Ongare Point Organics

Arthur and Annamarie's Story

Arthur and Annamarie Dixon farm an organic orchard near Katikati, bringing their produce to Grey Lynn on Sunday mornings.

What were you doing in Auckland before you moved to the Bay of Plenty?

I was a mechanical engineer and Annamarie taught performing arts at various schools.

So, you haven’t always been growers?

We’ve always dabbled in gardening. In our early married life in Devonport, we planted the berm, and were active members of our local community garden, Ngataringa Organic Garden. But when we moved to Hillcrest neighbours and the council objected to our chickens and berm planting. We knew it was time to rethink our lives when our neighbours cut down all their trees and we could see straight into their house.

How did you make the change?

TradeMe – I typed in “organic orchard” and the first place that popped up looked ideal, so we arranged a visit. It was love at first sight. We made an offer and put our house on the market.

That was a big shift

Definitely. We swapped our quarter acre section for 12.5 acres and moved from a 6-bedroom house, with a pool, into a converted packing shed. A lot of our things from the big house are still stored away in the shed.

What did you fall in love with?

The land has been organic since the 1980s, it has beautiful mature trees, the village has a tight community, and the beach is on our doorstep. We still love it.

What are you growing on your land?

Avocados, citrus (lemons, limes, and oranges), feijoa, casimiroa, cherimoya, misi luka bananas, walnuts, macadamia nuts, Japanese raisin tree (which looks like twigs), and we’re always experimenting with new crops. Every Season brings new flavours and colours to enjoy.

You are bringing some other produce to the market

Yes – there are several small growers in our neighbourhood who are too small to come to the market so I bring those products, stop them going to waste, and provide greater choice to customers.

What changes have you noticed in the horticulture industry?

The last few years have been hard on smaller growers. Some have had to get other jobs to make ends meet and some have had to sell their land. The big producers are getting bigger and more automated. We are losing smaller heritage varieties and we worry about losing fertile soils. It’s a shame because New Zealand is an island, and we need to have a self-sustainable food supply. We worry about the prospect of GM regulations being relaxed when New Zealand could be a GE-free producer and charge a premium for that.

You are a certified organic farm

Yes - my certification is through Organic Farm New Zealand (OFNZ). I belong to a pod of five local organic farmers, one of them is Duncan Maas who has been a long-time vendor and committee member at Grey Lynn. We all visit each other’s farms to peer review what we are doing. OFNZ audits the reviews and checks for compliance before issuing annual certificates.

What has you experience been like at the market?

We love offering customers samples and encouraging them to smell and taste new super-fresh foods. It’s always fun to see how people react to things they haven’t tried before, and other customers join in with the banter.

What do you mean by super-fresh?

We pick to order so the produce we bring to the market on a Sunday has mostly been picked the day before. We avoid strip-picking to minimize waste and maximise taste. Some trees get picked a dozen times during their season.

Tell me about your rural life

We share our home with our youngest child, dogs, a cat, chickens, ducks, and a goldfish. One of our daughters lives on the property with our granddaughter. She’s been growing a garden, and I was amused when she tried to sell me some of her pickings – she’s four. It’s a thriving rural community, some of our extended family has moved into the area, Annamarie is part of the local drama societies, and I like to fit in some fishing when I can. There is plenty to keep us smiling.

As published in Ponsonby News : June 2025