The tulip farmer of Midhirst 

Dairy farmer John Vernon has found a new hobby to help him relax from the stresses of farming – growing tulips.

It’s his happy place, he said. It relaxes him. “The way the colour hits you – you let it feed into your soul. It makes you feel good.”

Vernon got his love of growing things from helping his father in their vegetable garden when he was growing up in Wellington, and once Vernon went farming, he continued the tradition and grew his own vegetables.

But, that became difficult when Vernon and his wife, Alison, moved to their 143-hectare farm in Midhirst where they milk 260 cows. As the property is 400 metres above sea level and at the foot of Taranaki Maunga, it is very cold, he said.

“I tried growing vegetables and got disappointed with slugs and white butterfly and so forth. I’ve always been looking for stuff to grow, but, then I came across tulips, and they loved the cold.”

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