{"id":249855,"date":"2026-01-24T17:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/249855\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T17:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:20:14","slug":"raglan-preserves-business-from-backyard-fruit-to-farmers-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/249855\/","title":{"rendered":"Raglan preserves business: From backyard fruit to farmers markets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">Before Covid-19, Bea had been getting to know like-minded local people interested in starting a growers market in Raglan, supplying the community with their produce and products.<\/p>\n<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe had Zoom meetings through the lockdowns and were getting organised to hit the ground running once we were out of lockdown.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">For two seasons, Bea made and sold preserves, marmalades, pickles, sauces, relishes and oils at the Raglan Growers Market and Hamilton Farmers Market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">More fruit trees were planted around the property, especially heirloom varieties, ensuring a self-sufficient source of fruit in future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAs I got more serious about growing a preserving business, we invested in turning our kitchen into a certified commercial kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\" No lifestyle block is complete without free range chickens. Photo \/ Catherine Fry\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/> No lifestyle block is complete without free range chickens. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">The shed was quickly over-run with five extra-large freezers, enabling Bea to keep preserving out of season, providing consistent products. <\/p>\n<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">The house has been taken over by utensils and boxes of preserves, and the roof has an array of new solar panels to soften the electricity bill.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\" Bea Spraggs picking oranges for her preserves. Photo \/ Catherine Fry\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/> Bea Spraggs picking oranges for her preserves. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">Frost in the valley stops Bea from growing certain fruit and vegetables. <\/p>\n<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">She\u2019s happy to outsource for some items, such as tamarillos, within the Waikato, so she knows the fruit is spray-free.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\" During lockdown Bea perfected a Spicy Indian Carrot Chutney recipe using carrots she was unable to sell, and it won her a Bronze at the 2024 New Zealand Artisan Awards. Photo \/ Catherine Fry\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/> During lockdown Bea perfected a Spicy Indian Carrot Chutney recipe using carrots she was unable to sell, and it won her a Bronze at the 2024 New Zealand Artisan Awards. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI use blood and bone, and sheep and chicken poo as fertiliser, and dig it into the soil around August and plant in October\/November. <\/p>\n<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe have great soil, full of big worms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cIf needed, I spray pests with boiled garlic and chilli solution, and I spray dissolved baking soda on fungal issues like mildew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"AaByrilogD\" style=\"display:none\">Bea sells her preserves at the Cambridge and Clevedon Farmers Markets and online through her website, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foragedinraglan.co.nz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.foragedinraglan.co.nz\/\">Foraged in Raglan<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Covid-19, Bea had been getting to know like-minded local people interested in starting a growers market in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[39491,32322,138,51288,1061,12967,71,2065,10109,220,32033,3180,111,43,139,69,72605,8693,145276,61,2217,145277,102,4181],"class_list":["post-249855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-39491","tag-backyard","tag-business","tag-catering","tag-children","tag-farmers","tag-from","tag-fruit","tag-husband","tag-markets","tag-moved","tag-near","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-preserves","tag-raglan","tag-spraggs","tag-to","tag-valley","tag-waitetuna","tag-with","tag-wound"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}