Community Growers
Growing with care and attention to nature
At Mangawhai Growers Market, we’re all about supporting the community to buy and sell locally. Our vendors are all members of the Mangawhai community who grow fruit and vegetables at unbeatable levels of quality because it is fresh. Many of our growers are already known to you though the local markets, this is another way to stay local if you cannot make it to the markets or need a home delivery.
CAT Orchard |Â Chris & Trudy
Avocados & Avocado Oil | Citrus | Fruit and Veg
Chris and Trudy (the CAT in the name) are growing avocados, citrus and more up on the volcanic soils of the Tara. Lots of experimentation with permaculture, syntropic agriculture and trying hard to live off the land.
Avocados comply with export requirements for spray but biological and organic pest controls are used wherever possible. All citrus and other produce is spray free.
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GLOBAL GAP CERTIFIED for export.
Kaiwaka Food Forest |Â Andrea
Luffas | and more to come...
Andrea is working hard to develop a permaculture based food forest and has an amazing variety of food plants and animals working together in a consortium.
Cove Olives |Â Wendy & Wayne
Olive Oil | Citrus | Veg | Jams + Marmalades
Cove Olives produces a 100% pure certified Extra Virgin Olive Oil from its own Olive Grove. To qualify for Olives New Zealand Certification, New Zealand olive oil must meet specific requirements. These include bottling and labelling standards as well as the chemical and sensory criteria that Olives New Zealand have based on the International Olive Council (IOC) standards for extra virgin olive oil.
SPRAY FREE
Old Stone House Farm | Cliff
Bananas | Nuts | Citrus
Cliff has been farming organically for 30+ years and is a proper Mangawhai local with ~1500 trees and 120+ varieties of fruit, nuts and vegetables.
ORGANICALLY GROWN BUT NO LONGER CERTIFIED (due to cost)
Kiwi Honey Bees | Rodney
Honey | Manuka, Kanuka, Bush, Clover
Rodney is well known in Mangawhai for his delicious honey from 200+ hives across 10 sites from Mangawhai to Kaiwaka. Rodney also sells hives if you are interested.
Ora's Farm | Ora & Itay
Mushrooms | fresh, pickled & confit
Ora and Itay, the directors of Ora’s Farm stumbled into farming a few years ago. After wanting a change in career, they bought a 12.5-hectare farm in the magical Mangawhai in 2016. Ora and Itay discovered when travelling around Europe, how prevalent mushroom farms are there, and the variety of mushroom types on offer. When they arrived back in New Zealand, they realised that only Button and Portobello mushrooms were easily accessible here, and they wanted to change that. Growing mushrooms is difficult; it requires patience, trial and error, and consistent results to grow the limited mushrooms strains that we have in New Zealand. However, Ora and Itay are committed to creating a sustainable, ethical, and honest business, growing 100% natural mushrooms.
Mangawhai Road Corner Paddock | Sue & Damian
Salads | Herbs | Green Vegetables | Potatoes
Mangawhai Road Corner paddock is located on the corner of Waiteitei Road, Silverhill Road and Mangawhai Road.
Specialising in salad, herbs and green vegetables for the last 11 years. We are lucky to have access to their delicious produce as normally this all goes to the Takapuna markets!
Renewable Foods | Alastair & Peter
Fruit | Veg | Salad Greens
Peter & Alastair are a father and son team investing in aquaponics as a sustainable way to grow nutrient dense food. Some of their produce is grown in raised beds alongside the aquaponics operation. All products are organic in nature, delicious and locally grown on a lifestyle block in magical Mangawhai.
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ORGANICALLY GROWN (not certified).
Shed 7 | Caz & Tom
Avocados & Avocado Oil | Citrus | Honey
Another avocado orchard on the volcanic soils of the Tara run by a young family living locally and trying to grow lots of produce. Caz and Tom say they love living off the land and if they can share more of that food with the community then it's a bonus!
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Shed 7 also has a drop-in stall where they sell their goodies, check the Facebook link for opening times.
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GLOBAL GAP CERTIFIED for export.
Little Tart Bakery | Jen
Croissant | Cookies
Little Tart Bakery, originally set up on Waiheke Island, has now opened a Mangawhai kitchen and is excited to offer authentic croissants, pastries and viennoiserie to the local community. Hand-made from scratch in Mangawhai with New Zealand grown, spray free flour & free range ingredients.
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Many of you will be familiar with Jen's baked goods from the Mangawhai Community Market. This is a bit of an extension for the growers market but the baked goods are made right here by a talented baker who lives here so it makes sense and fits our principle of only offering what is self-grown or self-made so there is no middle man!
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Little Tart is taking a break for a few months; we will hopefully see Jen back soon.
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Poplar Glade Gardens | Justine & Andy
Citrus | Herbs
Justine & Andy are part-time and new(ish) to Mangawhai - keen cooks who love to make food for friends and family using produce from their small but much loved veggie garden and orchard. The are city novices who are loving discovering the bounty of goodness that’s been established over the years and are now adding to it.
Mangawhai Micros | Carol
Microgreens
Carol says she loves growing and eating her delicious greens, grown in Mangawhai Heads (MGM note: we have tried them - they taste lovely). These little beauties are grown naturally outside with organic potting and seed raising mix. There are no nasties or sprays used.
Triple washed in pure UV filtered Mangawhai rain water, they are ready to eat.
Add to any salad, meal or smoothie for a blast of nutrition, or eat straight from the pack!
