When Vicky White returned to New Zealand from Canada, where she had been living for several years, she wasn’t sure where in the country she wanted to base herself. “So I bought a bus,” she says, “and I was living in my bus and travelling around.”
She managed to buy a small piece of land with a friend. Then she picked up an old caravan to use for storage and as a shed. Eventually she built a tiny house on the site too. “But the land was plain grass over clay and every time it rained, even a bit, the place flooded. So I started planting trees.” Now, about five years later, she has a full food forest on the section, including persimmons, figs, apples, feijoas, grapes, peaches, cape gooseberries, raspberries, bananas and more.
She was still using the caravan, but it was starting to look a little run down. A friend suggested a mural, “and as soon as she said it I thought it was a brilliant idea.” She contacted a local artist who asked White to compile a list of her favorite things. White suggested sunflowers, tree dahlias, banana fronds, mushrooms and echinaceas, all of which were included in Stone’s design. The door has been painted on both sides so the pattern continues whether the door is open or closed.
“I love driving in to see it,” White says. “And it’s the view from my tiny house and my deck. Even on a wet day it’s so bright and cheerful.”
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