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NZ Herald
a day ago
- General
- NZ Herald
Organic honey: Couple's sweet success on the Coromandel Peninsula
'Big, long, sunny days is what you want when those queens come out.' To keep moving ahead and to deal with all the stresses on hives these days, healthy queens for the next season were crucial, he said. 'Often the queen will fail at a bad time, and then you'll end up with a drone-laying hive [...] pretty much it's a death sentence for them. 'There's a whole lot of male bees just stuck in the cells, really, because if they get too weak and there's not enough help to get out, that's what happens.' It was early autumn when Country Life dropped into the Mackenzies' honey shed not far from Colville, and with the honey harvest and queen-rearing over, there was still plenty to do. Shayne and his wife and business partner, Elizabeth, were filling jars and packing them into boxes stamped with the Woodland's Organic Honey label, to be sent off to honey-lovers in New Zealand, Europe and Asia. This year, the couple won another two gold medals and one silver at the Outstanding Food Producer Awards for their multifloral and mānuka honey varieties, and they have lately launched their rewarewa and kānuka labels. The Mackenzies are one of New Zealand's few organic honey producers who must meet a multitude of requirements to ensure certified organic status. Shayne and his small team of beekeepers travel around northern parts of the Coromandel to tend the hives scattered over farmland, orchards and land owned by communities, ensuring distance from spraying, regular testing and also ensuring hives aren't taken out of the area, all subject to audit. 'You have to be a long way from any heavy agriculture or even a large town. 'Leaving honey on the hives, it's part of the gig, you know, we have to leave food for the bees. That's a big deal.' Pouring and packing honey Photo / RNZ, Sally Round Shayne started in the bee business as a teenager on summer jobs, eventually taking on the company, which started out with one truck and 'some pretty old equipment'. 'It's pretty much 30 years since I first went out with Don Sutherland harvesting, who was the original owner of the bees around here. 'He had some quite vicious bees, and I was quite young, and it didn't really go that well getting stung. I swelled up pretty bad. 'I'd like to think we've tamed the bees a little bit by breeding some slightly kinder ones,' he said, laughing. The landscape has changed, too. The Mackenzies are contributing to the diminishing gorse, which the bees have a taste for, by planting 1500 mainly mānuka trees. Elizabeth met Shayne while working as a shepherd near Port Jackson, further north. Woodland's organic honey is exported to Europe and Asia as well as sold online and in New Zealand. Photo / RNZ, Sally Round 'I've, you know, sort of taken over all the marketing, exports, sales, the books, social media. 'When you own your own business, you fill all of those roles.' So how have the pair weathered turbulent times in the honey industry, with oversupply a particular problem in recent years? 'Well, fortunately, when times were good, we didn't just buy a Ferrari,' Shayne said. They have made strategic investments and adapted to market conditions. 'Because I do know that the business can be up and down enormous amounts, like I used to think it could be plus or minus 60% but after the other year [after Cyclone Gabrielle] and we got 8% of the crop, I guess that means you can be plus or minus 92%. 'We just found ways to raise capital and keep going.' Things are looking more positive, though, Elizabeth added. 'It's still going to be slow, like the hive numbers have about halved in the last few years, and this year's national crop is just below average. 'There has not been as much honey produced, so that helps even out the supply and demand, so I guess we just have to get back to a place where there's more of a level playing field.' - RNZ
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- General
- NZ Herald
Agrivoltaics: Waiuku farm combines solar panels with grazing livestock
Running the 48ha property has deepened her appreciation for farmers working to improve soil and water quality, while trying to maintain a profitable business. A desire to be outside and working with animals was part of the appeal for the Upchurches coming home as well. 'This farm is where I grew up, so it was a real coming home for me,' Merrin Upchurch said. 'When we were living in Europe in Amsterdam, I really missed the animals and being outside.' The couple started raising pigs, as Merrin Upchurch's mum Judy had planted a lot of fruit and nut trees. The pigs graze below and hoover up the excess windfall produce. They have a handful of breeding sows, a boar and young 'boar-to-be', and when Country Life visited, two litters of six piglets each. 'There was huge demand for the Berkshires because they've got a great rep,' Nigel Upchurch explained. 'They're known as the Wagyu of the pork world, and they are beautiful meat, nicely marbled, delicious, quite frankly.' Merrin Upchurch said the domestic pork industry had taken a hammering because it was cheaper to import from overseas, where many countries had less stringent welfare standards. 'There's nothing better than your own pork,' she said. 