Glamorous bridesmaids and Roasted pumpkin seeds

This was at Amy's wedding in Queenstown, a beautiful day for all of us. Carolyn and Jocelyn were the bridesmaids.

Well yesterday was suddenly pretty cold and there were threatening clouds on the horizon so on went the first of the year's pumpkin soups - yum.. I looked up what to do with the seeds and learned they should be cleaned, boiled, salted and roasted so I did all that, and have been chewing them but they taste mostly of wood (the herb salt is good though!) and are pretty fibrous.

At five am we were all awake with a monster thunder and lightning and hail storm, thoughts of horses and cattle running through fences kept me awake so I tried to watch TV - brave eh? The power finally went off at 0800 and so I spent the morning producing hot water on the gas barbecue .. a waste of time, just an excuse for no housework.. not that one could :) with no water or power.

Thomas's heifers (famous for their nightly stampedes last winter) did indeed burst through a fence, I think all other mobs behaved themselves.

It's a little ironic that winter has arrived with such a vengeance just as we have delivered our woodburner to town for a refit.

Letters from Scotland to New Zealand 1879

Letters from Scotland to New Zealand held at Waikawa Museum. A series of letters between McKenzie family members from Stornoway and Ullapool, to relations in Southland, dating from 1879 to 1915, are held at the museum.. I am transcribing to www so they may be more widely available. Here is the first:


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WW97 1114F

1879 October 8 Glasgow Scotland

My Dear Uncle, Aunt and cousins

I write you these few lines in order to let you no that I am in good health hoping and wishing ______ this will find you all enjoying the same.
I had a letter from my father from Stornoway since a fortnight and there all able to go about in their Usual Health.
Dear Uncle I got your address in my father’s letter for me to write to you ___ then I am taking the Pleasure to let you no that I am your nephew I am shure you don’t no anything about me but I wish to let me knownt to you uncle and also to my cousins. I may tell you that I came to Glasgow about three years ago and I am Serving my time to be a Mason for the long Period of five years. I am now in my Fourth years at the Trade and may let you no that this city is done for. My Trade Building is almost stoped hear together in fact other Trades as well as building is slack in Glasgow at the Present time but I have to tell you that this Place was _ good for workmen when I came to it at first about 7 years ago. I wish you to let me no Dear Uncle if you would advise me to go out to that part of the country or to Australia. I don’t think I will stop here after my time is out but I would like to get your advice.
And also to give me news of the Place and let me no is there building going on in Dunedin.
Dear Uncle I may tell you that my only Brother is in America this four years. I dind hear from him but once but my father is hearing from him very often. I wish to no how is my Aunt Georgina keeping and I woud like very well to have the Pleasure of _______ (seeying?) you uncle and aunt together in health.
I also wish to see my cousins that I can’t name. I wish they will write me and give me all the news of the Place. My father and sisters wished me to remember them kindling unto you all and all my cousins at home as well and also sends there respects to you Dear uncle and aunt and cousins. I must come to an end with these lines and I now wish my best respects to you I remain yours Truly nephew Alick McKenzie
57 Carrick Street
Anderston
Glasgow.

Ps Please write soon and give my respects to Malcolm and _(David?) Watt.

Ww97 1114F
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here is the second:
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WW97 1114I
Tasdale Stornoway Lewis
July 7 1881

My Dear Brother
Your very Kind favour of the 13th May to hand two days ago.. by which I was very happy to hear that you and Family and My only and Dearest sister was in good Bodily health.

I am very thankful to say that Myself and Family and all other Friends here about is in the same state of health in the present time. I am glad to hear that Georgina is getting her health so well since she came to stay with you last

Our herring season here is almost over for this year and we had a visit from a good few of the mainland Friends during the time it was going on I am sorry to say that it was a very poor fishing we had but its to be hoped that it will turn out better on the east coast than here that would do good for the many poor people that depends on it as there living.

I may tell you that I have retired ___ from the fishing trade altogether and indeed it was time many’s the dreary night I had passed at it.

I may tell you that ?Kenneth? my son who was engaged by the Hudsons Bay Company for the last five years has returned home this years and he is presently engaged by Murdoch McKenzie his cousin learning to be a plasterer.

I ?hear? from my other son occasionally and I have sent your letter to him so that he could see what you stated about his trade in the Colonies. Trade here is very dull and I am sure poor Alex is like many others thinking that the Colonies is better but it seems from what you say that Mason work is not going on atall. that the Buildings are all made of Wood , __ I am glad to hear that you here from ?John? Donald ___. Indeed it’s a very great shame for him the way he has forgotten his Friends at home. He has no excuse for not writting if he had the mind to do it.

I enclose the card de visit as requested and I am sure you would not think that I had failed off so much but I must say that I suffered a great deal of sickness this year through a bad Cold indeed I am sorry that MacLeod did such a low turn for Murdo’s ?Trunk? ?Friends? but it seems there’s no much use of minding on it again.

