Rural People & Issues

Becoming a South Islander had a few problems … or should I put that as ‘becoming a North Cantabrian’ … 

In the meantime, while this was all going on, I was trotting back up to the North Island on a reasonably regular basis to care for my little farmlet up there.

The girls thought they had died and gone to heaven, and making the decision to go “Once a Day” was part of it.

And so my first season began. With high hopes and heaps of enthusiasm, I launched headlong into what turned into a series of nightmares.

My head was exploding. People who know about stuff seem to be so willing to part with and share their knowledge.

Letters from Middelmost Dairy Farm.  To have good people around you is essential and, in this matter, I was blessed.

And so the scramble began.  First things first … I needed to sort the cows out as they had been dried off and were nearly ready to move to their next lease location.

Rod Slater is correct in some of his responses to my article on home-kill vs meat works meat, however as he rightly points out, when I said home-kill was 'better' I was focussing on better welfare for the animals and a better financial deal for the farmer (who can make use of the whole carcase). I believe that these are issues that are important to most lifestyle farmers.

Anyone living in a remote area without an existing connection to the national grid faces potentially expensive solutions to their power requirements. Previous articles have looked at solar and wind options, and the likely costs involved relative to bringing in a line from the nearest existing power pole.

Whether we like it or not, 1080 poison is widely used to kill introduced mammalian species that may threaten native wildlife and harbour TB. Occasionally large pest-killing operations take place in areas not readily accessible on foot. Licensed operators drop 1080-laced bait from planes and helicopters over huge areas of forest. The target animals are usually possums, rats and stoats.

You live on a windy ridge. Sunshine is unreliable (imagine the west coast of the South Island), and you're a long way from the nearest power pole. The simple solution to your energy requirements is a micro wind generator, isn't it? The answer is "well, maybe."

For most of us approaching the idea of solar power as novices, there are some daunting matters to get our heads around.  What are the components? How hard are they to get and how much do they cost? Out of the vast range available, what really is the best and most suitable for my particular needs?

Solar energy means different things to different people: is it solar water heating, or is it the use of photovoltaic panels to generate electricity? Is the aim to reduce dependence on the national grid or remove involvement with it altogether?

Establishing an orchard on your lifestyle block can involve a good deal of work, and sometimes money, so it’s worth doing some careful planning before taking spade to soil. If you get it right, it will reward you for decades with home-grown fruit and nuts.

Strictly speaking, it's a cheater's cheese, as there's not even any culture added. But it's a big hit for when you're short of time or wanting to impress your friends by making your own cheese for the homemade pizza or summer salad of fresh mozzarella, fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes and basil leaves, drizzled with some extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with flaky sea salt and a dash of freshly ground pepper.

Leonie and her husband Terry have twenty years’ experience living and working on lifestyle blocks, and they’ve lived with the good and the not-so-good over that time. Their present site, 18.5 acres of easy, rolling, slightly elevated land with big established trees and some very spacious outbuildings, close to Dannevirke and Norsewood, suits them very well, although Leonie says that they are reluctantly looking to sell in order to move north to a smaller property nearer their daughter.

In many places of the world, cheese curds of many flavours can be found in the supermarket, and are a nice change to the bland block of cheese. Cheese curds retain a squeak that aged cheeses lose, because for the first few hours and even days, the binding proteins in the curds are still very elastic and squeak when you bite them, releasing some of the moisture that remains.  To make them may sound complicated, but once you get going, you may find that it's a nice change of pace to create in your home kitchen.

Michael lives on a one-acre block and has a neighbour who processes firewood for charity. Trouble is, he does it about 200 metres away from Michael's house. "He runs chainsaws every Wednesday and Saturday through the summer months for most of the day. Is there anything I can do about this, as the noise is excessive and is driving us to the point of selling?"  The neighbour, when approached, says he has no intention of stopping.

