Xenotopia – an uncanny or unsettling landscape; an ‘out-of-place place.
Sir Colin Meads’ funeral
28/08/2017Sir Colin Meads’ funeral is being live-streamed on the All Blacks’ Facebook page.
Rural round-up
28/08/2017Proposed water tax would hit hard, says farming family – Nicki Harper:
The Gray family has farmed on the Ruataniwha plains for more than 100 years and invested heavily in environmental mitigation in recent times.
They say Labour’s proposed water levy policy on commercial water users would hit them hard financially.
Leicester and Margaret Gray and their sons Phillip and Callum and respective families farm 1009 hectares, of which 360 hectares is cropped under irrigation, the remainder is sheep and beef.
Trading as Gray Brothers, they grow and irrigate sweetcorn, peas and green beans for McCains as well as maize and carrot seed, and take pride in their farming practices. . .
Rift for town and country – Kerre McIvor:
When I was a kid, going to stay on farms with our country relatives was a real treat.
I can still remember, at the age of 7 or 8, the thrill of seeing a lamb being born, on a cold crisp Canterbury morning. In my memory, the amniotic sac was a beautiful, rainbow colour and I can remember feeling both awestruck and completely grossed out.
At another rellie’s farm, I became a dab hand at dodging shitty cows’ tails and putting on suction cups and hosing down the milking sheds after the cows had made their way back to the paddocks. . .
Sara Addis: Winemaking is art and science –
Trinity Hill winemaker and winner of the North Island NZ Young Winemaker of the Year, Sara Addis, hopes her recent win will open a few industry doors. She chats to Mark Story.
What does your win mean for your career?
For me personally, it means so much as it proves to me I have got what it takes to be a winemaker. Career-wise, hopefully my win will help open some exciting new doors in the future and I look forward to seeing what they are. I’m still a student so hopefully, once I graduate, my win will be another string to my bow. My long-term goal is to work down in Central Otago, where my partner Lachy is from, but I’d also love to do some more harvests in France. . .
Bride horse brings the X-factor – Jill Herron:
Muddy boots, an oil skin vest and a vintage lace wedding dress would seem an odd sort of a work outfit for most people…not for Zara-Lee Macdonald.
The mismatched get-up is necessary as part of preparations for launching her new business, Inspiring Weddings.
Macdonald, originally from Winton, is training Maggie, a seven-year-old Percheron mare, to be a “bride horse” and having the horse well used to fluttering dresses is essential.
Maggie, and a shire horse called Max, will be available as part of the wedding planning service, for the role of carrying the bride – and the groom if he so desires – to the aisle, posing for photographs and adding “x-factor” to background scenes. . .
World-first technique to ease world avocado shortage :
A world-first innovative plant growing technique that is set to double Queensland’s avocado production and smash the global shortage of avocado trees has received a $636,000 grant through the second round of the QLD Government’s Advance Queensland Innovation Partnerships program.
QLD Innovation Minister Leeanne Enoch today predicted the initial ‘matched’ investment of less than $1.5 million could return $335 million a year for the state’s economy across the production and supply chain. . .
‘Wow, no cow’: the Swedish farmer using oats to make milk – Tom Levitt:
Adam Arnesson, 27, is not your usual milk producer. For starters, he doesn’t have any dairy cattle. Our first photo opportunity is in the middle of one of his fields of oats.
Until last year all these oats went into animal feed, either sold or fed to the sheep, pigs and cows he rears on his organic farm in Örebro county, central Sweden.
With the support of Swedish drinks company Oatly, they are now being used to produce an oat milk drink – tapping into the growing market for dairy alternatives across the country. . .
Almond milk: quite good for you – very bad for the planet – Emine Saner:
Sales of the non-dairy milk alternative are on the rise. But the super-healthy nuts – mostly grown in drought-hit California – need millions of litres of water to be produced. Think twice before you pour it on your cereal.
Snoop around the contents of an “eat clean” aficionado’s grocery basket and chances are, among the organic cauliflower and mountain of avocados, you will come across a carton of almond milk. A few years ago, those avoiding cow’s milk because of lactose intolerance or for ethical reasons were drinking soya, but health scares have seen a rising demand for alternative plant “milks”, including rice, hemp and – most popular – almond. This week, Waitrose said almond milk had overtaken soya as its customers’ preferred dairy alternative.
