Latest news with #CountryLife
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- Business
- RNZ News
"We know who's who, and if it's addressed wrong, still gets to them"
Post Office volunteer Peter Sander, sorting mail at the small Colville post office. Photo: RNZ/Sally Round The mail always gets through in one of New Zealand's remotest regions, thanks to some dedicated volunteers who run the local post office. While rural mail services are shrinking, Colville, in the north-west of Coromandel Peninsula, has a thriving mail service based in the small community's original post office, with a band of volunteers taking turns behind the counter and sorting the mail. Even if it's just "Mike the Man" for an address, someone will know who it is, according to volunteer Peter Sander. "It's quite hard case at times. "We know who's who, and if it's addressed wrong, still gets to them." Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , iHeart , or wherever you get your podcasts . Sander used to run a holiday camp in the district, not far from Colville, which consists of a volunteer-run general store and community hub serving a 1500-strong community all the way up to Port Jackson in the north. Volunteering has been an important part of his life, he told Country Life . "Sometimes we'll only get one or two customers in a day … buying stamps or whatever, but that's okay." New Zealand's postal system underwent sweeping changes in the late 1980s and many small post offices closed. But not Colville's, thanks to the locals. With a limited rural delivery service, they saw the need for a hub where people could pick up their parcels, mail could be sent, and visitors could buy stamps or a postcard. Sander, standing by the post boxes at the post office. Photo: RNZ/Sally Round "The local people thought, hang on, because they started it right back in 1896, started with telecommunications, and then later on they wanted three times a week mail delivery, because there was a lot of gold mining and farming done in the area." Sander said right from the early days, the community was involved in setting up the post office, even milling the timber from White Star Station, a local farm, pit sawing and carting the timber and raising money to pay for the building works too. "They've got a paddock there that's named the post office paddock." The Colville post office sells stamps and memorabilia, catering for locals and visitors alike. Photo: RNZ/Sally Round Visitors are interested in the history of the place, Sander said, and it's a centre for much more than just post. "They come in and read the information, sign the visitor's book, and they can't believe what we do here. We show them the old scales, and we used to have a thing here saying what to do if you get held up with a gun from the old days." Volunteers also run the incorporated society which is behind the service. It earns a small amount of income from 10 percent of stamp sales and donations. The post office volunteers sort the mail and serve customers. It's been volunteer run since 1986. Photo: RNZ/Sally Round "Everything's tracked and electronic, we do that, and we've got to scan it all and track it through. "We get about $1000 a year or something, which is enough to buy a can of paint. Occasionally, people will come and give a nice donation for us to hold their mail for them, because they've gone away for a month or so. So they might put 10 or 20 bucks in the donation box for us to do that. "That's how community works." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Labour is destroying the backbone of Britain
The Editor of Country Life magazine once said to me, over a pint in Hampshire, that English people are very different to the French. It's not, according to him, the quality of wine we respectively produce, the bureaucracy, or the taste for protest. What it apparently comes down to is our relationship with the countryside. When the wealthy die in France, Mark notes, they are buried in Paris. But the greatest burial an Englishman can have is in rural soil. There is a babbling brook running through the nation's soul. It's just over a week since Keir Starmer dealt the British fishing fleet an extraordinary body blow in the form of allowing EU vessels to pillage UK waters for 12 years. Fishermen throughout the country are justifiably up in arms. The remarkable thing is that Starmer, in his limp response to the outrage, has suggested this is a win for the industry because of Scottish salmon exports. It's a response that's insulting to fishermen and environmentalists alike. Keeping densely packed and sickly salmon in cages and feeding them on highly-processed food isn't fishing. It's factory farming at its most destructive. As Elspeth McDonald of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation put it: 'if you and your Government had bothered to understand anything about the fishing industry you'd know that