Zucchini, Pukekohe

2025-05-13

Pukekohe, located on the southern outskirts of the Auckland region, is an ideal area for horticulture due to its highly fertile volcanic soil. It’s home to many farms, growing a variety of vegetables for Kiwi families. Barrie Wallace, his wife Sandra and their family have been growing Zucchinis in Pukekohe for the better part of 38 years.

Before putting down roots in Pukekohe, Barrie and Sandra were managing a farm in the small Northland town of Ruawai, near Dargaville. When that farm was put on the market, opportunity knocked down south, and the family moved.

Their new land in Pukekohe was already being used to grow veg – tomatoes, sweetcorn, snow peas and beans. Other than maize for cattle feed, Barrie and Sandra hadn’t grown anything at their old farm. Commercially growing vegetables was new territory.

They didn’t choose Zucchini; Zucchini chose them. People liked the way that the Wallace’s packed their zucchini. Sandra says, “it’s much easier to do something that people are asking for than trying to go to market with something else”.

Looking back, Barrie says that moving was the best thing they ever did. The farm is a lovely place to bring kids up.

The farm is a family affair. With 18 Wallace family members across three generations, no one gets away scot-free. The grandchildren get roped in to help at weekends and during school holidays. Even three-year-old granddaughter Evelyn loves to help feed the calves.

Sandra heads up the packing team. Although the two other packers aren't related to the Wallace family, they're close neighbours, which only adds to the tight-knit feel of this team. As a bonus, they both have a short 10-minute walk (and hop over the fence) to commute to work from the neighbouring farms.

Barrie and Sandra speak fondly of the second family who help them out over the picking season. Having originally immigrated from India they have put roots down in Pukekohe and worked through two generations of picking seasons. Barrie says, “we would be lost without them”.

The Wallace family grows two varieties of Zucchini, all from seed. They stagger their plantings to ensure that they can supply the market throughout the growing season.

Zucchinis have a very soft outer skin. They don’t cope in hail or frost. To keep the frost at bay, the Wallace's use a windmill. Sometimes a frost comes without warning and Barrie will have to get rugged up at midnight and ride out on his tractor to turn the windmill on.

Even with this protection, Zucchinis are easily damaged. Only being able to send flawless produce into supermarkets can lead to wastage. To avoid this, the Wallace's have been selling the imperfect Zucchinis to Anathoth Farm for over 10 years. The zucchini gets made into the Anathoth Farm Zucchini and Farmstyle Pickles. A couple of blemishes don’t matter when the veg is chopped and pickled!

As well as Zucchini, the family keeps themselves busy with producing sheep’s milk for baby and toddler formula. Barrie and Sandra’s son, James oversees this business which was started five years ago. They rear about 1500 lambs a year. James has a background in milking and doesn’t mind the 6:00AM start to work. The diversification is important for future-proofing the farm.

After starting in December, their crop is wrapped up for the year by King’s birthday. This is when Barrie and Sandra turn to rearing calves for the winter months. This year, the family expects that they will produce well over half a million Zucchini.

At Anathoth Farm, we appreciate all the hard work that goes into growing the quality veg for our products from growers like the Wallace family.