About Us

We’ve always mused, in semi-fantasy fashion, about owning a little farm. Live off the eggs, the vegetables, the milk, the meat.. ah the life! In 2021, in the middle of a pandemic lockdown intermission, the primordial soup of this new life was starting to stir. Property market – check, remote working jobs – check, supportive friends – check. And in a moment of seeming madness, we thought ‘Let’s up and go!’ And so we left Auckland suburbia for rural Whangarei.

Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong…

We heard about the famous Whangarei Growers Market and thought why not produce something to sell and so we started Country Manna Farm with a small quail egg production and then added on chicken eggs, and then came duck eggs. We’re not an organic setup but we believe we’re as close to it as we could get. Our birds are fed a commercial feed mostly but our chickens and ducks free range and have access to insects and seeds in the pastures. Our zero tolerance for weed sprays or poisons on the property means we battle weeds constantly but this also means we know our food is as safe as we can make them. We’re humbled by our customers who trust our products and how important this is to them.

Although we’ve had many challenges and changes even in the first two years of life on the farm, we’ve not had anything too hard to handle. The amazing people we’ve met, in our neighbourhood, the community and the market – always lending a hand, trading advice and funny stories, have made all the hard work worth it. We wouldn’t trade it for the tidy packaged life of yesteryear.

Driving down the road, I get a feeling that I should have been home yesterday, yesterday...

Thanks for stopping by,
Sebastian & Jackie