Tara and her family have found their perfect lifestyle on a small block looking out to the Hunua Ranges. It took them twenty years to be in a position to realise their dreams and make the move to their haven on the side of a wide valley, and they think it was waiting for them, having been on the market for some time before they found it. After looking at many properties from Kaipara to Mercer, Tara says “As soon as we climbed over the gate it was just so still. No air traffic noise, no road noise, just a couple of fantails following our progress round the property, chirping at us.”

Northland couple Zena and Paul and their family are proof that you don’t need lots of money to live in paradise. With hard work and compromise, they are living well on their five acres near Kerikeri. They bought their land with the intention of owning their own place and being able to provide their own food. Zena grew up in the country with “chooks, house cow, garden and a pig now and then” while Paul had a more urban upbringing and has learnt by experience as they have developed their property.

Common household baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, bicarbonate of soda, or sodium hydrogen carbonate, has been used in many ways for a very long time – right back to when the Egyptians used it to preserve corpses. You probably don’t have any corpses you need to preserve right now, but sodium bicarbonate is useful for many other things, particularly cleaning, and provides a good alternative to a number of harsher chemicals

The story goes it was an 18th century food writer, Hannah Glasse, who began a recipe with the words "First, catch your hare." Possibly because they can reach speeds of 72 km/h, possibly because they just don't seem to be as common as rabbit or pre-packed pork chops. In the spirit of being helpful, however, she might have added, talk to the brother-in-law.

Some people get confused about the SPCA - there's the RNZSPCA and your local SPCA - what's the difference? The national RNZSPCA is an over-arching body with strong affiliation to 48 regional SPCAs.  It helps and supports them all. 

Lifestyle blocks come in all shapes and sizes and before you start looking for the perfect block you need to know what you're looking for. The first thing you need to consider is what you want to do with your block.

Named for the Manchega sheep, this popular traditional Spanish cheese can be adapted easily for goats' or cows' milk. There are three varieties of this delicious cheese. Manchego fresco is only aged for 2 weeks. Manchego curado is aged from three to six months. And Manchego viejo is aged for one year

Now that you've had a chance to practice on some of the basic cheese making techniques while perfecting your feta, here's another recipe to try.  Cup cheese is a Pennsylvania Dutch creation, credited to both the Amish and the Mennonites from that area of the United States. There are some variations to the recipe, but it was from being sold in cups that it got its name.

Chillies are the spice of life for Swannanoa-based lifestyle block owner Louisa Eades. Louisa and her husband Mike moved on to their 11 acre North Canterbury lifestyle block in the winter of 2006. Louisa says the main reason was to give their three boys more space to run around. "We wanted to use the land to do something productive since we were buying a small farm. I wasn't a very good gardener back then and the only plant I'd managed to keep alive was a chilli plant I'd bought from Mitre 10 and kept on my windowsill."

AgResearch weed scientist Trevor James says he didn't know what he was looking at, at first. It was a photograph of velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti), one of the worst weeds in America and possibly the world.  And it had just been found growing in the Waikato.

Once you've made your queso blanco cheese, you'll want to make more complex cheeses. To really get going with more advanced cheeses, you will have to find a source of starter cultures. You’ll also want to extend your basic equipment so that you can dedicate some exclusively to making cheese, especially if you are using raw milk.

Cheese is a simple thing to make from the milk of cows, goats, sheep, or yak, llama and horse if you're feeling a bit adventurous!  It's best to start simple and get the steps of the fresh cheeses mastered before jumping in at the deep end, unless you have chooks or pigs who would appreciatively eat your mistakes.  Fresh cheeses, or cheeses which are not cooked or aged, are very simple to make, and you can be eating your delicious results in as little as 12 hours from paddock to plate.

I'm so over winter. I've splashed out on extra warm gear and wear my new fingerless gloves under my old fingered gloves and still get frozen.  It doesn't help that sometimes I sit for hours in the bone chilling bush, keeping an eye on some rare feathered friends at Maungatautari.  Back when it was warm, volunteers were asked to monitor stitchbirds, a lovely little bird once common throughout the North Island.

Earthtalk is a 28 acre organic farm in Auckland's Awhitu Peninsula.  Its guardians, Tanya  Cumberland and Charmaine Poutney, left city life in 1992.   Both employed as change agents in their respective fields, Tanya in the social sector and Charmaine, the education,  they subscribed at the time to do the same for the land.  Today they are being duly rewarded by a new but more vigilant employer, Mother Earth. 

There's nothing like the aroma of baking bread - especially if someone else is making it.  I found myself at the skull lady's house a few weekends ago, and she was keen to try a sticky bun recipe that had popped into her head.

It has been said that the most important ingredient in preserving olives is patience - six months worth to be exact. Olives contain a glycoside called oleurophin which protects the olive fruit from being eaten by animals and humans alike.  Although oleurophin is not poisonous, the taste of raw olives makes them unsavoury to eat. 

Imagine being able to taste your fruit and vegetables before purchasing them.  Wouldnt that be a novel experience, having merchandisers prompting you to try before you buy in supermarkets?  Considering supermarkets merchandise everything else why are fruit and vegetables excluded?

Neil has a neighbour with unstable pine trees on his property, bordering a shared driveway.  On the land on the opposite side of the driveway is a shared power line, not shared by the neighbour.  Neil wants to know whose responsibility is it if a pine tree falls across the driveway and breaks the power line.

Food - I am so over it.  This unusual state of affairs came about as a result of over indulgence during the festive season. 

It all started in early December, when invites to celebrate the season started flooding in.  Not that two is exactly a flood, but it was most certainly a beginning. 

This is the time of the year when there is no longer the demand being placed on every drop of milk being wrung out of every willing, and sometimes not so willing, udder.

Noel Sweetman is a lifestyler and a luthier whose customers are among the finest musicians in the world. Outside his workshop he has 40 acres of rolling hills in the tiny settlement of Te Miro in the Waikato.

When Sylvia and Wayne Dering decided to move out of town and into the country in Oxford, North Canterbury, they planned to grow something that would bring in a small income so they could work part time and enjoy the time on the land and the lifestyle.

Sandy and Terry Cooper were born in England, met in Singapore and now have a successful small farm in Upper Hutt. Sandy works in the computer industry while Terry now works full time on their land.

My Mother had always wanted to get back into the country to live, "before she was too old to enjoy it" she said. We had planned on buying that piece of land once the kids had left home, we had sold the business and our Auckland house was sold.

We live on the Otago Peninsula, about 30 minutes out of Dunedin, and have been there six years now.  The views pretty much sold us on the place I guess.  Husband could see if the sea was flat enough to go fishing so he was happy. 

As a country based on animal exports, it’s important that our animal welfare standards lead the world. We must be ahead of anyone who sees our standards as a way to block our trade. Before we start trying to change the world, we need to start off at home, and New Zealanders need to know what’s going on and especially why.

Swaggie certainly did.  Her question:  what can you do if you or your property gets unintentionally sprayed? The family live in Australia a fair amount of time, and camp on their 80 acres in the Franklin region when the urge takes them.  Last June they were accidentally sprayed. She didn’t know what the spray was, who the contractor flying overhead was or, for that matter, who’d arranged it.

“Compost is just a whole lot of organic matter which, if given time, will break down into soil.  There’s many ways of doing it, and I’ve probably tried them all.  Now I make it the easiest way I know how.”

Kate has 30-odd (very odd, she says) goats who get a zinc sulphate footbath (for scald and ...) every five to six weeks. After they’ve been treated, the contents are diluted and drained into the ground.  She wants to know is this environmentally safe and is there a better method of disposing of it. “The footbath holds 40 litres but we’re about to get a larger bath that will hold more. Sometimes we use copper sulphate.” She adds that while re-using the solution is great in theory, the goats don’t understand theories so use the footbath as a lavatory while in there…

The post always gets through.  Or does it?   And there's much more at stake than a birthday card to Aunt Joan going astray.

Here's a burning question.  AJ lives on a small block, a short distance from Hamilton.  She's been approached by a community group who want to hold a bonfire on her property to raise funds.  It's all for a good cause and she'd like to help them but in this modern age is a bit worried about things like liability and OSH and other scary stuff.   What's the situation, she asks.