Please give my compliments to all the Friends there and more especially to Georgina my sister. I wish you could send to your Friends a portrait of yourself and your family so that we could see your ---?sons? in case we may never have the opportunity of seeing them personally.

hopping you will return an answer by the return of post.
Concluding with Best love I am your ---?very true? Brother Alexanander McKenzie

WW97 1114I



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Zamon and Jen's daughter Terina at one year old has her own website full of pictures of whanau in NZ and canada...
http://web.mac.com/terina_maya/iWeb/Site/Winter%202008.html

Fiordland

Wearing The Ring

NZ Herald 27 Nov 2000 Farmstay and homegrown food

What is the most value you can add to a kilo of lamb?

How about the pockets-full of dollars brought into New Zealand when the consumer comes to this country in order to share the table of the farmer who grew it.

The concept also applies to New Zealand’s beautiful fresh home-grown vegetables, fish, fruit, beef and venison.

Food is one of the big selling points of the growing ‘Farmstay’ market. To those who have not tasted tender lamb or robust hogget straight from the farm kitchen, it’s worth explaining that it is an entirely different taste sensation to that of supermarket meat. The animal has not been stressed by transport, the meat has been aged in the traditional way, and of course only the best is kept for the household.

Sadly we have got ourselves into a barbed-wire tangle of regulation regarding who can consume home-killed meat or recreational catch. Keep in mind that this applies to whitebait, blue cod, paua and the other recreationally-caught delicacies of the different regions. The Animal Products Act dictates that the farmer, his household and his employees can consume home-killed or caught food and so can a paying guest who has partaken in catching it. Other paying guests cannot however, so at this moment thousands of farmstay hosts are risking fines of five figures, probably without even being conscious of it. If they are conscious of it they think it is too silly to deserve attention.

Why did we get into this complicated mess?

Not for food safety reasons, that’s clear because it’s legal to supply your own family, household, and farm workers with home-prepared meat. Not for export integrity reasons, because the food does not leave the farmhouse. One must conclude that it is for purely bureaucratic reasons, in that the crossing of palms with silver makes a convenient demarcation, on one side of which home-prepared meat can be eaten, on the other side not.

We’ve had this trouble before with serving wine to guests with their meal. Should we be required to hold a liquor licence? How daft. But there are lobby groups against farmstays, notably hotel and motel associations who complain that they should be much more regulated and licensed.

That is unfortunate, because both market and product are completely different from motels and hotels. The main point is that farmstay is a shared, two-way experience. The hosts give of themselves as well as of their table, their homes and environment. Farmstay is a small sideline for an increasing number of farmers, who get a tiny pecuniary reward but a huge boost in enjoyment of life by sharing their environs with visitors. Each home is different, and this is part of the attraction. More regulation means more standardisation and the loss of many of the charms of a farmstay holiday.

Down here in South Catlins there are no hotels, no motels, but a dozen farm families who have smartened the quality of their guest bedrooms, learned about promoting themselves and their area, shared great conversations with overseas visitors and earned thousands of warm fuzzies by hearing others rave about the beauty of the region they call home.

It is a shame to clobber this win-win trade - the value added to that kilo of lamb includes much more than dollars. Let’s not make the visitor experience become bland and tasteless through our national habit of over-regulation.

Article for ‘Rural Delivery’ column, NZ Herald, c/o Philippa Stevenson.
From Christine McKenzie, Fortrose RD5 Invercargill 19 October 2000. Pub 27 11 00.

NZ Herald 7 July 2000 Organics What does it mean?

Organically grown. What on earth does that mean! According to my Chambers dictionary, organic means a) containing carbon; b) pertaining to an organ (in any sense); c) instrumental; d) organised; e) structural as in the etymological structure of a word.

Its meaning nowadays conveys a vague idea that it means ‘food grown without man-made chemicals’.

Scientifically speaking, organics as currently practised under western standards, raises many questions about land sustainability, animal welfare and also about food safety. If your children got nits or worms, you’d treat them, wouldn’t you?

Those questions apart, ‘organic’ as a brand name for New Zealand food exports quite honestly stinks. It’s used willy nilly by all kinds of producers in many countries. How much trust do consumers really have in it? And how much will they trust it in the future as everyone gets on the bandwagon?

As a farmer I don’t have much faith in ‘organics’ at all. Particularly as a brand on our products heading overseas..

Yes the principles are great - that’s what New Zealand has built its good name on - producing with hardly any artificial aids. The thing is, we already have an established brand, and what’s more we own it, which means no-one else can degrade it.

It’s NZ Natural, or Naturally New Zealand, or any phrase that includes NZ. This is our established brand world wide.. Let’s face it Naturally NZ is unequivocal: it means all the images of NZ that have been built up over 120 years of exporting.

