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."

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."

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.

The easiest recipe to make can hardly be called a recipe.  Just about every culture has its own version of it.  It's just fresh milk and food acid.  Using lemon juice or vinegar is the most basic, about ¼ cup juice or vinegar to 2 litres of milk.  You may have to adjust the amount of acid you use, as acidity will vary.  Heat the milk slowly to 85C, stirring occasionally to avoid scorching.

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.

One of the best things of travelling abroad is trying out new experiences, especially if those experiences involve food.

This is plain, no-nonsense country-style tucker: easy to make, sustaining, delicious, but Baked Alaska it is not.  It resembles, depending on how you make it, a bit of a hill, with little bunnies dotted around.

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. 

The 100 Mile Diet, was born in 2005 - a one year experiment by a Canadian couple, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, in eating local food grown within 100 miles (160 kilometres) which is no mean feat considering the average ingredient in a  North American meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate.

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. 

Rural properties are easy targets for thieves. Here are some points to consider: Criminals like easy pickings so don't make it easy for them. Avoid leaving "starter kits" for young criminals. These are items like chainsaws and mowers that can be easily taken and traded for dope with gangs.

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.

Jacques and Barb have a problem with their three organic heifers - they've just become infested with ticks.  They write: "We have read that cooking oil can be effective. Do you know which type is most effective and how is it best applied? Is there any organic treatment that can be internally given?  We are BioGro certified so need to be very aware of what we are applying."

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.

There's no question, food always tastes better when someone else cooks it for you.

I always know it's time to make a huge pot of Boston baked beans when the cat glues herself to the chair by the fire.

Vera Lynn got it all wrong.  She sang that bluebirds would be flying over the white cliffs of Dover and in fact there’s not a one to be found - bluebirds live in America.

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 gave me a glow of satisfaction to order my free-range, home cured ham extra early this year. 

I can still remember the shock, years later.  Casually I had enquired what David – who was turning older in a few weeks -  would like as a special birthday meal. 

Mother-in-law knew the importance of putting on a good spread.  The first time I met her I think she pinched my cheek and muttered something about fattening me up. 

‘Tis time.  Second Christmas is upon us.

Sharon said this can be made with just about any fruit but I don’t believe her.

I’m glad the summer is almost over.  As the days start getting chill I think about all those blood sucking insects who won’t be dining on me.  And it’s me they always go for.

I didn’t think she would believe me.  I truly didn’t.  There are some things my teenage daughter needs to learn about life.

Good things take time, I recall Mariano telling me many years ago. 

Daddy has come home to live with me. 

We’d made a date.  Actually, it was more of a dinner engagement. 

It all starts innocently enough.  A quick phone call from my former workmates at the local paper, asking a few innocent questions. 

It has begun.  Early in the morning, the first hesitant oodle noise.

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. 

The humble earthworm (eisenia foetida) plays an important role in the garden.  They aerate the soil helping air and water circulate through it and encouraging root growth in plants. 

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.

With colder weather approaching lettuce is a commodity in the organic garden which goes off the menu.  Lettuce based salads can easily be replaced however with home grown sprouts and garden greens and flowers provided by mother nature.

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 worldwide organic food market has been growing at a rate of twenty percent per year, since 1990, and accounts for one to two percent of total food sales.  In a ten year period in the UK, organic food sales increased from 100 million pounds to 1.2 billion pounds.  Similar growth has occured in the US,  which combined with the EU accounts for 95% of all retail sales of organic food products. One study undertaken by the Organic Trade Association, indicted that sales of all organic products rose from $1 billion in 1990 to $24.6 billion in 2008, with a reported increase of 17% in that year alone, despite other industries being severely impacted by the recession.

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.

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. A few strategically-placed trees add monetary value beyond the mere cost of purchase and planting.