Over the past few years, Lyndia Wood has quietly built a formerly abandoned milk factory in Ōtaki into a destination venue for weddings and events.
In part to suit the Italianate design style of the refurbished Milk Station, Lyndia cultivated figs and olives (which she now sells to restaurants and supermarkets), thanks in part to the superb microclimate in Ōtaki.
We speak to her about her experience refurbishing the Milk Station and how she came to cultivate these unlikely crops.
Balance Transfers: The Milk Station has gained an interesting reputation among people from Ōtaki as you’ve gradually over the years restored what used to be an abandoned milk factory into a destination venue for weddings and events. For the benefit of those readers not from Ōtaki, can you tell us a bit more about the history of the Milk Station and what has inspired you to undertake this project?
Lyndia: I was really inspired by the design of the building and the solidarity of the building, the way it was built. It lends itself to a Mediterranean style, built of concrete and brick basically with a steel frame. In that era, too, it was built with probably an overkill of masonry and structure, compared to what they build nowadays. It was built on the site of a former cheese factory, a wooden building, which was demolished. This (current building) was built in 1926.
I’m an ex-antique dealer, so traditional style is something I’m used to. The building lends itself to a classic Mediterranean Italianate style. That is also the style of furniture I particularly like , it’s what I used to sell in my shop on Thorndon Quay.
It was certainly a big challenge to create something out of what was actually a derelict factory dump site. It took two to three years to clear the factory out – lots of machinery inside and even different levels of machine floors that needed to be cut out, underground water tanks, some of them leaking, asbestos roof, asbestos pipes, you name it, we had it.
Balance Transfers – But you kept the bone structure of the building itself?
Lyndia Oh yes. The outside of the building has not been altered except for a new roof as the old one was asbestos. The doors which are now glass would have been steel roller doors. The street windows are all original which give a lot of style to the building. We had to build a new mezzanine floor for the bedrooms and had to fit them in between the steel frame structure which meant making them ½ a meter narrower than hotel rooms which made it difficult to furnish. Certainly takes a lot of thought to create something different in an existing structure.
Balance Transfers: In addition to running the venue as a wedding venue, you’ve also cultivated some crops. Can you tell us about the crops you’ve cultivated?
Lyndia: Originally there was just a horse paddock at the back. There is top market gardening land here (in Ōtaki). I had a Chinese market gardener rent some land off of me and grow tomatoes for a while. So I’ve always been interested to try more exotic fruit that is going to be sought after. I became very interested in putting a fig orchard in.
I’ve got over 100 fig trees and I’ve been supplying New World for the last five years. Previous to that, Moore Wilsons. They seem to be very good quality figs, they are very sought after.
Balance Transfers: Figs and olives are a very interesting choice for lower North Island New Zealand. Why did you choose these crops specifically?
Lyndia: I live in Wellington and in Wellington I have grown olive trees before, against concrete walls, and they actually produced olives – quite surprisingly – quite quickly. And up here it is certainly a lot hotter. We don’t get the wind very much, so I knew for sure that olive trees would grow very well. I planted them for decorating walls, it was for the look rather than for selling commercially. It’s sort of been a hobby thing.
Balance Transfers: You mentioned on your website that you decided to create the Milk Station with an Italianate design and style. Was the choice of crop partly to reflect that style?
Lyndia: Yes. I’ve created a small Mediterranean garden in the middle of the concrete paving with herbs, a lot of rosemary, and I’ve even got pomegranates there, a few olive trees, and cypress trees with a Mediterranean look but it’s really the bones of the building itself which creates the style.
Before I bought the building I’d never been up to it close, I had only seen it from the road, but I was always vaguely interested. Being the only big building in the area, I guess it stood out anyway, but the style was interesting. It was quite unusual for New Zealand; you see this type of building more overseas – I have travelled overseas, buying – at first to London, bringing containers back, so I have been exposed to travelling in other countries and seeing Mediterranean styles, Italianate styles.
