Elements of Resilience - Elements of Resilience

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Elements of Resilience

We're Danique and Xander, regenerating 22 hectares of former pine plantation into native forest in Aotearoa NZ. Documenting the journey and sharing what the land teaches us.

Field Dispatch #3 — Winter mornings

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Field Dispatches

Field Dispatch #3 — Winter mornings

In this dispatch, I take you through the raw, unpolished reality of a winter morning in the tent, from waking up warm against the cold to brewing coffee on the Billy stove before starting the day.

Aerial view of 22 hectare deforested hillside in New Zealand before restoration

Project Overview

Restoring Degraded Land in New Zealand: Our First Year

How we're restoring degraded land in New Zealand, one hectare at a time. A year one look at native forest restoration, rewilding, and what we've learned.

A logged hillside in NZ showing early native regeneration emerging through forestry slash and broom. Six permanent biodiversity monitoring plots established

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Biodiversity data on a regenerating hillside - Year 1

We set up six permanent biodiversity monitoring plots across 22 hectares of former pine plantation. Here's what the data is telling us.

Our supporters 💚

Our supporters 💚

(in no particular order) - Want to join this awesome group of people? Join as a member Steven Kramer - Harvest the Rain - harvest-the-rain.com Jorian & Jikke Rus, Carolyn & Max Papa & Muutti John Finn Snoopyzell Terry & Holly Reiling

Xander in front of a car

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Field Dispatches

Field Dispatch #2 — More planting + what's in our little Betty 🚗

Field Dispatch #2 is live. A full car, more food forest planting, and a look at some of the plants we planted.

Xander sitting on a stump with plants ready to plant

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Field Dispatches

Field Dispatch #1 — Welcome to the behind the scenes 🌱

Your first look behind the scenes! Field Dispatch is our members-only video series. Unscripted, lightly edited, and shot in the moment. The behind the scenes layer of Elements of Resilience that never makes it to YouTube.

Xander sitting in with a group of plants ready to be planted

150+ plants in the ground and something BIG to share

This is our second newsletter since relaunching, and there's been a lot happening since then. One of which is our brand new membership. Read more to find out ->

Roof on the containers

Restarting our newsletter (and a new roof)

We're restarting this newsletter after a gap. This update: a new roof over both containers, broad beans taking off in the garden, and why winter is actually prime planting season. Plus — why our YouTube uploads have slowed down on purpose. Read the full update →

View from the land to the estuary with clouds and rain

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🌧️ Rainy season?

Container delivery with a big hoist truck

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✨ 2 Major Milestones

2 glasses of champage with a stunning view in the background

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🌅 Sunset Lessons

Xander and a native Beech tree

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🫶 Remember to let go

Clear-felled pine plantation, with another pine plantation in the background

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💫 It's a mixed bag of feelings...

Xander walking on an empty skid site with a digger, lots of mud and a big mess!

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Can you believe it?