has seen the fencing off of many streams and valleys and the restoration of native cover.
