• 7 Posts
  • 76 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 3rd, 2023

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  • Where are you getting the logs from?

    About half our property (~2 ha) is native bush - they tell me it has never been harvested, so it is as it was before whoever came here first. Actually, it was Europeans that stripped most of the bush for sheep/beef/dairy and some crops around here. I’ll either limb a couple of Southland Beech and try them, or there is a Gum overhanging our fence line that needs to go. Need to find out which is likely to be best - I’d prefer to use the Southland Beech as it’s native, and I can continually trim a few without any impact.

    A slow process, but I’m happy to post in 6-12-24 months, or however long it takes, how things progress. I was considering growing some in bags, but the idea of growing in logs means so much less input in time and $'s. I’ll probably have a play with some wood chip beds in the meantime.


  • Pretty much. I think crop rotation is a bit overstated personally. If I find a spot that a particular veg. grows well in, why would I not keep growing it there. If you’ve got healthy soil and don’t introduce infected soil, all should be good, though some diseases can blow in with the wind, but here, where I am, due to geography, it’s not known to be an issue.

    Some plants can build up bugs like nematodes in the soil if continually cropped in the same spot. However, that can be managed, either by planting companion plants that repel the pest, or growing a crop that inhibits it in the off season. I don’t go overboard on this type of thing, but it can be helpful in some cases.

    With potatoes, the issue is spreading the disease - I’m not intending to sell or give-away potatoes as seed, so that’s not a problem. I’m more likely to bring in disease if I buy in seed potatoes, but certified seed potato should be okay.



  • Which part of the country are you?

    About as far South and West as you can get. Have a good sized hot house, so can get things started early. The weather says 0C or maybe -1C tonight but day temps get above 18 behind glass/polycarbonate.

    Which mushroom kit did you get?

    Shiitake Mushroom Grow Kit - Splash & Grow Block

    I’ll likely buy 1000 dowels when we decide which we prefer.

    Many locals shut shop in the garden here over winter, but I manage some reasonable growth with the right plants.


  • First time planting potato seeds. It’s supposed to be a bit hit and miss on what you get, but it leads to you to creating your own potato i.e. not a clone like when you plant seed potatoes.

    I’m trying to get to a point where I don’t have to buy in much each year. Produce my own everything including seeds. Just something to have a go at, no doubt some things won’t go to plan. But that’s the fun.


  • In the last couple of days I’ve planted some Butternut Pumpkin, Zucchini and Yams, into pots to get a start for when it warms up.

    Yams

    Potato seeds (yes seeds, not seed potatoes) I planted a little while ago have sprouted. First time I’ve planted potato seeds. I’m interested in how they grow and what the results are like. I collected the seeds last year.

    Potato seedlings

    The Grey Oyster mushrooms I bought last weekend have come on strong, and I’ve ordered some Shiitake mushrooms to try as well. Testing which ones the boss likes the best before inoculating some logs.

    Grey Oyster Mushrooms


  • Setting aside the Te Reo argument, in my opinion the OP is guilty of much of what they accuse others of and appears to taunt others into further participation (again, my opinion). If lemmy.nz is going to become a closed community, it will simply become an echo chamber of that closed community - this is the biggest failure of social media - is that what users want lemmy.nz to become?

    Keep it open. If it becomes a closed community, I’ll probably wander off.

    I suspect Lemmy will grow (or die) to allow those that create continual problems to be banned or similar - perhaps we just need to wait a little longer for those features? Defederation seems far too coarse/broad brush to me for what I perceive to be, at this point in time, just a nuisance that can be ignored.








  • If fonterra owns the lab, do current dairy farmers just transition to being owners that aren’t contributing milk?

    I suspect Frontera would ‘pay’ some farmers to transition to produce the raw ingredients required to produce alternatives. Thus, their expertise could continue to be utilised along with their export strengths. The issue will be with those stubborn farmers who refuse or are reluctant to change - the almighty dollar will speak to them eventually.

    Forestry workers can drive from a bigger city…

    Don’t see that here. There are local Forestry, Sawmill, and Transport (logging) workers who live in the community and, of what I see, contribute more to the town than dairy workers. It takes very few people to run a modern, robotic dairy these days. Usually just the owner/manager and a couple of foreign workers - often seasonal, so they come and go, most living on the farms, not in the township. Very few farmers shop locally, they tend to travel into the “city” to purchase and/or get groceries delivered (as do I). A few spend a bit at the pub/club, but not as much as you would probably think.

    I personally believe there would be an increase in population with a move away from dairy - but that’s just my thinking based on what I see.




  • I bought 1kg a couple of years ago, which will last me the rest of my life as long as it doesn’t go off - I store it in a cool, dark, dry place. Have only used 20 - 30 grams in the last 3 years.

    When I bought it, it was called Bactur Organic from SprayShop. It looks like that has been discontinued and replaced with Genius BT.

    This was the most economical way to buy it for me at the time. It has gone up considerably by the looks. If you’ve got friends who garden, you could share it around to spread the cost - it goes a long way.

    I think there is another more generic brand that sells it, but I can’t remember what it’s called, and they sell very small quantities for the price.

    IIRC => Yep, BT produces a protein that blocks the digestive system of the insect/caterpillar, effectively starving it - we don’t see any meaningful loss at all. It is not supposed to harm other beneficial insects, and that appears to be true - we don’t spray it on bees, but haven’t seen any dead bees or reduced bee numbers with its use.


  • Bacillus thuringiensis is the answer, for me anyway, for white butterfly. It’s organic approved - from a natural bacteria found in soil.

    It’s the only spray I use (besides pyrethrum). It disrupts the catapiller and keeps brassicas from being eaten.

    You buy it as a powder and mix a tiny amount with water (a drop of detergent helps) and spray about every two weeks. I highly recommend it.


  • Yes they do? Farmers are share holders and Frontera need to make a profit to pay back to farmers. If the industry tanks so do they?

    Interestingly, the area where I live was once heavily invested in forestry, mostly native harvesting. The govt. put a stop to that, rightly due to disappearing native forestry. The town nose dived and the population halved. It’s a shell of what it once was.

    Forestry is beginning to reappear, so the town is unlikely to disappear as many try to report. It will just change. Hopefully some of the dairy will convert to crops (oats) which will see a future, possibly better than now.

    My reading of the history of the area where I am, indicates that dairy has NOT contributed much to the prosperity of the area, but there are some wealthy dairy farmers who will sell up with plenty to retire on. And move away taking a lot with them.