farmed salmon and wild capture fisheries are completely separate industries.' But therein lies the point. When it comes to nature, the sea, and the countryside, the Labour Government seems neither to know nor care. Their follies mount by the month. Their reneging on the commitment not to change taxes on land was troubling enough for farmers, but the devil was in the detail. Steve Reed's suggestion that only the largest farms would be affected was patently nonsense – the only landowners, of any flavour, who've done well out of the Labour's meagre threshold are essentially wealthy retirees with a few paddocks or smallholders with a couple of sheep. It wasn't just a betrayal but an admission that the Government doesn't understand the working countryside. There are all sorts of things you can deduce from their destructiveness, but ultimately they just don't seem to care about something that so many of us hold dear, something that is part of who we are. When this Government came into office, it became known that they were going to scrap the proposed and long fought for Natural History GCSE. This would give young people across the country, from urban spheres to rural ones, the opportunity to get out into nature to learn about why it matters. Young people are hardly going to be concerned about the near-extinction of birds like the turtle dove and the curlew if they don't know that they exist. The story was that Labour was going to dump the GCSE because they viewed it as a Tory initiative. The other great horror of recent months has been the effective scrapping of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, which encouraged farmers to manage their land in a way that gave space to nature. In the weeks that followed the announcement, vital habitat across the country was torn up and planted with cereals. Less for wildlife, more food for us. Yearly, the population of Britain grows. In 1500 there were 2.5 million people; there are now almost 70 million. Angela Rayner has said herself that we cannot allow the protection of endangered species to get in the way of more building. Concrete means progress. The Tories weren't much loved in the countryside, and Labour had a real chance, but their disregard for British heritage is remarkable. He's certainly not going to get my vote, but Nigel Farage sees the rural disaffected voter and they in their droves are starting to see him too. Patrick Galbraith's Uncommon Ground: Rethinking our relationship with the countryside was published last month by William Collins Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Chch company using wool to make eco-friendly caskets
A Christchurch wool business has found a successful and unusual niche for its product. Low-emissions caskets and urns made from New Zealand wool are an environmentally friendly option for eternal rest, according to a Canterbury business. Exquisite Wool Traders, the retail arm of Yaldhurst Wools, market and sell woollen caskets made from New Zealand wool. John and Marylyn Betts started the business in the 1980s but now it's run by their daughter Polly McGuckin and her husband Ross. Natural Legacy Woollen Caskets have been growing in popularity over the last 13 years, Polly McGuckin told Country Life. 'We started out doing bedding blankets, and that was going on for three years, and then we got offered Natural Legacy Woollen Caskets.' The caskets are sturdy and can manage weights of up 220kg, she says. 'It goes through this big wash that's like a felt, and then it's got jute underneath that goes right around the casket like a handbag if it has straps right around that gives you strong reinforcing. So, it's been very well designed.' Three fleeces worth of wool go into each casket. 'They're made in the UK by an old mill, and the story was they researched back in time in the 1700s why the wool industry had a resurgence, and it was to do with that it was passed in Parliament that everyone be wrapped in a woollen shroud. 'So, they thought why don't we start designing a casket? and that's how it all got started.' Manufacturing limitations in New Zealand mean they can't be made here, she says. 'And to be honest, the mill spent a small fortune in designing, not only designing, but the actual milling of this cloth.' They are suited to the growing eco-burial market, she says. 'The loved one has to be buried with no non-biodegradable shoes or clothing. It has to be natural fibre, not synthetic. 'So they are suitable for eco-burial and cremation as well. They're very low in emissions for cremation.' Although promoting such a product is a challenge, the business is growing, says Patrick Cotter who handles the marketing side of the business. 'In the last couple of weeks, we've sold almost dozens. I know families personally that have had them, and they just said it was a really nice alternative, especially when families are coming from a farming background,' he says.