Almonds are one of the healthiest foods you can eat. The nuts (or seeds, if you are a botanical pedant) are packed full of vitamins, minerals and beneficial plant chemicals, as well as protein, healthy fats and fibre, and eating almonds is associated with a lowered risk of heart disease and Alzheimer’s, among other conditions. . .
Quote of the day
28/08/2017For your own good is a persuasive argument that will eventually make a man agree to his own destruction. – Janet Frame who was born on this day in 1924.
August 28 in history
28/08/2017489 Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths defeats Odoacer at the Battle of Isonzo, forcing his way into Italy.
1189 Third Crusade: the Crusaders began the Siege of Acre under Guy of Lusignan.
1511 The Portuguese conquered Malacca.
1542 Turkish-Portuguese War (1538-1557) – Battle of Wofla: the Portuguese were scattered, their leader Christovão da Gama captured and later executed.
1609 Henry Hudson discovered Delaware Bay.
1619 Ferdinand II was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
1640 Second Bishop’s War: King Charles I’s English army lost to a Scottish Covenanter force at the Battle of Newburn.
1749 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and scientist (d. 1832).
1774 Elizabeth Ann Seton, American-born Catholic saint, was born (d. 1821).
1789 William Herschel discovered a new moon of Saturn.
1810 Battle of Grand Port – the French accepted the surrender of a British Navy fleet.
1828 Leo Tolstoy, Russian author, was born (d. 1910).
1830 The Tom Thumb presaged the first railway service in the United States.
1845 The first issue of Scientific American magazine was published.
1859 A geomagnetic storm caused the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly it was seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and as far away as Japan.
1862 American Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run.
1879 Cetshwayo, last king of the Zulus, was captured by the British.
1884 Peter Fraser, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, was born (d. 1950).
1898 Caleb Bradham renamed his carbonated soft drink “Pepsi-Cola”.
1901 Silliman University was founded in the Philippines, the first American private school in the country.
1906 John Betjeman, English poet, was born (d. 1984).
1913 Queen Wilhelmina opened the Peace Palace in The Hague.
1914 World War I: the Royal Navy defeated the German fleet in the Battle of Heligoland Bight.
1916 World War I: Germany declared war on Romania.
1916 – World War I: Italy declared war on Germany.
1917 Ten Suffragettes wre arrested while picketing the White House.
1924 Janet Frame, New Zealand author, was born (d. 2004).
1924 The Georgian opposition stages the August Uprising against the Soviet Union.
1930 Windsor Davies, British actor, was born.
1931 France and Soviet Union signed a treaty of non-aggression.
1937 Toyota Motors became an independent company.
1943 World War II: in Denmark, a general strike against the Nazi occupation started.
1944 World War II: Marseille and Toulon were liberated.
1948 Danny Seraphine, American musician (Chicago), was born.
1951 Wayne Osmond, American singer (The Osmonds), was born.
1953 Nippon Television broadcast Japan’s first television show, including its first TV advertisement.
1954 Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme were convicted of murdering Parker’s mother Honora.
1955 Black teenager Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi, galvanizing the nascent American Civil Rights Movement.
1961 Motown released what would be its first #1 hit, “Please Mr. Postman” by The Marvelettes.
1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.gave his I Have a Dream speech.
1963 Emily Hoffert and Janice Wylie were murdered in their Manhattan flat, prompting the events that led to the passing of the Miranda Rights.
1964 The Philadelphia race riot began.
1965 Shania Twain, Canadian singer, was born.
1988 Ramstein airshow disaster: three aircraft of the Frecce Tricoloridemonstration team collided. The wreckage fell into the crowd killing 75 and seriously injuring 346.
1990 Iraq declared Kuwait to be its newest province.
1990 The Plainfield Tornado: an F5 tornado hit Plainfield and Joliet, Illinois, killing 28 people.
1991 Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
1991 Collapse of the Soviet Union – Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.
1992 Canterbury’s “Big Snow“.
1996 Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales divorced.
2003 An electricity blackout cut off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brought 60% of London’s underground rail network to a halt.
2011 – Hurricane Irene struck the United States east coast, killing 47 and causing an estimated $15.6 billion in damage.
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia