“The only time I had been on a farm was on a school trip and I certainly never thought I’d be living 50km from the nearest city with 4500 sheep and no cellphone coverage!
When I was 17, I wanted to leave school, but my father said I couldn’t unless I had a job to go to, so I found work as a trainee chef. However, I hated working split shifts and sent my CV to every hairdresser in New Plymouth and ended up getting an apprenticeship.
I met my husband Tim through my brother. When he asked me to come and visit his family farm at Tokirima in the King Country, I was shocked at how remote it was. I didn’t think people lived in places like that and I told Tim I never wanted to drive the unpaved, twisting road again.
The Neeson family started their blanket business in 2009 and are proud all the wool comes from their farm.
But a few months later, I gave up my hairdressing job and moved to the farm. There’s something about the place that gets to you, it’s so quiet and beautiful. As a hairdresser, I spent my days chatting to lots of people but out here, there’s no one except Tim and his parents, who live down the road.
My friends thought it wouldn’t work, I’m a city girl who likes city things. But I surprised everyone, including myself, at how much I loved it.
I put my city clothes at the back of the wardrobe and started off with a ’let’s see how it goes’ attitude. I remember the first time I had to dock a lamb’s tail – somehow I managed to stay clean!
I also had to learn how to cook because I had to make morning tea, a hot cooked lunch and afternoon tea for eight shearers. I laugh now when people say they can’t cook. If you can read a cookbook, you can cook!
Tim and Monique with their children (from left) Heath, Zadee and Effie.
I had two of my kids at home [Heath, now four, and daughter Effie, two] because I couldn’t think of anything worse than driving the twisting road to the hospital while in labour. Because of complications with our youngest daughter, Zadee (13 weeks), I had her at Taranaki Base Hospital.
You have to be organised when you live an hour’s drive from the nearest supermarket. But I take Heath and Effie to playgroup in Taumarunui twice a week, so I do the shopping and chores then.
In 2009, when the price of wool dropped so low it didn’t even cover the cost of the shearers, my mother-in-law Lyn and I decided we needed to do something.
We did some research and found that there were no 100 per cent wool blankets made in New Zealand that were fully traceable to a family farm.
We found someone to scour our wool, sent it to Levin to be spun and back to Auckland to be dyed and made into blankets. We found a woman in Taumarunui, Jenny Marshall, who used to sew for Trelise Cooper, who does the satin trims.
Our business, ShearWarmth Pure Wool Blankets, now makes blankets for beds, cots and bassinets in a range of colours. We sell online and by phone, which is great because a lot of older women don’t use the internet so they call and I end up hearing their life stories.
If there’s one thing I want to teach people it’s how good wool is for you. It keeps you warm in winter and cool in summer, it’s hygienic and lasts a lifetime.
Sometimes I can’t believe that I’m living on a 1700ha farm running a blanket business. But I get to work with Tim, my best friend, and we laugh a lot. You can’t live out in the middle of nowhere and not laugh.”
It’s the perfect size for a toddler! Effie is a big fan of her soft and warm checked blanky.
Quick fire:
What I love about rural life: The space and freedom to breathe fresh air. Our kids also get to explore nature, play in the mud and just be kids.
*How I’d like to be remembered: As a good mother, an amazing wife and a wise friend.
*What I do on a day off: There aren’t many days off on a farm. When we have the time, we like to spend it together as a family – on the river or mucking about at home.
As told to Sharon Stephenson
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