'Fattened on chestnuts and free-range like this, it's a completely different type of meat.' Six hungry piglets enjoy their breakfast. Photo / RNZ, Gianina Schwanecke The pigs are also fed food scraps from a thrice-weekly run to the local supermarket, which helps add nutrients back into the soil. Woodchips from fallen and felled trees on the property are added where the pigs roam during the winter months to reduce mud and absorb excess nitrogen. 'With the amount of produce we're bringing into the pig areas, there's actually quite a bit of nutrient coming into the areas,' Merrin Upchurch said. The pigs are also fed food scraps from a thrice weekly run to the local supermarket, which help add nutrients back into the soil. Photo / RNZ, Gianina Schwanecke 'This farm was actually run as an organic property for about 15 years, and so the inputs that have been added to the property in terms of fertiliser have all been natural products.' Rotating stock, including young mobs of heifers up to 200kg, also helps, as the cattle eat down the tougher grass the pigs don't like to eat. The couple aim to run the farm with as few external inputs as possible, with hopes to see it eventually become carbon-neutral, if not a carbon sink. The couple also run pigs. Photo / Gianina Schwanecke, Country Life It's why, over 18 months ago, they added more than 3000 solar panels across 3ha of the farm. It's the first solar farm built and operated by Lightyears Solar. Lightyears Solar owns the panels and leases the land from the Upchurches. It operates the single-access tracking system, which sees the panels follow the sun, Lightyears Solar co-founder and head of development Matt Shanks said. Woofers Tommy Falconer (left) and Tilly Millson (second from left) have been helping the Upchurches with feeding stock and planting native trees. Photo / RNZ, Gianina Schwanecke 'It works better with the livestock.' The farm generates enough energy to power between 600-700 homes near Waiuku, about 2.4 megawatts or 2400 kilowatts. Even on a grey, drizzly winter day, as it was when Country Life paid a visit, the panels still generate about 25% of their usual production. It's an example of agrivoltaics, the practice of simultaneously using land for solar energy production and agriculture, such as growing crops or grazing stock beneath the panels. As one of the first large agrivoltaic set-ups in New Zealand, there was a lot of 'learning along the way', Shanks said. Agrivoltaic operations are still at the experimental stage in New Zealand and typically include smaller grazing animals such as sheep, so running young cattle has added challenges. The couple run mobs of young heifers, up to about 200kg, under the solar panels across 3ha on the farm. Photo / Gianina Schwanecke, RNZ Shanks recalled running experiments with bamboo poles across the paddock to work out the height needed to be able to run cattle below. The answer? About 1.6m off the ground, so the heifers are unable to cause mischief by eating the wires. The dual land use with young cattle grazing beneath has made the farm more profitable. Lightyears Solar co-founder and head of development Matt Shanks (left) and farmer Nigel Upchurch. Photo / Gianina Schwanecke, Country Life 'Per hectare, this is now the most profitable part of the farm,' Nigel Upchurch said. It aligns with the couple's values and has also added environmental benefits. The solar panels provide shelter for the stock on wet, wintry days and during the heat of summer. 'This summer and autumn was really dry, and we actually noticed the grass was greener under the panels, so we're getting less water evaporation,' Merrin Upchurch noted. While power generated from the farm currently goes back into the grid, the couple hope they will soon be able to run the farm and their house from the solar panels. 'Something we're really keen on is reducing the carbon footprint of the property,' Merrin Upchurch said. In the meantime, new farms are going up around the country, maximising the amount of limited land for solar farms. Lightyears Solar has developed new ones in Canterbury and Wairarapa, with hopes to continue. – RNZ
RNZ News
4 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Country Life: Sweet success for Coromandel couple's organic honey
The hives are scattered across farmland, orchards and other areas in parts of the northern Coromandel peninsula Photo: Supplied A honey shed on a hill is buzzing with the sound of honey flowing into jars as the bees take a hard-earned rest from honey-making. Country Life meets Shayne and Elizabeth Mackenzie whose organic honey is produced from hives scattered over remote parts of the northern Coromandel Peninsula. Shayne Mackenzie has just wrapped up queen rearing for the season - a tricky job, but one that's vital to keep his organic honey operation humming in the far reaches of the Coromandel Peninsula. "Timing's everything. Big, long, sunny days is what you want when those queens come out." To keep moving ahead and to deal with all the stresses on hives these days, healthy queens for the next season are crucial, he said. Shayne rears queen bees to replace older queens in order to keep colony numbers up and maximise honey flow. He uses a grafting technique to collect and place the correct size larvae into special queen cell cups. Photo: Supplied "Often the queen will fail at a bad time, and then you'll end up with a drone-laying hive [...] pretty much it's a death sentence for them. "There's a whole lot of male bees just stuck in the cells, really, because if they get too weak and there's not enough help to get out, that's what happens." Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts. Pouring and packing honey Photo: RNZ/Sally Round It was early autumn when Country Life dropped into the Mackenzies' honey shed not far from Colville, and with the honey harvest and queen-rearing over, there was still plenty to do. Shayne and his wife and business partner Elizabeth were filling jars and packing them into boxes stamped with the Woodland's Organic Honey label, to be sent off to honey-lovers in New Zealand, Europe and Asia. This year the couple won another two gold medals and one silver at the Outstanding Food Producer Awards for their multifloral and mānuka honey varieties, and they have lately launched their rewarewa and kānuka labels. Woodland's organic honey is exported to Europe and Asia as well as sold online and in New Zealand Photo: RNZ/Sally Round Woodland's honey range includes kānuka and mānuka varieties Photo: Supplied The Mackenzies are one of New Zealand's few organic honey producers who must meet a multitude of requirements to ensure certified organic status. Shayne and his small team of beekeepers travel around northern parts of the Coromandel to tend the hives scattered over farmland, orchards and land owned by communities, ensuring distance from spraying, regular testing and also ensuring hives aren't taken out of the area, all subject to audit. "You have to be a long way from any heavy agriculture or even a large town. "Leaving honey on the hives, it's part of the gig, you know, we have to leave food for the bees. That's a big deal." Shayne started in the bee business as a teenager on summer jobs, eventually taking on the company which started out with one truck, and "some pretty old equipment." "It's pretty much 30 years since I first went out with Don Sutherland harvesting, who was the original owner of the bees around here. "He had some quite vicious bees and I was quite young, and it didn't really go that well getting stung. I swelled up pretty bad. "I'd like to think we've tamed the bees a little bit by breeding some slightly kinder ones," he said, laughing. Woodland's Organic Honey beekeepers in the field Photo: Supplied The landscape has changed too. The Mackenzies are contributing to the diminishing gorse, which the bees have a taste for, planting 1500 mainly mānuka trees. Elizabeth met Shayne while working as a shepherd near Port Jackson further north. "I've, you know, sort of taken over all the marketing, exports, sales, the books, social media. "When you own your own business, you fill all of those roles." Woodland's Organic Honey beekeepers in the field Photo: Supplied So how have the pair weathered turbulent times in the honey industry, with oversupply a particular problem in recent years? "Well, fortunately, when times were good, we didn't just buy a Ferrari," Shayne said. They have made strategic investments and adapted to market conditions. "Because I do know that the business can be up and down enormous amounts, like I used to think it could be plus or minus 60 percent but after the other year (after Cyclone Gabrielle) and we got eight percent of the crop, I guess that means you can be plus or minus 92 percent. "We just found ways to raise capital and keep going." Things are looking more positive though, Elizabeth added. "It's still going to be slow like the hive numbers have about halved in the last few years, and this year's national crop is just below average. "There has not been as much honey produced so that helps even out the supply and demand, so I guess we just have to get back to a place where there's more of a level playing field."
Spectator
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
The podcast of the summer
The cover painting for The Specialist, a new podcast from Sotheby's, looks like a scene from Mad Men. The people are so good-looking and so well dressed that you barely notice how odd they are. One chap's walking along with a porcelain bowl as if it were a macchiato; a lady holds a plant in her palms in the manner of receiving communion; someone else walks the street with a gavel. The admen have done their job: intrigued, I press play. It becomes apparent that the people who work at Sotheby's have no interest in persuading anyone that they are normal. I listen to Ottilie, Julian and Gregory, and to mouths that volunteer, with ease, such phrases as 'the visceral power is undimmed by the passage of time'. Voices grow more animated at the discovery of pentimenti, particulars of provenance and the prospect of record-breaking sales. Like estate agents for HNWIs, only clever, the specialists make no effort to pretend their world is something it isn't. I applaud their honesty. There are two main types of episode. The first, released as a batch last month, is longer and more conversational. Simon Schama and curator Eleanor Nairne discuss portraiture and actress Julianne Moore gives a collector's view on 20th-century design. Most of these episodes were taken from recordings of live events. A week after this delivery came the start of what feels like another series entirely. Each episode averages 11 minutes and features one Sotheby's expert speaking directly to us about the sale of a single artwork. I have worked my way through most of the short ones and duly crown The Specialist my podcast of the summer. It's remarkable what you can learn in 11 minutes. Simon Shaw speaks wonderfully – and at auction-speed – of the record set by the 2012 sale