Reporter Mitchell Hageman talks with Maraekakaho lavender farm owners Jenny and Ken Mark just over three months after Cyclone Gabrielle ruined their income stream. Video / Warren Buckland
The pictures of the Lyonmark Estate lavender farm before February 14 are a sight to behold.
Owners Ken and Jenny Mark put decades of hard work into their Maraekakaho property and business, and photos show fields of striking purple flowers that brought joy to many.
When Cyclone Gabrielle reared its ugly head, the farm - like many in Hawke’s Bay - became a shell of its former shelf.
Raging floodwaters from the nearby Maraekakaho River swept through the property, causing Jenny, Ken, and Jenny’s son Trevor Edwards to be evacuated from their roof.
The bright purple fields turned to brown, covered in silt and littered with debris that were washed in by the storm.
“I was in shock, I didn’t know what to do or where to start,” Ken Mark told Hawke’s Bay Today when we first visited on February 18.
Three months later, the remnants of devastation are still very apparent, but the community spirit that was there in the initial recovery remains intact.
It’s a long road ahead, but it’s the “baby steps” that make all the difference, Jenny Mark said.
Ken Mark with Jenny's son Trevor Edwards harvesting lavender at Lyonmark lavender farm before the cyclone.
“I want it back to where it was,” Ken Mark said. “Jenny used to have tea parties with garden groups here at lavender time, it was beautiful.”
Amazingly, pockets of lavender continue to grow after countless hours of silt cleanup, and work has been done on the flooded guest cabin, where many volunteers from all over have continued to rest their heads.
“It’s been the neighbours, locals, and church groups that have come and done the hard yards. We’ve met some lovely people along the way. It wasn’t about just them; it was about all of us coming together,” Edwards said.
Originally living in Perth, he is still on the property and has been helping the pair with recovery efforts as the de facto ‘project manager’.
His multi-week visit to New Zealand before the cyclone has since turned into a multi-month one.
He wears a self-made jumper donning the phrase ‘I’m still here’ - a testament to his love and dedication for his family and their home.
“I think people are forgetting [the cleanup] now, lots of people are just taking the quick insurance claim and getting on with it.
“It will definitely take a while, but the more people that help you the better life is.”
Three months after Cyclone Gabrielle, silt in lavender plants still remains at Lyonmark lavender farm, owned by Jenny and Ken Mark, Maraekakaho, Hastings. Photo / Warren Buckland
Piles of silt still sit next to the field, waiting to be picked up and disposed of.
Edwards said it took six weeks for crews to come and clear the 12 truckloads of physical debris that volunteers had tirelessly recovered.
Like many other properties in flood-affected areas, there are continued frustrations around insurance, as well as the lack of knowing what council and government would say about the property and its surrounding riverbanks.
But for now, hard work and community spirit soar in the small rural community.
Local hero Neela Neela has provided meals, fellow lavender and olive businesses help with crops, and a special event will be held at GodsOwn brewery next weekend to acknowledge and celebrate everyone’s hard work.
Jenny, Ken and Trevor also provide volunteers with food and water when they come and help.
“[A volunteer] asked ‘why are you doing this?’, I said it’s the only way we can give you something for what you give to us,” Ken Mark said.
“Hopefully, it’s a small bit of exchange we can give you.”
