From the deck of their nearly-completed home, Claudia Babirat and Peter Preston can see birds of prey, native bees, white-capped waves and dozens of newly-planted trees.
The couple, who moved in only five days before the Level 4 lockdown, have embarked on a long-term project to create a habitat where native flora and fauna will thrive.
After helping their builder to construct their log cabin-style home, their attention has turned to other tasks. Mr Preston has been shifting fence lines while Ms Babirat has been cutting scrub and trapping possums.
The 2.4ha property the couple have been working on for the past two years is former farmland and overlooks part of the 17km-long beach connecting Brighton and Taieri Mouth. Most of the block is rolling grassland but there are two gullies, one of which has some regenerating kanuka, and a small wetland.
"The whole coastline was once covered in dense coastal forest and the idea is to bring a little of that back and to add to other bits that are regenerating already."
In just a week during lockdown, the couple added almost 300 native plants, including kowhai, broadleaf, flax, fuchsia and more kanuka, a pioneering species that they love for its appearance and its hardiness.
They might not live long enough to see their rimu, kahikatea and totara reach their full size but said the most important thing was that wildlife will benefit from them.
Increasing biodiversity is a key part of their plans. There are plenty of fantails, bellbirds and harrier hawks around and they recently saw a kingfisher for the first time. But they would also like to attract birds they haven’t seen, such as kereru and tui, and to balance treed areas with low scrub and open areas to encourage invertebrates such as cicadas, grass skinks and huhu beetles.
Preference was given not only to plants that will provide fruit for birds and flowers for bees, but ones that are eco-sourced. This means the seeds came from trees that grow in coastal Otago and have adapted to conditions there.
Some of the trees were bought at plant sales but 500 were funded by Trees that Count, a programme that connects funded and gifted trees with deserving community groups, iwi, councils, schools and individuals looking to strengthen their planting projects.
"The application process is made really easy online . . . " Ms Babirat said, "and the call for applications is out now for next year’s planting season."
In summer, they will need to clear the vegetation around the trees at least once a month so they are not competing with grass and bracken fern for light, nutrients and water.
"It’s really easy to get carried away and put a lot of plants in the ground but that’s almost the easy bit. It’s the maintenance that takes a lot of time."
One project they tackled during lockdown was making raised garden beds in which to plant vegetables. Wanting to use up some left-over premix concrete and to avoid using treated timbers which could leach poisons into the garden, Mr Preston made his own form, then produced concrete blocks that fit together like tongue and groove timber.
The idea came from their home with its 10cm-thick timber walls that lock together like Lego.
Their builder completed the floor and the piles but the Fraemohs kitset was designed so the owners could put the walls up, Ms Babirat said.
"It was fun. There’s a lot of satisfaction in building your own house ... and doing it as a couple was an amazing experience."
The pair were inspired by log cabins they saw in Canada and Alaska and the 100sq m two-bedroom, two-bathroom kitset was the "closest, most affordable" option they could find in New Zealand.
"[Here], there’s this move in houses towards clean lines, subdued colours and everything smooth and perfect and that’s just not us. Log cabins are rough-hewn and imperfect. We just like the natural feel about them."
The pair, who both come from farming backgrounds, are undeterred by the work ahead of them.
"Pete and I love wild spaces," said Ms Babirat, a science communicator. "We love being out in nature and often people think you have to go somewhere like a national park to get that experience . . ."
"We want to retro-fit nature back into the land around us so we can enjoy it right here from our deck.”
For more information on Trees that Count see www.treesthatcount.co.nz