In Organic Farming good productive pastures come from healthy soils, and the nitrogen cycle is very much part of this achieving this.

A weed is simply a plant out of place in the opinion of the farmer. But remember that weeds can be valuable natural indicators.

Soil organic matter (OM) is at the very core of successful organic farming and is vital for a healthy, living, productive soil that will sustain plant, crops and animal production.

Animal health costs are continuing to rise, and along with supplementary feeds (apart from interest and fertiliser) are the two largest farm expenses in recent years. The range of veterinary products on the market today has never been as great, aided by sales promotions and selling incentives.

Pesticide-free fruit is typically the last bastion for most organic gardeners.  It’s a hard ask to ally with natural deterrents and win the race against pests to get to your fruit before they do. 

Avoiding the twelve most pesticide laden fruits and vegetables can reduce your pesticide exposure by up to 90% automatically and ensure that at least 14 different pesticides are removed from your daily intake.  My advice? Plant these twelve as a matter of principle.

Crop rotation requires that annual herbs and vegetables are re sown in different areas of the garden each year . Plants grouped according to their nutritional needs and susceptibility to certain pests, are planted together. 

We had a fine old time the other night.  On the spur of the moment we decided to hunt tadpoles, which is really a big excuse for a picnic.  It took no time to organise, a quick call to mobilise the friend who would bring the bubbly, a whip around in the kitchen, and we were set.

There's no question, food always tastes better when someone else cooks it for you. It helps to have a friend who is mad keen on cooking, especially for those days when not much goes right.  Everyone has these, I am sure. One of those days when there's no milk for the morning tea, and the cat brings in half a mouse. 

I am proud.  I have baked my Christmas cake.  It is sitting in the larder, and when I remember, I give it a feed of brandy. The idea, I am told,  is that it will age and the flavours mix and mingle.  However, there is a danger with this plan, and that is there is no guarantee it will last until the  25th. 

Spring has sprung.  September to November heralds new growth in the garden and the cycle of creation begins again.  Young seedlings are prey to pests of all kinds during the growing season so in addition to companion planting why not employ some recycling practices to aid your cause?

This year petrol prices have made the headlines and hit our wallets hard and the impact of it has had me thinking about something infinitely more valuable to us. Have you ever considered that our food supply could be impacted in the same way? 

Aside from the obvious benefit of free plants there are several reasons why you would want to harvest your own seeds. It may be for sentimental reasons - a favourite family plant for example or because it is familiar and you are knowledge of its habitat and performance. Or maybe you are on a different crusade.

Moon gardening or lunar gardening, as it is sometimes called, is one of the oldest gardening practices, dating back to the Babylonian era.  The premise is that the earth is a large gravitational field, influenced by the sun and the moon. The tides are  at their highest during a waxing moon, when the sun and moon align with the earth.

Winter is a time of rest in the garden but for gardeners it is a time to do repairs and prepare for the upcoming growing months.

Paint or stain sheds and fences if required, undertake maintenance on compost bins, purchase seed and manure and clean and sharpen tools.

 In the Victorian era winter was a time when you consumed the pickles and preserves you had set down in autumn or took advantage of a hot bed.  Hot beds gave savvy gardeners the upperhand on their contemporaries. 

There aren't too many, now 'middle aged', kiwi kids that can't remember their mothers in the kitchen bottling the 'summer harvest' for winters consumption.  Sadly the same can't be said of the next generation.

The slowfood movement was originally born in Italy in 1986 when sixty two founding members of the forerunner of Slowfood met to inaugurate 'Aricogola'.  In 1989 delegates from 15 countries signed the 'Slowfood 'Manifesto, an order that today has 100,000 members in 15 countries.  Their philosophy is this - "that everyone has a fundamental right to pleasure and consequently the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible".  

Trees add value to almost any property. Architects’ drawings usually include a tree or shrub to offset straight lines, soften sharp corners, accentuate geometric shapes and create atmosphere.  When selling anything, eye-appeal is the first consideration. If the first impression is pleasing then minor drawbacks can be overlooked.