It’s a property that’s attracted visitors from overseas. And once her beloved patchwork quilt business is sold, Carol Biesiek is eager to immerse herself in the garden that’s brought so much joy to the Katikati community.

Katipatch Garden Party was an annual event for 10 years, with craft stalls, art displays, live music a morning tea fundraiser and patchwork quilts displayed around the garden. The last was held just before the first Covid lockdown.

“The first year, around 100 people came along, the second year it grew and by the tenth year 400 people visited on the day. It became a community event with people coming from Auckland, Taupo and Hamilton. We even had people with visitors coming overseas who would plan their travel dates around the party so they could come along,” says Carol.

“Friends would come over and help me hang around 100 quilts on the lawn and they were surrounded by garden so people could stroll around.

“We found, though, that my husband Eddie and I would spend all of January tidying up the garden. We couldn’t go anywhere so we decided the 2020 event was it for us. People have asked me since and it’s a flat ‘No’. I don’t even have to think about it. They were highlights for us but that was enough.”

Katipatch

Carol opened Katipatch in 2006, selling patchwork products, accessories and fabrics. With 30 years’ quilting experience, Carol’s store and classes have been popular – but now she’s passing the baton.

“I’ve had a lot of pleasure and met a lot of lovely people through those classes. Quilters are lovely giving people. It’s been a great journey, that’s for sure. My other pleasure is my garden, so when I’m not working in the shop if the weather is fine, I’m outside!”

It means Eddie and Carol’s avocado orchard will get more of her attention too. They have about 5.5 hectares planted with 80 35-year-old trees and 440 three and five-year-old trees.

“We planted the young trees on lower ground on our property that’s near the Uretara Stream inlet. They’re in front of the house so we’re keeping them low so as not to lose the view. They’re pruned at 4m height, which means we don’t need ladders to harvest the fruit.”

Because they’re planted closer to the waterway, the trees are mounded up. “When we bought this piece of land, there were 850 feijoas. They cope with the wet in the winter but they’re intense.

“In season, they need to be picked every two days and the only packhouse is in Te Puke so Eddie would have to drive down straight away. It didn’t pay well so we decided to take them out but didn’t want empty land.

Special root stock

“We found a special root stock variety of Hass avocado that doesn’t mind the wet and they’re mounded up about a metre in rows about four metres apart because they’re going to be kept small. It’s worked out really well. They’re all fruiting already and we’ve picked from five-year-old trees.”

Carol says they’ve always enjoyed gardening and have attended a lot of Fieldays and sought advice to make good decisions on how to run the orchard.

“We’ve tried to keep as organic as possible without going completely organic. Monitoring is important because we only spray when pests are found, and we use natural compost around the trees. Over the years, we’ve brought in both bumble bees and honeybees and we felt that they made a difference. We have high production compared with the average.”

Carol Biesiek in her rose garden.

The couple also figured out the smartest way to even out their annual income. “We believe in feeding the tree even if doesn’t have a crop on. They use up their nutrients producing fruit so if we didn’t feed them so well, they would take a year off producing.

“We now have half the trees cropping each year, which means we’re manipulating them to produce for the market. We don’t believe in accepting the philosophy that you have to keep doing things the same way. There’s a lot of science and information available so we use it.”

Simple things

So when she closes the door on her Katipatch store for the final time, Carol is looking forward to the simple things.

“I want to just sit in the garden with a coffee and listen to the birds. We’ve really turned the property around since we’ve been here. We’ve renovated the house and changed garden a lot.

“Eddie does the heavy lifting and manages the orchard and I’m the ideas person. We get a lot of pleasure out of what we’ve achieved. And, yes, I’ll still be sewing with my lovely group of friends. I’ll keep up with the patchwork. I really do love living where we live.”