It’s no accident that our meat and dairy products are the cleanest anywhere - our customers demanded it over the years. The blood sweat and tears of complying with USDA and EU regulations have paid off in the reputation which we have built up.

Further, the last five years have seen a much closer relationship between customers and individual companies meaning their demands have been built into our systems, such as Alliance Group’s Farm Assurance Programme.. Traceability is the key. Every movement of animals on and off farm is recorded, every farm is audited and expected to record every remedy used such as worm drench. Codes of animal welfare, of fertiliser application, of health and safety are widely applied.

This has been accomplished in a relatively pain free way for farmers but is a huge leap forward for our marketing people, who are now grappling with the extraordinary global buying power of the continually merging supermarket sector. Their demands will continue to evolve but by the price and demand exhibited for our lamb in particular, it seems they are satisfied with the standard of food safety, animal welfare and environmental sustainability expressed in the New Zealand brand.

Those who are enthusiastically embracing the concept of ‘organics’ right now are motivated by the right sentiments but haven’t perhaps appreciated the strength of the the reputation we have, and that the commercial reality of the alternative doesn’t stack up..at least one supermarket megacorp has already announced price-levelling for all organic and non-organic produce.

Put together the commercial realities with the serious scientific questions over such practices as ploughing vs zero-tilling, it makes more sense to continue down the track of following best practice, building our wholesome and uniquely New Zealand reputation, than by attempting to rebrand our products with such a fragile generic name as ‘organic’.

NZ Herald 8 May 2000 Planet Southland

Hello Hello Planet Southland here, calling Planet Auckland.

We need more people. You have lots of people. Could you send us some please?

That is the gist of my message… Here is my sales pitch:-

This May Monday morning the sun is pouring onto a landscape so bright and clear that it makes my eyes hurt. The vivid green of the autumn pastures is only matched by the sapphire of the Ocean. I can see the mountains of Western Southland eighty miles away. The garden is literally vibrant with birdsong.

If I get in the car and go down to the lighthouse at Waipapa, I can join in with the sealions as they loll and socialise in their equivalent of Club Med. If I go up to Curio Bay I can spot a yellow-eyed penguin, or a pod of Hector’s dolphin. I can walk along the coast and see petrified tree trunks, and reefs that were rivers frozen into stone long before Gondwana drifted north.

How’s the sales pitch doing? But isn’t it freezing, you say? I’ve seen snow twice in twenty-two years..It’s certainly cooler than Auckland. Latitude at Slope Point is equivalent to Nantes, a city well south of Paris. You really know you’re alive, out in the sweet fresh air. That’s how it is so clear, and so healthy for people, plants and animals alike. Bad for bugs.

Rainfall? Less than Auckland, actually. That is apart from Fiordland where you can’t live anyway as it’s all National Park. Yes about two thirds of this province is Conservation land, a lot of it classed as World Heritage. Great opportunities to lose and find oneself in the bush. Another selling point?

Landscape and climate -OK - but what about society and economics? Yes you get real people down here - people who look you in the eye and mean it when they say Gidday, How’ve you been? Variety - you get to know all sorts, all ages, all walks of life.

You get to go to meetings too, oh boy do you get to go to meetings. Everything is DIY from ambulance driving to tourism development, and we are so democratic we get ‘consulted’ on everything..hence the need for more people - we are getting meeting-ed out!

Now to the economics. Two sides to making ends meet: expenditure and income.

Expenditure, yes housing is unbelievably cheap and of good quality. The cost of a coffee and sandwich is about a third the Ponsonby price, schooling, transport, rates, tradesmen, entertainment, sports clubs, yes all are far cheaper. Not quite so many choices in entertainment but plenty of everything else.
Travel -hmm - that’s a weak point. It does cost a wee bit to vist the ageing parents or the kids at varsity.

Income - The crunchy bit. Not so many six-figure salaries, but there are a few. We have major meat, dairy, fishing and forestry processing enterprises, an aluminium smelter, an enterprising Polytechnic, and a number of engineering/manufacturing companies.

Farming itself can make a very decent income, so long as the scale and efficiencies are present. Those dairy farmers who have migrated from Waikato and Taranaki in recent years have been pleasantly amazed by the immediate increases in production.

Then there is horticulture which has vast untapped potential. We’ve got things going there with the Crops for Southland movement which is trialling dozens of potential new crops and at the same time doing a detailed soil and temperature map of the province. Just let us get those transport costs down!

Next is tourism a fast-developing industry. And what about tele-commuting?

Do you see why we need you? Climate, landscape, a varied society and the economic opportunities are all there for those with imagination, skills and attitude. Above all, what a great place to raise a family.

And it’s not really another planet, so come on down and see for yourself.