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In: Farming, Food, General, Shane's Posts

“What a difference a day makes”… well in Southland it’s “What a difference a month makes” lol. Summer is here…. Sort of? Well if you go by the progress of the garden it is. freshly laid lawn starting to sprout after 8 days of nothing, all the new raised bed are looking good, the bee patch is shooting away, the tunnel house has gone ballistic and the potato patch is looking like it will be a good crop. A lot of hard grafting went into preparing the raised beds and tunnel house and of course the virtually indestructible garden shed built from pallets (the ideaRead More →

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In: Farming, General, Shane's Posts

The entrance to the main road from the farm cottage is 1/2 a kilometre away but the sound of a truck with the brakes biting in to pull up a weighty load manage to wake me up with a “What the fuck!” Response. Looking out the bedroom window of our cosy motorhome only to see a behemoth of a truck with orange lights flashing and a trail of support vehicles stopped at the entry gate analysing the width and outlay of the drive before continuing. Curiosity got me out of my cosy bed to watch the unit travel down the driveway. Jude identified the itemRead More →

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In: Farming, General, Shane's Posts

We got a battering from the Northwesterly freight train today. And if the damage on the farm was any indication (although light) I’d hate to see how the rest of the province fared. We didn’t have any trees topple however quite a few branches were torn loose, a sheep loading ramp went for a short flight, window glass blown in and the odd sheet of corrugated iron was ripped of the sheds. Jude and I had spent the morning repairing gate hinges (not storm related) when the wind really picked. The dust from the dry paddocks was whipped up and making a nuisance of itself.Read More →

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In: Farming, General, Shane's Posts

Funny day with the weather today, hot n dry, cool with light rain… a bit of a mixed bag however more warmth than cooler weather. The jobs todays, pickup Toms Ute from Oreti Plains, tow boat to Otautau motors for WOF then repair sliding gate at the stock yard. Jude and I attacked the task repairing the sliding gate, problem was the top rail was bent out of shape and the rollers had seized. 10mm x 32mm steel double track was certainly a test of engineering for us two novelist engineers. But after a lot of trial and error we were successful at the end…Read More →

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In: Farming, Shane's Posts

Farmers should use less antibiotics, but if your own kitten or dog is sick, go to the vet right away and give them antibiotics and medications. Farmers should not import feed, but we regularly eat couscous, soy, avocado, bananas, which are for sale in our country by importing… 🍅🥥 Farmers spoil the drinking water with pesticides. But we shower daily with shampoo, rinse medicine down the sink and swim in the chlorine pool… 💧 The farmers should need less pesticides, but we buy strawberries and asparagus in the winter because we can’t wait for the season to come… 🍓🥦 The farmers have to keep asRead More →

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In: Farming, General, Politics, Shane's Posts

(I read this by David Clark and believed it needed to be shared ). I have been reflecting on the farmer protests while going about my day feeding stock and delivering grain. The protests in my view were well organised, peaceful and met with tremendous public support. The political response got me thinking. Minister for the Environment David Parker said on radio that he wasn’t backing away from ensuring Kiwi’s can swim in their rivers. We can and do safely swim in the river bordering our farm and in Lake Hood which is filled with river water. However I cannot swim in the Avon orRead More →