A bit about who we are.
Totarabank is a young community – less than a decade old. There is a range of ages, lifestyles and skills making up eight resident households and a separate tenanted home. The shared lands encompass a coppice (firewood forest), a pond, an olive grove, an orchard, a septic field and drainage.
We, as the residents, are our greatest resource. We are diverse and share a commitment to inclusion. One resident described this as the feeling of being “free to live our own lives and not in each other’s pockets.” To this end, we are also committed to accommodating privacy and respecting diversity of lifestyles, beliefs and values – of which our community hosts. We are a global community from various backgrounds and origins -- Wellington, Palmerston North, Auckland, Nelson – and South Africa, Switzerland, Wales and England, Germany and the Bronx, New York City.
A day in the life.
You may hear our children, adolescents, and visiting grandchildren on the property. And you may see their dogs, chickens, Guinea piggies, and Kune Kune piglets. People go to work, some commuting “over the hill” to Wellington. Others attend the local public primary schools. A large number of residents work from home, in diverse fields as home educators, IT specialists, etc, etc... Some residents are avid DIY-ers and volunteered to build a bridge for the community and maintain the pathways to the river. The children are also able to join in: they enjoyed building a paddock to welcome the new piglets. A treasured memory for the children was, “last year we had lots of spare apples we gave to the food bank!” Another recent project, led by a resident artist and the children, was submitting a scarecrow named Jeff to the ‘Gladstone Primary School Scarecrow’s Day Out Annual Event.’
Beyond the bushes or trees that afford your home a vista with privacy, there are also pathways from your home, which simultaneously connect the houses, while allowing children and pets safe passage throughout the community, away from the public road.
The children also wish to share, that for them, the playground is at the heart of TB. For the children, this isn’t simply their home, but it is a “wild life sanctuary, planetarium, a place to kayak on the pond, and a home of bike paths and adventure trails.”
There are opportunities taken, perhaps on a particularly warm night, to share a game night on the common lawn playing Pétanque or to have a BBQ. Surprisingly, three households recently decided to share responsibility for caring for the three Kune Kune piglets, who get frequent opportunities to free-range amongst the weeds of the compound.
Kaitiaki of the land. We are aware of climate change facing all home and land owners.
Due to our commitment to ecological practices, such as permaculture: people care, land care, fair share, we are committed to regrowing native flora and fauna to reduce pests and gently manage the land. The use of herbicides is kept to a minimum and ideally not used at all. An exciting outcome of our efforts is a recent return to the land of local frogs. We have recently collaborated with adjacent neighbors, allowing their sheep to graze the land during the winter and spring seasons. This allows us to maintain the land, while cutting back on lawn and land care practices that are less environmentally sustainable and expensive to maintain. Even our dear rooster Philip and the piglets help, in this regard.
While the evidence and research is evolving all the time for exactly what being an ecological community means, in practice, we are striving to adapt to these changes. Thus, we are committed to being a learning community and upholding the spirit of innovation, upon which Totarabank was founded. Thus, we are also a resilient community. In aiming to tread gently upon the land and minimize our carbon footprint, we are committed to environmental and cost-saving solutions. Our most ambitious goal is to build upon our solar energy and become even more energy self-sufficient as a community. The legacy of TB is its influence on local regulation, which set precedence for how to apply ecological principles to private and shared land.
In striving to adapt to emerging evidence-based practices and maintain a community spirit – we have official meetings to vote on decisions that impact the shared land. We have established a routine for ‘working bees’ to share the workload of such a big parcel of land. Each lot is expected to spend at least six hours a month maintaining Totarabank communal land. There are one or two members of the community who, thus far, have been able to dedicate a significant responsibility for maintaining the land and are paid through the resident body corp fees. These dues that members contribute, along with creative income generating solutions, have allowed us to cover maintenance expenses – and allow us to further invest in the community.
Who lives at Totarabank?
There are currently eight families at Totarabank.
What are local schooling options?
The school bus currently stops at the gate and takes children to Gladstone School. A school bus also goes in the opposite direction to take students into Masterton for high school. There are numerous high school options in Masterton - Wairarapa College, Chanel College, Makoura College, Rathkeale College, Solway College and St Matthews Collegiate.
How can I live here?
There is currently one property for sale. Please, enquire further.
Who looks after the communal land?
There are currently caretakers appointed from our community and residents also contribute their time and energy during monthly working bees.
Who decides what happens with the communal land and resources?
There is a residents committee that meets a minimum four times a year or on urgent matters as they sometimes arise. All decisions are made by a majority vote (minimum of 5 votes).
Is this a commune?
Ha! :) Although we often joke about living on "the commune", Totarabank is not a commune. Each household owns their section freehold, and there are no restrictions on who can buy a section. We tend to interact like people do in a neighbourhood - sharing produce, casual BBQs and having bonfire nights. Some contribute more time and energy than others and it balances all out.
IF YOU HAVE FURTHER QUESTIONS PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT US IN PERSON!
