BLOG: Lois Swinton, Systems Innovator
We knew we were visiting a food forest when we arrived at Byron Austin’s property in Whakatāne. But even so, stepping through the gate felt like entering another world.
Just beyond the fence line, you can still hear the cars travelling along State Highway 30. Yet once inside, surrounded by trees, birds and layers of growing kai, the outside noise fades into the background, and you find yourself in a completely different space.
Many people know Byron through his social media pages, as Byron Grows, where he shares his journey learning to grow food and work with the land. But seeing what he’s created on his whenua in person is something else entirely.
Instead of neat rows of single fruit trees, Byron has created a diverse and layered food forest where fruit trees, shrubs, herbs and support plants grow together. We could’ve spent hours wandering around just taking it all in.
Everywhere you look, there’s something happening — plants supporting one another, birds moving through the canopy, ducks chatting away in their pen, and kai growing in abundance. Byron collects eggs from the ducks and rotates them through different areas of the forest each day, where they help with pest control while naturally fertilising the soil.
One of the things that surprised us most was learning how many of the trees started from seed. Byron told us about planting a simple peach pip and watching it grow into a thriving peach tree. Imagine getting a whole fruit tree from something as simple as a peach pip!
By the end of the visit, we were half joking that we’d start throwing our fruit pips out the kitchen window to see what magic might grow.
Some of the trees have even more adventurous origins. Byron has brought seeds back from overseas travels — all through the proper channels with Customs, of course — and successfully grown them here on his whenua. Seeing plants from different parts of the world now thriving in his food forest adds another layer to the story of the place.
The scale of the orchard also caught us by surprise. Byron’s food forest stretches across more than 1.5 hectares. At one point, we almost lost track of his very cute puppy, Gandalf, who happily wandered off exploring the trees while we were talking. Thankfully, he reappeared so we could continue our own exploration.
A curious pīwakawaka also seemed keen to keep us company, darting around and appearing unexpectedly as we walked through the māra. One of those small reminders of how alive these spaces really are.
What struck me most, though, was the thoughtfulness behind everything Byron’s doing. At first glance, the orchard looks wonderfully wild and abundant. But as Byron explains how the plants work together, you realise just how much intention sits behind it all.
Different plants play different roles — building soil health, supporting pollinators, protecting other plants and helping the whole system thrive. It’s about creating a resilient ecosystem, not just growing fruit.
Walking through the orchard was genuinely inspiring. It also makes you realise how much care, patience and learning goes into creating something like this.
Seeing what Byron has created also made us excited about the potential at Maraeroa Mahinga Kai in Ōhinemutu, where he helped support the establishment of its own community food forest last year. Byron spoke about how much he enjoyed seeing people reconnect, share stories and work alongside one another on that day. For us, it’s also exciting to think about the variety of kai that will grow there over time and the role it can play in strengthening kai security for our community.
Projects like this show how growing kai locally, sharing knowledge and working together can have a ripple effect far beyond one garden. We left Whakatāne feeling inspired and full of ideas. And who knows — after hearing Byron’s stories about growing trees from seed, there might be a few more fruit pips getting planted around Rotorua in the near future.
