Hapuku Deer Farm

Tony kept New Zealand close to his heart and would return when possible. On a trip in the early ‘90’s, he visited his nephew Paul, who had acquired a modest deer farm overlooking his favourite surf spot at Mangamanu Bay. With a want to try his hand at farming, Tony and Paul agreed to become partners in Hapuku Deer Farm.

The farm started out small, approximately thirty-five acres of rich soil on the upper plateau above the Lodge, but soon Tony and Paul realized they would need more land to sustain the growing deer herd. In the mid 90’s, they decided to purchase the 120 acres of the lower farm where the Lodge now sits. As the Hapuku River is the southern boundary of the farm, much of the land is rocky in nature with the upper paddocks, seen from the Lodge, and olive orchard composed of the best soil. With the help of Tony, Paul has worked hard to turn the land from a struggling sheep farm into a working deer farm.

The deer industry relies on three main sources of revenue. The largest earner for deer farmers is the sale of venison. The second income source is through the harvesting and sale deer horn velvet. The male deer grows velvet each year to replace the hard antler that has fallen off in the winter. Velvet can grow up to 6” in one day leading many to believe (including some scientists) that when consumed velvet is a good source of cell regenerating growth hormone. The third income centre is rather new, but growing quickly, and that is deer grown for their trophy potential. Trophy deer are ranked by the size, structure and symmetry of their antlers. Hapuku is a stud farm, concentrating on the best genetics for velvet and trophy farmers.

Olive Orchard

Farmers from northern California, Michael and Peggy Henwood, would often bring olive oil from their family farm into the Wilson’s Pasta Shop in the Bay Area. Through this introduction, Tony and the Wilson family were invited to the Henwood farm to learn how to make olive oil, using Michael’s home built olive press. The Wilsons enjoyed the experience and visited the Henwood Farm numerous times over the course of the next couple of years.

With his appreciation of olive oil, and the knowledge gained from the Henwoods, Tony decided to plant an olive orchard in Hapuku. To produce a farm oil resembling his Italian favourites, Tony decided to plant only Tuscan varietals including Frantoio, Leccino, Minerva, and Pendilino. In 2001, Michael and Peggy decided to step away from their olive farm in California and join the Wilsons in New Zealand. With them they brought their olive knowledge, olive press and amazing collection of North American woods.

In the autumn of the year the Wilsons, along with neighbours and friends, can be found in the orchard hand picking from their adolescent olive trees. A slow and labour intensive process, on a good day we can press about 1 ton of olives which produces somewhere around 30 litres of oil. Because our orchard is still too young to produce a adequate amount of olives, the past couple of presses we have sourced olives from other local farmers.