After drying off from a swim in the river, Nathaniel Petterson grabs a billy to collect water. It’s pure spring-fed Waingaro river water, perfectly potable – which he knows as it happens to get tested monthly as a pure water benchmark for a nitrate monitoring programme – straight from the mountains and filtered by moss. He heats the little billy over a campfire next to the river hut while preparing some Arcoroc mugs with bush tea.
Tea poured and homemade biscuits divvied out, the Petterson family sit with a group of guests around the campfire. Each person holds a booklet – the “Mamaku Grove Songbook” – and Nathaniel leads the group in song. Then they sit quietly in the sounds of the river, native birdsong and rustling of trees, before finishing in prayer.
With their four kids – Levi, Isaac, Emma and Sophie – they welcome friends and strangers alike to get away from the busyness of life and rest in the rhythms of the land.
Rural life suits Nathaniel. It’s hard to imagine him in the robes of an Anglican priest, even though that’s what he is. In 2017, he felt a release from full time leadership as vicar of St Stephens in Tāhunanui. The idea of moving back onto the land he grew up on started forming in his mind.
“We knew we didn’t want to just move back to be on the farm,” he says.
The Pettersons took a three month sabbatical to discern what God wanted to do with them at Mamaku. They always had a desire for community – which had often prompted reflection for Nathaniel during his time as a vicar.
“Is meeting an intern for a coffee once a week enough to disciple that person to serve and lead with the gifts God has given them?” Nathaniel wrote in his sabbatical report. “Would more intentional community, work and life together on Mamaku Grove provide quite a different model for discipleship that may just reflect a little better the fact that Jesus spent three years, full time, with his twelve disciples?”
Journeying to various faith communities across the North Island, the Pettersons observed the models and routines of each one. Ngatiawa River Monastery inspired them with warm hospitality and daily rhythms of prayer and worship. The Lands farm in Hokianga showed them their commitment to simplicity and self-sustainability by living off the land without power or machinery. Drury Church near Pukekohe gave them insight into living in large numbers, sharing possessions and working onsite. Titoki Healing Centre outside of Whakatāne demonstrated a more refined and commercial retreat operation.
“What we found was every place was different in so many ways,” he says, “and it made us realise that this would be different too.”
A mamaku is New Zealand’s biggest and tallest native tree fern. Its fibres are used by birds to furnish nests, its trunks support the seedlings of other plants, its fallen fronds provide rich soil for the plant life around it, and its pith is used in traditional Māori medicine to ease inflammation after childbirth.
“It was a matter of putting in the basic values – how does God want us to steward the land and extend hospitality,” Nathaniel says, “and out of that this thing would grow that we call Mamaku Grove.”
The Pettersons planted core values in the project from the start. Mamaku became a place into which people could be welcomed, nurtured and discipled. They built rhythms of prayer and pushed against the prevailing culture of busyness with the intention of “wasting time to be with Jesus”.
They also moved to full time homeschooling for their kids – now aged from 7 to 15 – with Simone as “head teacher”. It took some time to adjust, but the benefits of more flexible time and ability to shape home life around hospitality and visiting people soon became evident. “The kids are way better at hospitality than us sometimes!”
Alongside that, they began working the land to start living off. They milled parts of the forest for timber, some of which was used for onsite building. They invested in cattle and a dairy cow for fresh milk every morning. They planted new gardens, a year's supply of potatoes and started experimenting with grain crops.
With the help of friends, volunteers and contractors, Nathaniel has built four cabins for people to stay in, as well as a prayer hut, an “eco-drop” toilet block and a “shower shack”. Mamaku Grove can now fit between 15 and 25 people (depending on the group makeup).
As more young families started visiting, he realised they could do with a family cabin – so they built one. When the diocese began leading silent retreats in the Grove, it was clear they could use a prayer retreat hut further removed from the main area – so they built one.
An average “day in the life” doesn’t exist for Nathaniel. His tasks are many and varied. When he’s not welcoming guests, he’s doing all sorts – from feeding cattle or maintaining farm equipment to planting a veggie garden or building a new cabin. Yet sometimes he gets to the end of the day and has no idea what he achieved that day.
“It’s probably why I enjoy milking the cow so much,” he laughs. “It’s the one thing that is every day. And if I feel like I’ve done nothing for the day, at least I’ve milked the cow.”
The challenge is to stay true to the ethos of the project – rest and retreat. Last year, the Pettersons noticed an upswing of groups coming to stay, and then a new feeling of being “peopled out”.
Nathaniel says that he loves welcoming visitors but needed to set boundaries. “If we’re not modelling good rhythms of life, we can’t really invite people into those rhythms.” Now, they block one weekend out each month as a sabbath for the family.
The Pettersons are expanding accommodation on the farm this year.
If that sounds interesting to you, get in touch with Nathaniel and Simone!
Otherwise, the invitation is always open to get away and stay at Mamaku for a few nights – visit the website or call Nathaniel to book some time there.
Nathaniel can be reached at nathaniel@mamakugrove.nz or 021 110 9993.
