Written by Kay,

Kotare Kidz
We have 7 children around the village now… although two of them are living in Wairoa for now….and 2 of them next door renting the only other house up this road.
Elenor was our first child born to village settlers (Franzi and Taiamai) and she is now 4!!!!!, and she has a younger sister Frieda who is 2… Eleanor is into singing and dancing and reading writing and animals and loves watching and helping her dad do the butchering, and she is super proud of herself because she has discovered that she really can speak fluent German (she is currently in Germany.. and she thought before she went that she might be able to) Frieda is into having fun and being trickster, and her favorite things are eating, and dancing!!

Gesham was born here (to Tes and Shaked)  in the bus, one rainy mid winters day,  and has just turned 2. His favorite thing is copying every word and every thing he sees and hears.. but he particularly likes being up in trees (where his dad puts him!)

Vera lives here now with her mum Kelly (the Koanga Nursery and Forest Garden apprentice) and brother Jack, Vera is 4 and Jack 12. Vera’s favorite thing is finding seeds and bugs everywhere she looks.. always tiny things that she takes very good care of ….Jack is home schooling, and into various other things he will tell you about.

Tes and Shaked have just returned from Israel and moved onto their  own site for the first time in their bus, and held Gesham’s 2nd birthday party under the huge very old Totara on their house site, last weekend. Happy Birthday Gesham! we wish you many more happy birthdays under the Totara tree, or up in the Totara tree!

The twins Oliver and Arthur are 2 as well so we have 4 x 2 year olds!!!! They haven’t been here long .. their dad Rob is the new Koanga Marketing Manager, and Mum Kat is a great cook and craftswoman.. and we look forward to getting to know them better.

All of our children love playing with other kids… …. this is an amazing place for children to grow up……a village full of forest gardens, sitting within a dynamic and alive ecology including several rivers for playing and swimming in…

Kay and Jack:

Q. What do you like about living here at Kotare Jack?
A. I like the quiet, I can sleep and the birds are my alarm clock!!( this is from a kid who used to be half the night on the internet). I can leave home, visit other people, do jobs around the place and mum doesn’t need to worry, and I can go to the workshop and fiddle with my mechanical stuff when I feel like it. I also like the animals and the rivers in Summer.
Q. any thing you miss?
A. I’d like a workshop with mains power so I could do more stuff

(the workshop is there, but defiantly needs more organising:-)