Hi. I’m Yuta.
As we posted last time, we arrived in New Zealand.
Once getting out of Nelson airport, the great view of nature spreading out in front of us.
It is difficult to describe, but the scenery is different from Australia!
Yuta had once visited New Zealand in 2007 after graduating from university and he loves the place since then.
This was Akane’s first visit in NZ but soon after the arrival, she fell in love.
Atamai Village
Our first destination was eco village called Atamai Village.
The purpose of this community is sustainable living considering the global environment.
We found out this place in 2015, when we began thinking seriously about eco-friendly living, and always wanted to come here.
It took us about 1.5 hours from Nelson by car, since the scenery was too beautiful that we cannot help stopping places time to time.
This country is full of nature.
And this is Village。
We stayed at one of the B&Bs in the Village.
I would like to introduce a bit about here.
Eco-friendly house
The place we stayed was very eco-friendly house.
Power
Using solor panel.
Water
Using only rain water and the tank was made of concrete.
He chose the concrete because it is tough and long-lasting, also it has a effect to make the water alkaline.
SpecificallyRefrigerator
He uses freezer as a refrigerator.
Specifically, attached a temperature sensor to the freezer and when the temperature reaches certain temperature, the switch automatically turn on or off. He made this system by himself!
Because the freezer has high heat retention, he said that it saves a lot of energy.
Very smart!
Food cabinet
A small room surrounded by thick walls.
A hole in the floor.
The wall is for avoiding temperature change, the floor hole is for entraining cold air from underground into the room.
There are still many others, but I will leave it because it will be long. .
Homeschooling
Have you heard about this word?
I came across this topic also in Thailand and Australia.
This system is still not popular in Japan, but it seems that it is not rare as an educational option overseas.
He also has two children and they are home schooled.
In NZ, when you choose homeschooling your child, you submit it to the government.
Then, they send you teaching guidelines, and according to it, the parents make a curriculum and submit it to the government.
If there is no problem, the homeschooling is officially accepted.
Also, once it is approved, you can get government funding.
Of course there are disadvantages compared with uniform education, but it seems that there are also many merits.
There are many kind of children and I felt that it is important to have many choices in education for them!
Orchard in Village
There is a community orchard in the village and this was also great.
It was created using permaculture method.
As the below photo shows, the orchard is spreading on the slope.
Here are some of interesting things I want to share.
1. Never plant the same type of trees next to each other.
-> When planting trees of the same kind nearby, birds and insects that like fruits of that tree will eat all.
2. Cover the root of the tree by surrounding weeds.
-> There are effects such as weed control, heat retention and moisturizing.
3. Not covering the fruit trees with net.
-> Although some fruits are eaten by birds, bird droppings become good nutrients.
Apple tree starting to bear fruits. (middle of October)
Winery
Mr. Kouhei Koyama, who I found when I was thinking about immigrating to NZ.
After graduating from university he worked in London. He learned wine making in NZ in 2011 and he made his own winery after his training period. He also has permanent residency in NZ.
I was impressed by his ability to take action and also his rich knowledge.
Location of trees calculated carefully in consideration of the angle of the sun.
Organic fertilizer formulation taking into account the influence of nutrients on crops.
No wasteful movement during his work in garden.
He grows grapes mostly by hand, not using machines.
He kindly gave us a Pinot Gris wine on the day of our arrival and the taste was very fruity and delicious.
Thank you very much for teaching us many valuable things!
You can purchase his great organic wine from here.
Winery. Grasses growing close to the root of trees are the proof of organic. Conventional farmers use herbicide to kill them..
It would be great if we could live in such a beautiful place! !
Kids playing in the garden of the B&B
Thank you very much for reading this time too! !
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