of Munch's 'The Scream'. There were only ever four versions of the work, two of which have been stolen, and only one privately held. The production of prints kick-started the fascination with the image, which is apparently alone among paintings for inspiring not one emoji, but two (you may not yet have discovered the screaming cat). The £16.25 million realised by the sale of a Vermeer were a bonus to the achievement of the painting's attribution. I had no idea there were just 36 recognised Vermeer paintings. The prospect of adding to the catalogue was complicated by the fact that the artist has so often been forged. Even a painting sold to Göring on behalf of Hitler was revealed as a fake. Listen to the episode on Kandinsky for a moving story of art restitution. A painting by the Bauhaus master had hung in the dining room of a family that had tried to flee the Nazis. Its rediscovery, many years after its sale under duress, was quite miraculous. Should all this put you in the mood for more art, ensure you listen to Your Places or Mine first. Clive Aslet, the architectural writer and visiting Cambridge professor, and John Goodall, architectural editor for Country Life, have been running their fascinating weekly podcast since the early summer, delving into many a museum and historic house. They recently assessed the changes to the National Gallery, which, incidentally, has an enjoyable new podcast of its own, Stories in Colour. Aslet and Goodall admire William Wilkins's original gallery building (apart from the 'clunky' dome) but save their enthusiasm for the latest additions by Selldorf Architects. I confess, I hadn't noticed many of the features they praise, including the removal or slimming down of some of the 'Teletubby' columns in the entrance to the Sainsbury Wing, and an area of rustication that Goodall describes, in his jovial tones, as 'really, really satisfying'. As with The Specialist, this podcast is most likely to appeal to listeners with ears attuned to long vowels and guffaws, and for whom 'rustication' is familiar terminology. Which is to say the readers of this magazine. Aslet and Goodall will digress in order to explain ('I suppose we'd better say something about Wilkins…') but rightly feel no compulsion to dumb-down. They often seem to forget that the tape is rolling, so at ease are they in each other's company. 'You've got to pity these people,' remarks Aslet of 19th-century aristocrats who sought American wives to replenish their coffers and restock their art collections. 'They hadn't been brought up to do anything except serve in the army… many had been to Eton so could talk very well about things, but…' Cue an endearing guffaw from Goodall, who sounds forever to be on the verge of hysterics. Art: a serious business, except when it's not.
Daily Mirror
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Queen Camilla's son admits 'I'd probably be dead' in candid admission
Queen Camilla's son Tom Parker-Bowles has revealed that having to make his own way financially and not lean on his parents for support probably "saved his life" Queen Camilla's son, Tom Parker-Bowles, has made a candid admission about his finances, revealing that growing up without a trust fund probably "saved his life". The eldest child of the Queen spoke frankly on the White Wine Question Time podcast about his dedication to his work ethic, which he has been fostering since he was a teenager. Tom admitted to podcast host Kate Thornton that if he had grown up with a trust fund and had not been driven to work, his life today would look very different, as he was forced to learn the value of hard work and financial literacy, and work "just like everyone else". "Sadly, no trust fund. You know, actually, it's a good thing not having a trust fund. I'd probably be dead if I'd had one," Tom said. "Obviously, I had to work like everyone. You know, you have to work. It's important. So, I stumbled somewhat into food writing, 25 years ago when the landscape was rather different." Before finding his passion for food writing, Tom worked numerous jobs while he found his career footing. He had a brief stint in the PR world, as he recalled: "I worked for a wonderful film PR company called DDA and they used to run Cannes and you'd be looking after talent. "So you'd be taking Alicia Silverstone round London in the '90s or Anna Friel or whatever. So it wasn't exactly the most arduous task for a straight man. It wasn't the most arduous of jobs, but I was always late. "I'm still friends with my bosses, Stacey and Dennis, and they're lovely people. But eventually, enough was enough. I got sacked… So anyway, I was sitting around thinking, you know, what the hell am I going to do?" Tom then found his passion for food writing and published nine cookbooks, and is still a regular contributor to Mail on Sunday and Country Life. Elsewhere in the podcast, Tom made a candid admission about his mother and how it was "never her aim" to be Queen, while also praising the relationship between Charles and Camilla. He said: "As I've said before, you know, with my mother - it was never her aim. It was just a story of two people who loved each other. And as you get older, you're happy that your father's happy, that your mother's happy, that your stepfather is happy. You know, that's what matters." Tom also said that "not in a million years' did he expect his mother to become Queen, but is 'proud' of her and all she has done for the monarchy.