Totarabank is a young community – less than a decade old. There is a range of ages, lifestyles and skills making up eight resident households and a separate tenanted home. The shared lands encompass a coppice (firewood forest), a pond, an olive grove, an orchard, a septic field and drainage.
We, as the residents, are our greatest resource. We are diverse and share a commitment to inclusion. One resident described this as the feeling of being “free to live our own lives and not in each other’s pockets.” To this end, we are also committed to accommodating privacy and respecting diversity of lifestyles, beliefs and values – of which our community hosts. We are a global community from various backgrounds and origins -- Wellington, Palmerston North, Auckland, Nelson – and South Africa, Switzerland, Wales and England, Germany and the Bronx, New York City.
A day in the life.
You may hear our children, adolescents, and visiting grandchildren on the property. And you may see their dogs, chickens, Guinea piggies, and Kune Kune piglets. People go to work, some commuting “over the hill” to Wellington. Others attend the local public primary schools. A large number of residents work from home, in diverse fields as home educators, IT specialists, etc, etc... Some residents are avid DIY-ers and volunteered to build a bridge for the community and maintain the pathways to the river. The children are also able to join in: they enjoyed building a paddock to welcome the new piglets. A treasured memory for the children was, “last year we had lots of spare apples we gave to the food bank!” Another recent project, led by a resident artist and the children, was submitting a scarecrow named Jeff to the ‘Gladstone Primary School Scarecrow’s Day Out Annual Event.’
Beyond the bushes or trees that afford your home a vista with privacy, there are also pathways from your home, which simultaneously connect the houses, while allowing children and pets safe passage throughout the community, away from the public road.
The children also wish to share, that for them, the playground is at the heart of TB. For the children, this isn’t simply their home, but it is a “wild life sanctuary, planetarium, a place to kayak on the pond, and a home of bike paths and adventure trails.”
There are opportunities taken, perhaps on a particularly warm night, to share a game night on the common lawn playing Pétanque or to have a BBQ. Surprisingly, three households recently decided to share responsibility for caring for the three Kune Kune piglets, who get frequent opportunities to free-range amongst the weeds of the compound.
Kaitiaki of the land. We are aware of climate change facing all home and land owners.
Due to our commitment to ecological practices, such as permaculture: people care, land care, fair share, we are committed to regrowing native flora and fauna to reduce pests and gently manage the land. The use of herbicides is kept to a minimum and ideally not used at all. An exciting outcome of our efforts is a recent return to the land of local frogs. We have recently collaborated with adjacent neighbors, allowing their sheep to graze the land during the winter and spring seasons. This allows us to maintain the land, while cutting back on lawn and land care practices that are less environmentally sustainable and expensive to maintain. Even our dear rooster Philip and the piglets help, in this regard.
While the evidence and research is evolving all the time for exactly what being an ecological community means, in practice, we are striving to adapt to these changes. Thus, we are committed to being a learning community and upholding the spirit of innovation, upon which Totarabank was founded. Thus, we are also a resilient community. In aiming to tread gently upon the land and minimize our carbon footprint, we are committed to environmental and cost-saving solutions. Our most ambitious goal is to build upon our solar energy and become even more energy self-sufficient as a community. The legacy of TB is its influence on local regulation, which set precedence for how to apply ecological principles to private and shared land.
In striving to adapt to emerging evidence-based practices and maintain a community spirit – we have official meetings to vote on decisions that impact the shared land. We have established a routine for ‘working bees’ to share the workload of such a big parcel of land. Each lot is expected to spend at least six hours a month maintaining Totarabank communal land. There are one or two members of the community who, thus far, have been able to dedicate a significant responsibility for maintaining the land and are paid through the resident body corp fees. These dues that members contribute, along with creative income generating solutions, have allowed us to cover maintenance expenses – and allow us to further invest in the community.
Who lives at Totarabank?
There are currently eight families at Totarabank.
What are local schooling options?
The school bus currently stops at the gate and takes children to Gladstone School. A school bus also goes in the opposite direction to take students into Masterton for high school. There are numerous high school options in Masterton - Wairarapa College, Chanel College, Makoura College, Rathkeale College, Solway College and St Matthews Collegiate.
How can I live here?
There is currently one property for sale. Please, enquire further.
Who looks after the communal land?
There are currently caretakers appointed from our community and residents also contribute their time and energy during monthly working bees.
Who decides what happens with the communal land and resources?
There is a residents committee that meets a minimum four times a year or on urgent matters as they sometimes arise. All decisions are made by a majority vote (minimum of 5 votes).
Is this a commune?
Ha! :) Although we often joke about living on "the commune", Totarabank is not a commune. Each household owns their section freehold, and there are no restrictions on who can buy a section. We tend to interact like people do in a neighbourhood - sharing produce, casual BBQs and having bonfire nights. Some contribute more time and energy than others and it balances all out.
IF YOU HAVE FURTHER QUESTIONS PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT US IN PERSON!