Hayden and Anastasia Tristram with their daughter Ariella.
Hayden and Anastasia Tristram with their daughter Ariella.
In 2019 an enterprising rural couple, Hayden and Anastasia Tristram, traded their careers to have “a crack” at sheep and beef farming in Wanstead, Central Hawke’s Bay.
The couple were both medics in the NZ Army and have been together for nearly 10 years. They welcomed their first child Ariella in August 2022.
After leaving the army Hayden turned to farming and Anastasia became a teacher. She’s currently on maternity leave from Central Hawke’s Bay College. It was their love of the outdoors and the farming lifestyle that led them to farming. Before that Anastasia, who was raised in Wellington, says she didn’t even know sheep were born with tails!
The couple was fortunate to be able to lease a farm from Hayden’s parents in 2020. They purchased the stock - 1500 Romney ewes, 60 Hereford Friesian breeding cows and 100 R1 Bulls to run on the 400ha steep hill country.
“Over the years we have always brainstormed and thought about what more could be done with not just the land, but also the wool. After numerous conversations over a beverage or two, at the end of 2021 we decided to take a shot and get our strong ewe wool turned into felt,” Anastasia said.
“We knew roughly what we wanted to achieve, but nothing was set in stone. Fast forward to 2022, we welcomed not just our first child into the world, but also Floating Peaks.
“Floating Peaks was given its name for a few reasons. The house is positioned so it has expansive views out towards to Porongahau coast. On a frosty morning, the cloud nestles in the valleys leaving only the peaks visible or ‘floating’. It was this same view that reminded us of our plants growing in wool.”
Their main objective was to promote additional uses of wool and to this end they produce a number of garden products including Peak Pots, a Peak Pack, several Peak Mats and a Peak Bed which is a great way to grow seeds.
Recycled wool Peak Mats are another product made from 100 per cent recycled wool that typically comes from the carpet industry. They are easy to use with a pre-cut slit in the centre allowing easy placement at the base of plants.
There was already a lot of research and development out there, particularly around wool weed mats, Anastasia said.
Some of the products made by Floating Peaks.
“The benefit of Peak Pots and our Peak Bed was the fact we only needed a few months to understand how it best performed.”
The couple do a lot of work themselves.
“Shearing the odd few hundred sheep, transporting it ourselves to Napier to get scoured, creating the products at home in a spare bedroom and attempting to try our hand at marketing, social media and branding. Keeping up with social media is certainly one of the hardest aspects for us,” Anastasia said.
The benefits of wool, especially for garden products, is that it is biodegradable, renewable (wool is shorn from their sheep twice a year) and is sustainable. Natural sunshine, grass and fresh air are the three ingredients for good ewes and good wool.
Hayden and Anastasia use the products themselves and it was one of the main reasons for giving it a go in the first place.
“If it was a flop, we knew we would still be left with a product we would use. Last spring, we had a go at growing our own natives from seed for planting. We had some great success and some even better learning experiences. We regularly use our Peak Mats for plantings, they are great for keeping weeds away while juvenile plants establish.
“Another benefit of using the Peak Mats on the farm is we don’t have to worry about plastic as the wool will slowly degrade and release nutrients back into the ground. Unfortunately, we lost most of our plants during the cyclone.
“The wool provides optimum conditions for seedlings to become established. You can either transplant seedlings into the ground, a Peak Pot or place the entire Peak Bed on top of soil. No need to dig in as plant roots move freely through the wool.
“Our business plan has always been about wool promotion, for us the ultimate success would be for Floating Peaks to no longer be viable. That wool prices increase to a point where shearing costs are covered and wool becomes a farmable commodity again. We are not claiming our garden products are going to change wool prices, but it might spark a conversation or encourage someone else to have a go at the next big thing.”
Floating Peaks can be found on Facebook, Instagram and at www.floatingpeaks.co.nz and they will be at the Hawke’s Bay Home and Garden show from September 1 to 3, 2023 and at Kinloch Fair on October 22, 2023.
