Style: February 07, 2020

32 STYLE | food
ORGANIC GROWTH
When a group of like-minded people saw a gap in the market, they decided to
produce a product focused on organic principles and superior taste.
Words Kate Preece
Ten minutes from the nearest
supermarket, a 2500-hectare farm
spreads from the Waipara wine country
to the coast. Here, at Mt Cass Station,
you will find some 11,000 sheep, 700
cattle and the story of three families
who, through a collection of chance
meetings and shared desires, decided to
invest in organic farming.
The story of Wash Creek Organic
Meats’ humble beginnings unfurls over
cheese toasties around a kitchen table.
The scene is set at farming couple
Sara and Andrew Heard’s home – a
place regularly visited by CEO Tim
Chamberlain and office manager
Carolanne Sixtus.
Tim takes the storytelling lead and
the clock is soon turned back to the
time he first decided to test the waters
as an organic farmer.
In 1985, Tim’s father, after many loud
discussions, provided him with a lifechanging
learning opportunity on the
family’s Leeston property.
“He said, ‘I think we should put the
hardest part of the farm into organics
and you can do that, and I’ll carry on
being a conventional farmer, and in
five years’ time, we’ll know what to do,
whether it’s working and if we should
continue,’” says Tim.
“It’s the single best decision ever
made, because, left alone I would have
put the whole farm into organics and
gone bankrupt. I couldn’t have joined
the dots to create the systems needed
to operate an organic farm. I am
forever grateful. And we’ve had a pretty
interesting time – this [Wash Creek
Farm] is pretty interesting.”
Tim and partner Rose Donaghy
continue to farm in Leeston, but
you’ll find him at Mt Cass at least once
a week.
As the five of us take turns crunching
through lunch, Tim explains how the
next chapter of the Wash Creek story
began with tennis.
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Sara and Andrew Heard, Tim Chamberlain
and Carolanne Sixtus at the home of Wash Creek Organic Meats.
Tim’s brother, Matt Chamberlain,
co-wrote a one-man play about the
life of Christchurch’s own four-time
Wimbledon winner Anthony Wilding
(1883–1915). Matt took The Anthony
Wilding Story to England – and his
brother tagged along for the ride.
Tim’s racket remained organic farming
and his mission was to learn what he
could from those following the same
principles in Europe.
In doing so, Tim met mixed cropping
farmer Mark Houghton-Brown who,
uncannily enough, had a long-term
desire to move to New Zealand,
potentially to buy a farm. Five years
later, that’s exactly what Mark did,
settling in Nelson.
It was when the owner of Nelson
Fresh Choice, Mark A’Court, was
challenged as to why there was not a
steady supply of organic meat on the
shelves that the Wash Creek brand
was formed. Mark Houghton-Brown
had the certified-organic farm and the
experience of creating his own farmbased
breakfast cereal brand in England:
the two Marks hatched a plan.
“Mark had been keen on getting us
thinking about branding and this was a
great first start,” explains Tim. “Mt Cass
had been going for five years, had full
certification, and it was a logical step for
the farm.”
From starting at the Nelson Fresh
Choice in 2016, Wash Creek Organic
Meats are now found in 17 stores
around the South Island and one in the
North Island, while the majority of the
9000 to 10,000 lambs are destined for
British supermarket chain Waitrose.
Carolanne is the driving force behind
getting new products into the market,
which includes seeing it served on the
menu at Black Estate Winery.
Back on the farm, the Wiltshire sheep
enjoy a diverse pasture that’s rich in
chicory, plantain, clover and lucerne.
This “fruit salad” minimises ailments.
Known for their hair-like self-shedding
coat, the breed itself is a key part of the
farm’s winning recipe. Boasting a finer
grain in the meat, if it were down to
taste alone, says Andrew, “Everyone on
the farm would choose Wiltshire every
time. And they’re fussy!”
With three more families joining the
business over the past five years and
diversification that sees paddocks flush
with crops, what started as a sink-orswim
test in Leeston has become a
business of ever-growing momentum.