Cam and his brother Angus are the sixth generation of McKelvies to farm Pukemarama. Cam manages the station with his wife, Rachel. They have four children: Emma, 11, Caitlin, 7, Bill, 6, and Chloe, 3.
“All the children are interested in the farm and all have ponies,” Rachel says.
“Young Bill follows Cam around the station whenever he has the opportunity.”
The 560-square metre McKelvie homestead Pukemarama – meaning “hill moon” – was constructed in 1900 for James McKelvie by notable Wanganui firm Russell and Bignell.
The ornate late-Victorian timber homestead is a Category I historic listed building and along with its magnificent formal gardens is sited on the highest point between the mouth of the Rangitikei River and Palmerston North. The horse stables built with the house are also of considerable architectural significance because of their decorative features.
Cam’s parents Ian and Sue live at Pukemarama. During the Depression many people lived and worked on Pukemarama Station. Ian says the raised vegetable gardens kept seven people in full-time employment. They occupied one large paddock surrounded by hedges. Almost every conceivable vegetable was grown and much of the produce was given away to the needy.
“The gardens fed most of the nearby Tangimoana village,” Cam says.
Two large glasshouses measuring about 15-by-8m were dwarfed by two even larger 100-by-50m netting cages. They protected the numerous varieties of berries grown from scavenging birds.
The station grows 50ha of maize each year to produce silage for wintering cattle.