RNZ News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
RNZ centenary - rural broadcasting in the spotlight
Producer Sally Round, recording for Country Life. Photo: Elena Smith-Beech Informing, entertaining and connecting isolated farmers was a prime goal of the New Zealand Radio Broadcasting Company, which was officially incorporated in August 1925 and a forerunner to RNZ. As RNZ celebrates that centenary, Country Life dips back into the archives to bring you some of the well-loved voices and shows from the rural team through the decades. The stories include a laconic interview with Barry Crump about rabbiting, a hilarious spoof interview with a "macaroni farmer", and rural news scoops including the deliberate release of the RCV virus to control rabbit plagues in the South Island. Kevin Ikin, a former member of the rural news team. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson A gathering of the rurals team in the 1990s: (left to right) Susan Murray, Andrew Melville, Robyn Cubey, Kevin Ikin, Mark Torley, Jill Galloway, Sasha Hardy, Ian MacLean, Heugh Chappell and Jackie Bedford. Photo: David Knowles, left, Country Life's studio producer, with studio engineer Phil Benge, putting together Country Life. Photo: RNZ/Sally Round Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
23-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Country Life: Changing times on South Taranaki dairy farm
former South Taranaki mayor Ross Dunlop and wife Jan have lived on the home farm near Ōhawe together for 46 years. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life Ross Dunlop has called the family farm near Ōhawe in South Taranaki home all his life, though in three different homes. "Some people have moved all around the world, I've only just moved around the farm," he told Country Life. He and wife Jan moved into the main house over 40 years ago, and have seen the farm through many changes since. From helping regenerate native vegetation and improve water quality on farm, to preserving parts of the farms local history, Ross said it was the "perfect farm" combining their love of both conservation and history. Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts. The farm looks very different now to when he first started, with about 15 percent in native bush. Ross says much of this has been achieved by just fencing off sections of bush to help it regenerate and waterways have also been fenced off Vegetation provides shelter and shade for stock and made the farm a "more pleasant environment to work in", he said. He said farmers were much more appreciative of the natural environment these days and it made farming more enjoyable. "When I grew up there was very little bush, it was pretty much a sterile farm with just animals and grass. "I've always had a real big interest in native trees and conservation. But I also want to have a productive farm so it's about getting that balance." The property was once run as a sheep and beef farm but now supports 450 milking cows. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life A small lake surrounded by native vegetation also helps reduce runoff. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life The former mayor of South Taranaki for 12 years, Ross said catchment groups had been a great initiative and key part of such changes in the region. It helped locals "buy into the idea" of conservation. He said the regional council has also been very proactive in planting waterways and acted as a sort of default catchment group. Ross joined the Waingongoro Catchment, one of the region's first, and was also a member of the Taranaki Catchment Collective which represents 14 other catchment groups from around the region. The farm is also involved in a bioreactor trial led by Massey University, which aims to improve water quality through reducing nitrate leaching. "[It's] basically a whole lot of wood chips. So you put the water through the woodchips, filter the water through it and it takes the nitrates out of the water," he explained. The bioreactor sits below a hillside lake, where the water streams down. As it does so, it is filtered throug a 10 metre by 5 metre bed of woodchips buried in the ground. Along with Massey University, the Dunlop's are trialing a bioreactor on the farm. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life Woodchips in the bioreactor will hopefully help filter out nitrates from the water. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life The water is tested at the top of the hill and down at the bottom to see what the nitrate levels are like. Unfortunately Taranaki's earlier drought has made testing challenging this year. "Because of the drought and I've never ever seen the water dry out, but for the first time ever it's dried out just when we need it as a showcase for our bioreactor." It's not just about preserving the environment and making improvements. Ross is also passionate about preserving the local Māori and farming history. "Conservation, it's not just about the natural environment. It's also about the human environment, and the stories that go with it, and preserving those for the future." By leaving bush to regenerate and helping fence off water ways, the Dunlop's have worked to improve water quality on farm. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life The farm like many in the region was once run as a sheep and beef property but was converted to dairy in 1989. Ross said it was symptomatic of landuse changes over the years, adding many of the region's sheep farms were now in dairy. "Lamb prices and wool were not looking good. And we are sort of in a dairying area. So [today] we milk about 450 cows on about 450 acres." A woolshed built by Ross acts as an informal museum, with a treasure trove of family heirlooms, old farms tools and pieces of history. It's also served as a venue for many events including an exhibition documenting the region's local wool stencils which are no longer in use, a result of the changing landuses and modern technology. A woolshed built by Ross on the farm serves many purposes, including as a venue for various local events. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life Ross is also passionate about preserving history, such as these wool fadge stencils from surrounding farms. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life
