Hello & Welcome to Fantail Valley Homestead
My name is Dana and I am chief cook and bottle washer around here.
I am a homesteading, homeschooling mama of two young ladies and three young men. We bought a 43 acre block of ex pine forestry in 2022 and have continued our homesteading journey here.
I love to cook, garden, paint, craft, knit, read and generally live the good life outside when the weather allows.
We are a family of 7 on an amazing adventure homesteading in New Zealand.
Wait, aren’t you called Piwakawaka Valley?
Yes, and no. Our new farm is still called Manuka Brae and we sold Piwakawaka Valley homestead on to a new family, but I have kept the business name. We have found that the name is tricky to remember for many, so we have expanded our name to include Fantail Valley Homestead.
Where did the name Piwakawaka Valley come from?
The name Piwakawaka Valley is a reference to the many little Piwakawaka (Fantails) that populate the gully on our property. They are darling little birds, so very friendly and sweet.
What are our plans?
We have plans to build a strawbale house here soon, and I hope to document this on youtube. We are slowing building a homestead and garden, complete with animals. Hopefully, we will retire from city life as soon as possible. You can read how our story started here.
And you can follow our adventures on youtube here.
What is it like homesteading in New Zealand?
New Zealand is a beautiful country. Manuka Brae Homestead is on the coast and I can see the sea from our lounge.
With the coast comes the changing weather and the wind. So much wind.
Homesteading in New Zealand is quite common. A lot of our country is still farmland, with quite a few ‘lifestyle’ blocks of 3-15 acres.
Our cities are generally small, our closest is only 120k people, which is perfect for us. Big enough to be well resourced, but small enough that you can drive from one side to the other in 20 minutes.
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