A weekly programme of issues and stories of particular concern to the rural community, and also of interest to a general audience. The programme broadcasts on Friday night after the 9pm news and is repeated on Saturday morning after the 7am news. In this programme:
21:05
Guest
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Harihari resident Francina Glass has written a book about her journey through grief and depression after losing her 17 year old daughter.
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Harihari resident Francina Glass has written a book about her journey through grief and depression after losing her 17 year old daughter.
Topics: rural
Regions: West Coast
Tags: suicide, depression, writing, book, Easy Treats, Dancing with Shadows
Duration: 5'10"
21:10
Regional Wrap
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Nationwide dairy farmers are coping with the dairy payout drop while in the North Island many regions are saturated and water is ponding. In the South Island snow's expected as pre lamb shearing continues.
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Nationwide dairy farmers are coping with the dairy payout drop while in the North Island many regions are saturated and water is ponding. In the South Island snow's expected as pre lamb shearing continues.
Topics: rural
Regions:
Tags: farming conditions
Duration: 7'34"
21:16
Fairlie Bush Furniture
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Louise Wynn has been making makes rustic furniture from locally sourced wood for nearly 20 years. Her workshop is in Kimbell, South Canterbury.
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Apart from three years in the army, Louise Wynn has spent all of her life in Fairlie, South Canterbury.One of ten children, she was brought up on her parents farm on Ashwick Flat and as a child she developed a keen interested in art and craft. "I've always made things; from knitting and sewing to crocheting and preserving so woodwork is just a natural progression".
Eighteen years ago she made her first piece of furniture, a table, from a design in a book with three friends. Since then she has made a huge variety of wooden objects from hill sticks and signs to outdoor furniture.
Rustic couches are particularly popular and so far Louise has made and sold more than 700.
The legs and frame are made out of Larch branches and the seat and arms are thick Macrocarpa slabs sourced from her husband Ian's portable sawmill.
"People will come to me and ask if I can make such and such and I say 'oh yup, I'll give it a go' and if it's a really curly job Ian and I will scratch our heads over it and we get it sorted".
Topics: rural
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: Fairlie Bush Furniture, furniture
Duration: 11'58"
21:30
Frightful Floods
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Seven weeks ago severe flooding affected many areas in the lower half of the western North Island. Many farmers are still picking up the pieces, especially in the Whanganui/South Taranaki region. It was a devastating event. Farm tracks and bridges were washed away, silt metres deep smothers valuable grazing flats, and some will be left struggling for years. Beef and Lamb New Zealand says inside the farm gate the flood's cost 81 million dollars in lost production and infrastructure repairs. (topics] rural, farming
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"Gobsmacked" was how agricultural consultant Gary Massicks felt after surveying the flooding and silt damage up the Waitotara Valley just north of Whanganui in late June.
The rain started, fairly innocently, on a Friday evening. By the Saturday night farmers in Southern Taranaki, Whanganui and Manawatu were evacuating their houses and moving what stock they could, to high ground. When flood waters receded, silt smothered wool shed floors, totally covered fences, slips blocked roads for weeks and the Rural Support teams were throw into high gear.
The storm has been labelled a medium scale event by the Government, because it didn't affect al farmers in the lower half of the western North Island. Rather it was devastating for a smaller, specific group.
Gary Massicks says many people are comparing this flood to the massive February 2004 one in the same area. This rain event wasn't as widespread, but for the affected farmers "it was far worse."
Seven weeks later a lot of the silt's too thick and too wet for farmers to walk on it, they can't move stock easily and many have diggers still working to clear slips from farm access tracks. Stock have been sold early and often for lower prices. Shearing's been delayed and lambing will be tricky.
Rural Support Trust facilitator Brian Doughty says on average, affected farmers will be set back $100,000. "Two hundred farmers, that's 20 million dollars inside the farm gate that's lost in the Whanganui district."
"Everyone's shutting down, talk to rural suppliers and they've been quiet in the past two weeks, and I suspect they were quiet prior to this from the dairy scene. Unless you've got bulldozers, diggers or tractors, you'll make a fortune with those at the moment. "
Mental health is also a worry. According to Brian Doughty in 2004 they wouldn't have worked with too many really stressed out people. " Today it's a different story. There are a substantial number of peope self-identifying as being under considerable pressure at the moment."
A sentiment echoed by Waitotara farmer, 77 year old Paul Pederson. "After a while you don't give up, never met a farmer yet who's given up, but it does wear a bit thin."
He does have a saying however. "I firmly believe for most farmers, we make our money out of the land, out of nature, but every now and then nature comes along and says hey it's time to pay a bit of rent."
Topics:
Regions: Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatu
Tags: medium scale event, Waitotara Valley, Whangaehu, slips, silt, floods
Duration: 24'40"