Baldrock Road Orchard | Erica
Plums | Pears
Erica is a great example of the community sharing home grown produce. The property purchased in 2020 just happened to have a small orchard on it. Nothing intentional on our part, says Erica. Looks like the orchard is about 15 years old but had been neglected for the last 5-10 years so we’ve tried to give it some love recently, she adds! There are a few fig trees, a pear, some apples and a few plums and they've since built some raised beds for vegies for themselves (and us).
Seven Circles Farm | Kerry & Gareth
Eggs, flowers & more to come
Gareth and Kerry started Seven Circles Farm on Tara Rd in Mangawhai with the vision to grow food for people in their community. Keeping it small, and keeping it local. Coming from permaculture backgrounds, their emphasis is on feeding and growing their soil to get the best returns out of nature. Relatively new to the area, they have started with chickens while they get stuck in to develop the rest of the farm and orchard. The main focus for now is getting very fresh eggs direct to locals, so they are eaten at their best.
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Their home orchard feeds the family - but stay tuned for surplus Luisa plums, guavas, apples and pears. Kerry is also passionate about flowers and has been planting a large selection of flowers. Blooming marvellous! - Watch this space!
Gum Diggers Point | Rachael, Tom & Gail
Citrus | Chillis | Fruit & Veg
Tom & Gail Williams have developed their kanuka and manuka scrub block over 20+ years, along with daughter Rachael & her family.
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Produce is grown using permaculture values and sustainable, chemical-free growing practices. The growing operation only uses seaweed, comfrey (homemade) or worm tea to feed the plants and produce.
Peach Patch | Eileen & Max
Peaches | Plums | Tomatoes | Beans | Watermelons | Apples
Peach Patch is an owner operated family orchard specialising in growing summer fruit. Over the summer months they grow and sell a variety of fruit & veg online (with MGM), from various Farmer's Markets and from their orchard shop. The orchard has been established over 30 years and in recent times they have planted extensively to ensure good quantities of fruit into the future. The Peach Patch is well-known locally and we all look forward to their summer fruit!
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Check the website if you want to visit the shop.
East Coast Roast | Adele
Freshly roasted coffee beans
Adele's infatuation with delicious fresh coffee has led her on a journey of roasting her own. East Coast Roast is small-batch roasted daily to ensure optimal quality, flavour and freshness. The Mangawhai blend is a harmonious combination of the finest Brazilian and Colombian beans.
Roasted on site right here in Mangawhai!
Mangawhai Community Garden
Veg, Fruit, herbs, plants.....and more
Located in the domain next to the Te Whai Community trust, this is a community garden supported by a team of volunteers who donate time and expertise to grow an amazing bounty of goodies. We are delighted to have them on board as part of the MGM family. A lot of the produce is donated to various charities but you will be able buy online as part of MGM or you can visit their shop on Friday morning. All proceeds go back to supporting the community garden.
Orchard Lane Produce | Sally
Citrus, Herbs
Sally has a small garden that she is developing - a work in progress - with several citrus & fruit trees. The range of lemon varieties is especially interesting. All produce is grown organically but the produce is not certified.
Marshwood Apiaries | Richard
Honey
Richard and his family have lived and kept bees in the Mangawhai since 2010 specialising in premium honey production and crop pollination services. From his base in Mangawhai he travels as far north as Ahipara and as far south as Warkworth in search of the tastiest honey. Remarkably his favourite bush honey comes locally from Tara Road.
Sunrise Bananas | Karen & Ross
Bananas | fresh | dried | banana honey
Karen and Ross are serious banana growers based in Otaika Valley near Whangarei. They are outside our "normal" grower collection area for local growers but they are delivering to another customer in Mangawhai every few weeks anyway so we are not adding any food miles here. And we all LOVE bananas.
Tara Hill Garden | Tom & Zoe
Bananas | Avocados | Fruit | Veg | Eggs
Tara Hill Garden is an owner-operator family garden specialising in growing bananas, avocados, fresh fruit, citrus, seasonal veggies and eggs. We practice permaculture and regenerative farming and work with nature to provide plants with what they need to thrive.Â
Spray free and organic but not certified.
Looking to expand to grow more varieties of tropical fruits in the near future.
Five Springs Eco Farm | Keri & Bernie
Vegetables | Salad Greens..and more to come
New to the Mangawhai area, Five Springs Eco-Farm is creating a food forest and market garden block using permaculture principles and philosophies. While still in preliminary stages, Five Springs Eco-Farm will rely on solar, wind and water for power and focus on exotic, sub-tropical fruits, and market gardens with the aim to be an educational site providing insights into how we can live more sustainably while growing an abundance of food.
Two of the Five Springs team, Keri and Bernie, have brought the first season garden beds to life and are delighted to offer their initial produce through MGM.
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Note that we are not organically certified but almost all our seed is.
Fresha Avocados | Paula & John
Avocados | Tamarillos | Citrus | Bananas | Green Vegetables | Pumpkins | Water Melons
FRESHA is a diversified orchard on the fertile slopes of what was Mt Tara, Mangawhai’s most notable volcanic feature.
Food safety certified, through Global Gap, a worldwide food safety programme, our produce is enjoyed throughout New Zealand and around the world.
We are on a journey, moving away from mono-culture towards creating a diversified food forest to encourage biodiversity and healthy soils.
Quail Retreat Garden & Orchard | Sarah & Colin
Citrus | Vegetables | Herbs
Located between Mangawhai Heads and the Village, Quail Retreat Garden and Orchard, is a well established property providing the Mangawhai district with fresh produce since the early 1980s. A mature citrus orchard with seasonal mandarin, ugli, tangelo, orange and lime, usually available right through winter and into spring. Excess seasonal vegetables and herbs also available.