Frog Song Farm

01/07/2026

🌱 Registrations are now open! 🌱

Otago Growers Hui 2026

https://events.humanitix.com/2026-otago-growers-hui


📅 24–26 July

📍 Waihola C*C



Practical ideas. Honest conversations. Good food. Great company.



Join us for a relaxed and practical weekend bringing together organic and regenerative growers from across Otago.

Whether you're an experienced grower, new to organic production, or simply interested in sustainable food systems, we'd love to see you there.



What's happening?

🌿 Grower presentations and practical ideas

🌿 State of the season discussions

🌿 Report back from the National Hui

🌿 Interactive discussions on current challenges and opportunities

🌿 Future direction of Otago Organics

🌿 Plenty of time to network over good food



🎤 Could you share your story?

We're looking for a few more growers willing to give a short (5–10 minute) presentation about an innovation, challenge, lesson learned or practical experience from their farm or business. If you're interested, let us know when you register.



🎟 Ticket options

🏕 Weekend Ticket – $100
Includes accommodation (Friday & Saturday nights), Saturday lunch and dinner, plus the full weekend programme.

🚜 Day Ticket – $50
Includes full weekend programme, Saturday lunch and dinner.

(Friday night pot luck dinner and breakfasts are BYO.)



👉 Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/2026-otago-growers-hui



Please help us finalise arrangements

Whether you're ready to register or are still deciding, we'd love to hear from you by 5.00 pm Friday 10 July.

✔ Register now through Humanitix

OR

Comment, message us or email us with:

🤔 Maybe

❌ Sorry, not this year



Your response—whatever it is—will help us finalise catering, accommodation and the programme.

We hope to see many familiar faces and welcome some new ones too!

01/07/2026

Growing organic food for your community is a meaningful but hugely challenging job. It doesn’t need to be done in isolation. Let’s get together and support each other to grow. Small farmers can change the world - but not on their own.

🌱 Registrations are now open! 🌱

Otago Growers Hui 2026

https://events.humanitix.com/2026-otago-growers-hui


📅 24–26 July

📍 Waihola C*C



Practical ideas. Honest conversations. Good food. Great company.



Join us for a relaxed and practical weekend bringing together organic and regenerative growers from across Otago.

Whether you're an experienced grower, new to organic production, or simply interested in sustainable food systems, we'd love to see you there.



What's happening?

🌿 Grower presentations and practical ideas

🌿 State of the season discussions

🌿 Report back from the National Hui

🌿 Interactive discussions on current challenges and opportunities

🌿 Future direction of Otago Organics

🌿 Plenty of time to network over good food



🎤 Could you share your story?

We're looking for a few more growers willing to give a short (5–10 minute) presentation about an innovation, challenge, lesson learned or practical experience from their farm or business. If you're interested, let us know when you register.



🎟 Ticket options

🏕 Weekend Ticket – $100
Includes accommodation (Friday & Saturday nights), Saturday lunch and dinner, plus the full weekend programme.

🚜 Day Ticket – $50
Includes full weekend programme, Saturday lunch and dinner.

(Friday night pot luck dinner and breakfasts are BYO.)



👉 Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/2026-otago-growers-hui



Please help us finalise arrangements

Whether you're ready to register or are still deciding, we'd love to hear from you by 5.00 pm Friday 10 July.

✔ Register now through Humanitix

OR

Comment, message us or email us with:

🤔 Maybe

❌ Sorry, not this year



Your response—whatever it is—will help us finalise catering, accommodation and the programme.

We hope to see many familiar faces and welcome some new ones too!

26/06/2026

Local growers unite.

So special to share that space with all those who could make it.

A big thank you to all the organisers who somehow managed to make it happen amongst their busy lives. Thank you for your generosity to this movement.

I have a lot to think about and digest and will share more on here once I emerge again after a period of contemplation.

Register for the Otago Organics gathering in Waihola now and I will look forward to connecting with you there soon.

14/06/2026

A reminder to register for our zoom chat about amending living soil - this Tuesday!

Soil Testing, Amendments & Building Better Soils – an online grower conversation with Dan Mladenov (Seacliff Organics) and Lisa Johnston (Frog Song Farm/ Otago Organics). Learn how to interpret soil tests, choose effective amendments, avoid costly mistakes, and build healthier, more resilient soils. Practical, grower-focused discussion with plenty of opportunities for questions.

Join us on the 16th of June at 730 on zoom.

Register here:

Join us for a conversation about soil testing, organic soil amendments and garden nutrition in the market garden with Dan Mladenov and Lisa Johnston.

03/06/2026

Looking forward to this zoom chat with Dan from Seacliff Organics where we will explore the wonderful world of soil tests, organic amendments and how to build resilient healthy soils in a cost effective way.

Dan has been my go-to soil geek for years and I’m looking forward to sharing his knowledge with you all. Book your spot!

Soil Testing, Amendments & Building Better Soils – an online grower conversation with Dan Mladenov (Seacliff Organics) and Lisa Johnston (Frog Song Farm). Learn how to interpret soil tests, choose effective amendments, avoid costly mistakes, and build healthier, more resilient soils. Practical, grower-focused discussion with plenty of opportunities for questions.

Join us on the 16th of June at 730 on zoom.
https://events.humanitix.com/amending-living-soil

28/03/2026

Appreciation post for my favourite vegetable of the season. If you needed a reason to get a greenhouse and grow your own food - this is it.

The Romano pepper is not only a beautiful object to behold, with its gradation of glossy colour from brightest red to deep green; it also one of the most vibrant flavours in the garden. And incomparable to what you can buy in any supermarkets in NZ.

So far I’ve been holding them tight - stuffing them with all sorts of things, making batch after batch of spicy harissa (using our own caraway!), and sharing them amoungst our team. But at last I’m going to let a few slide out the door. Look out for them on the April menu at .

And next season get your own growing and enjoy this treasure of the autumn. We’ll be sure to have a few at our spring plant sale so you can give it a go.

💚🌶️🙏

28/03/2026

It was great to get off the farm today to attend a course with Dr Ivan Lin of Mind & Nature NZ exploring the connections between soil health, the food we eat and mental and physical well-being.

These are topics I’ve been musing on for many years but it’s always good to hear perspectives from different angles and to experience the alchemy that happens when you get people from different professions and areas of expertise in the room together with a common purpose.

We also got to explore the beautiful garden at Sherwood Queenstown and feasted on a delicious lunch from the Sherwood kitchen - what a treat.

We looked at some soil from the garden under a microscope and saw what a busy, dynamic world it is in there - full of life and possibility.

If you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed by all that is happening out there in the world - I suggest getting your hands in the soil, planting some seeds and watching life unfold. It’s so simple yet so profound and it’s always there for us.

🙏🥬🫘💚

01/03/2026

Celery.
It’s in my top 5.
When it’s fresh, lush and crunchy. Salty sweet with a hint of bitter.
Nothing beats it.

It can be quite tricky to grow.
It loves my greenhouse.
It lives under my cucumbers and seems to enjoy the shade, the steady warm temperatures and the regular water in there.

This season I also did a couple of outside beds for the summer markets. They were lush and flavourful about a month ago in early Feb(see photo).

I harvested a few crates for today’s market which I thought would be all good. But we’ve come home and I’m juicing the leftovers and noticing they have actually gone pretty tough and fibrous. Some showing signs of bolting.

Not the best.
My apologies to our lovely customers who got some tough celery today. We will sort you out next market from our table.
My advice is to use it for stock, or dice it nice and fine in your soffrito. The flavour is great!

Thanks for your understanding
🙏💚🐸🥬