The day begins with music lessons in Tauranga for Pauline Alexander and Tor Stenbo but by midmorning the couple are gardening at Pahoia.

They don't see anything incongruous about teaching piano, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and trombone to school students before heading to the country to tend extensive vegetable beds. In fact Pauline says there's a certain synergy between the two.

Tender broccoli stems are among the popular winter vegetables Pauline Alexander of Pahoia Fresh Produce grows for farmers markets.

'I love coming out here to work. Music can be rather sedentary, so it's good to have the exercise of gardening.”

Tor doesn't completely leave his music behind. He likes to whistle while he works and when one friendly tui learned to mimic him, the pair established their own garden music.

However, Pauline and Tor don't just garden for pleasure. They raise a wide variety of vegetables on the four hectare property at Pahoia to supply their stalls at the Tauranga Farmers' Market and the Mount Maunganui Market, under the name of Pahoia Fresh Produce.

The quality of their produce is so good they have won the Freshest Food Producer from the Paddock category in the national 2012 Taste Farmers Market awards.

Thrilling win

'We were thrilled to win and really pleased when one of the judges, MasterChef winner Nadia Lim, said our vegetables were so fresh and tasty that the judges started eating them raw,” says Pauline.

Tor and Pauline entered a basket of tender broccoli stems, beetroot and courgettes which the judges cooked in recipes designed to showcase how fresh produce can be used.

The judges in the Taste Magazine sponsored competition said they loved the inconsistent shapes and sizes of the courgettes. The beetroot was earthy and sweet and the broccoli fresh and crisp. Overall the vegetables had a fresh earthy taste 'like you have just stepped out of the garden – perfect”.

Winning a national award was not what Tor and Pauline set out to achieve when they began growing vegetables in 2008.

Hens

When the couple bought the property 12 years ago it was a poultry farm with hundreds of birds in cages.

'We quickly converted it to free-range but hens don't stop laying, even on Christmas day, despite the fact I asked if they would. In the end it was just too demanding, so we decided to try something else.”

The property has a number of hen houses and Pauline and Tor have converted one to a shade house by covering the roof in plastic. Others were demolished and their concrete floors now form convenient paths between the vegetable beds, which are well nourished with chicken manure.

The couple raise their own plants from seeds supplied by Kings Seeds and these are propagated in the shade house where, without heating, the temperature stays several degrees higher than outside, even in winter.

In the floor of another former hen house they went one step further. Tor smashed regular holes in the concrete, forming small gardens in which Pauline installs a few plants. 'This means less weeding and the plants benefit from the warmth of the concrete.”

Pauline says neither she now Tor knew much about growing vegetables on a large scale when they started.

'We were advised to grow courgettes and broccoli, which we did, selling them through the auction system, but even though the rates were fair, by the time the commission came off, plus the costs of getting vegetables to market and other expenses, there wasn't much left for us.” Tor says it felt like they were working seven days a week for around 50c an hour.

Recipes

Then they decided to sell produce at the Tauranga Farmers' Market and not only is this more profitable, they also enjoy the contact with customers. Pauline posts recipes on the Tauranga Farmers' Market webpage and their stall features labelling and information to help customers enjoy the produce they purchase.

Each year the range of vegetables has increased and even in August the gardens produced tender broccoli stems, cabbage, cauliflower, pak choi, lettuce, tatsoi (a member of the broccoli family also known as spinach mustard), spring onions and some indoor-grown courgettes. 'It's been a very wet winter and we haven't been able to get onto the gardens to keep up with the weeds. We don't use sprays,” says Pauline.

The couple do all the work themselves, with the help of a rotary hoe and small tractor.

This spring they will grow potatoes, beans, snow peas, courgettes, lettuce and mesclun, baby turnips, onions, spring onions, pak choi, Scarlett Nantes carrots, peas, turnips, eggplants and capsicum. They also sell free range eggs (some of the hens remain), and in season, oranges, tangelos, avocados and walnuts, all grown on the Pahoia property.

And if that's not enough, Pauline and Tor continue to teach and play music. Both are accomplished musicians who have won awards for teaching and playing and as well as teaching at local schools, have a music studio at their Tauranga home.