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
After drying off from a swim in the river, Nathaniel Petterson grabs a billy to collect water. It’s pure spring-fed Waingaro river water, perfectly potable – which he knows as it happens to get tested monthly as a pure water benchmark for a nitrate monitoring programme – straight from the mountains and filtered by moss. He heats the little billy over a campfire next to the river hut while preparing some Arcoroc mugs with bush tea.
Tea poured and homemade biscuits divvied out, the Petterson family sit with a group of guests around the campfire. Each person holds a booklet – the “Mamaku Grove Songbook” – and Nathaniel leads the group in song. Then they sit quietly in the sounds of the river, native birdsong and rustling of trees, before finishing in prayer.
With their four kids – Levi, Isaac, Emma and Sophie – they welcome friends and strangers alike to get away from the busyness of life and rest in the rhythms of the land.
Rural life suits Nathaniel. It’s hard to imagine him in the robes of an Anglican priest, even though that’s what he is. In 2017, he felt a release from full time leadership as vicar of St Stephens in Tāhunanui. The idea of moving back onto the land he grew up on started forming in his mind.
“We knew we didn’t want to just move back to be on the farm,” he says.
The Pettersons took a three month sabbatical to discern what God wanted to do with them at Mamaku. They always had a desire for community – which had often prompted reflection for Nathaniel during his time as a vicar.
“Is meeting an intern for a coffee once a week enough to disciple that person to serve and lead with the gifts God has given them?” Nathaniel wrote in his sabbatical report. “Would more intentional community, work and life together on Mamaku Grove provide quite a different model for discipleship that may just reflect a little better the fact that Jesus spent three years, full time, with his twelve disciples?”
Journeying to various faith communities across the North Island, the Pettersons observed the models and routines of each one. Ngatiawa River Monastery inspired them with warm hospitality and daily rhythms of prayer and worship. The Lands farm in Hokianga showed them their commitment to simplicity and self-sustainability by living off the land without power or machinery. Drury Church near Pukekohe gave them insight into living in large numbers, sharing possessions and working onsite. Titoki Healing Centre outside of Whakatāne demonstrated a more refined and commercial retreat operation.
“What we found was every place was different in so many ways,” he says, “and it made us realise that this would be different too.”
A mamaku is New Zealand’s biggest and tallest native tree fern. Its fibres are used by birds to furnish nests, its trunks support the seedlings of other plants, its fallen fronds provide rich soil for the plant life around it, and its pith is used in traditional Māori medicine to ease inflammation after childbirth.
“It was a matter of putting in the basic values – how does God want us to steward the land and extend hospitality,” Nathaniel says, “and out of that this thing would grow that we call Mamaku Grove.”
The Pettersons planted core values in the project from the start. Mamaku became a place into which people could be welcomed, nurtured and discipled. They built rhythms of prayer and pushed against the prevailing culture of busyness with the intention of “wasting time to be with Jesus”.
They also moved to full time homeschooling for their kids – now aged from 7 to 15 – with Simone as “head teacher”. It took some time to adjust, but the benefits of more flexible time and ability to shape home life around hospitality and visiting people soon became evident. “The kids are way better at hospitality than us sometimes!”
Alongside that, they began working the land to start living off. They milled parts of the forest for timber, some of which was used for onsite building. They invested in cattle and a dairy cow for fresh milk every morning. They planted new gardens, a year's supply of potatoes and started experimenting with grain crops.
With the help of friends, volunteers and contractors, Nathaniel has built four cabins for people to stay in, as well as a prayer hut, an “eco-drop” toilet block and a “shower shack”. Mamaku Grove can now fit between 15 and 25 people (depending on the group makeup).
As more young families started visiting, he realised they could do with a family cabin – so they built one. When the diocese began leading silent retreats in the Grove, it was clear they could use a prayer retreat hut further removed from the main area – so they built one.
An average “day in the life” doesn’t exist for Nathaniel. His tasks are many and varied. When he’s not welcoming guests, he’s doing all sorts – from feeding cattle or maintaining farm equipment to planting a veggie garden or building a new cabin. Yet sometimes he gets to the end of the day and has no idea what he achieved that day.
“It’s probably why I enjoy milking the cow so much,” he laughs. “It’s the one thing that is every day. And if I feel like I’ve done nothing for the day, at least I’ve milked the cow.”
The challenge is to stay true to the ethos of the project – rest and retreat. Last year, the Pettersons noticed an upswing of groups coming to stay, and then a new feeling of being “peopled out”.
Nathaniel says that he loves welcoming visitors but needed to set boundaries. “If we’re not modelling good rhythms of life, we can’t really invite people into those rhythms.” Now, they block one weekend out each month as a sabbath for the family.
The Pettersons are expanding accommodation on the farm this year.
If that sounds interesting to you, get in touch with Nathaniel and Simone!
Otherwise, the invitation is always open to get away and stay at Mamaku for a few nights – visit the website or call Nathaniel to book some time there.
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