Balance Transfers: Did you have a particular vision in mind when you first bought the building?
Lyndia: No. Looking at the building – the quality of the building – I vaguely thought you could do big markets in here, but the building was too good just to do markets. I really thought I would probably do lodge accommodation. But we were approached for weddings, and it’s since snowballed. I guess it’s word of mouth and the internet too – quite a lot of people talk about it, and it’s become – very sought after.
Balance Transfers: At what point in the in the process did it become a wedding venue?
Lyndia: Right from the beginning.
Balance Transfers: Talking again about the figs and the olives, how long did it take to get those particular props crops established?
Lyndia: In the beginning I spent a lot of time on them while we were landscaping and building up the gardens. It was probably three or four years, I suppose, counting the surrounding hedge.
Balance Transfers: Did you experience any setbacks or problems along the way?
Lyndia: It was a lot more involved than what I thought when I first saw the building. We didn’t know we had inherited a Dangerous Goods license. I didn’t really realise it was asbestos roof and asbestos pipes. A lot of the problems you couldn’t see.
Out the back there was a bottle washing machine. It was so big we couldn’t bring it through the doorway – we had to demolish a little bit of the outside wall to get the machine out, and then patch the wall up again.
There was certainly problem solving. But I was very lucky having a builder who I had known for a long time, who built our beach house years ago. We like solving problems and if you think outside the square it makes it more interesting.
Balance Transfers: How did the relationship with the supermarkets come about?
Lyndia: On the spur of the moment I took figs in the back of my car, because I live close to New World in Thorndon, and walked into their vegetable department. I picked on one or two of the older workers, and asked, “Do you buy privately?” and they said, “Yes we do.” And I said, “Are you interested in figs? I’ve actually got some in the boot of my car, would you like to come have a look?”
Balance Transfers: Wow.
Lyndia: And they were quite impressed. They were really good quality figs.
Balance Transfers: How many supermarkets do you supply currently?
Lyndia: Only that one. I supplied Moore Wilsons for a while too, by driving in and asking who was running the vegetable department.
Balance Transfers: Now that they are established, would they be what you would consider to be a profitable crop?
Lyndia: Oh, definitely, figs. To make olive oil, originally the Kāpiti Olive people rented some space in the back while we were still doing the building up. We were quite a big group in the beginning, but we’re down to about two, because there are too many costs and labour, in bottling. And with figs, I have enough that I can handle them and pick them myself and box and present them myself.
Balance Transfers: How long does it take you to harvest the figs each season?
Lyndia: The early season figs are at the end of January, and they go for about a month. The main season is Autumn, and that goes about two months. You do get a lot of wastage as well. It’s a tricky crop and they don’t ripen on the tree, and if they don’t ripen you can’t eat them.
Balance Transfers: Did you rely on any external advice when you were setting up your crops?
Lyndia: I had the help of Waimea Nursery down in Nelson, who were very helpful. It was quite a new crop for them too, but he told me how to do the timber framework and the vine, and told me how to plant them.
Balance Transfers: Did you find it easy to find advice, for instance, to make that connection to who could advise you to set up such a unique crop?
Lyndia: There was no one to talk about figs then because nobody was doing anything like that really. Now there are some fig growers in New Zealand. You have to work out the things that grow in your area, really.
Balance Transfers: Did you have any surprises with the types of pests that were interested in the crops?
Lyndia: No. Figs are pest free. You might get the odd borer. But they are largely pest free and easy to control.
Balance Transfers: Although you began with the purpose of restoring the land, have the crops become what you might describe as a successful side business?
Lyndia: Definitely, yes. We supply restaurants, and it always surprises me that the supermarkets are open to buying privately.
Balance Transfers: I’m quite impressed that you just turned up with some figs in the back of your car, and that was the beginning of it all.
Lyndia: I was doing the same thing for restaurants too.
Balance Transfers: Fantastic.
