365 days of gratitude

If you were of a fragile disposition it would be easy to be depressed when catching up with the news.

More often than not bad news is more prevalent than good.

Dastardly deeds, death and disaster usually get more column inches and air time than sunnier stories.

The amount of bad news isn’t all bad though if you keep in mind it makes the news because it is news, i,e, not the norm, where many good people and happenings are.

I’m grateful for that.

 

Word of the day

Lethophobia – the fear of oblivion; an abnormal anxiety of forgetting.

Rural round-up

Lamb contracts top $8 – Annette Scott:

Months of speculation have been put to bed as $8 or more a kilogram for lamb is confirmed in new season pricing contracts.

While prices upwards of $8 are reserved for the upper-end of the market, not many are paying far below that level.

But easing market prices against new season farmgate prices are creating some bumps in the market, making some processors concerned about unrealistic expectations. . .

Weather, terrain rule the farm – Neal Wallace:

Otago’s Lambhill Station is remote, steep and exposed but through strategic investment and careful management it is achieving commendable levels of production. Neal Wallace met managers Chris and Lucy Thomson.

Lambhill Station does not try to be anything but a large-scale breeding property.

Managers Chris and Lucy Thomson know better than to try to supply prime stock, acutely aware the climate and terrain always have the last say.. .

Police smash avocado ring:

Police have arrested three people in relation to a spate of avocado thefts at rural addresses in Tauranga.

They say the arrests include an organised receiver who was purchasing avocados from burglary offenders.

A 63-year-old Tauranga man has been charged with two charges of receiving property and will appear in the Tauranga District Court this month.

A 23-year-old Tauranga man is facing two burglary charges and 27-year-old woman is facing three burglary charges. They will appear in Tauranga District Court in September. . . 

https://twitter.com/MichaJohansen/status/1025300367016247296

Nitrogen leaching under crops examined in study – Nicole Sharp:

Nitrogen leaching under crops is being examined at the Southern Dairy Hub by AgResearch.

Following the first season of the research farm, AgResearch senior scientist Ross Monaghan said the agency had started by measuring nitrogen leaching on the different fodder crops.

Under the new project, of running the farm as four farmlets, it was being measured under two crops – fodder beet and kale. . .

Secretive, high country owner offers station for sale with ski field -Chris Hutching:

A high country station and skifield in South Canterbury is on the market after a promised “world-class mountain bike trail” failed to eventuate.

Locals understand Lilydale, near Fairlie, is owned by US-born billionaire Ken Dart, and the trail of company ownership indicates they are correct.

Dart’s wealth is estimated at more than US$6 billion and his New Zealand interests include the Wairoa Gorge mountain bike park in Nelson. . . 

‘Bovis’ spread risk raised:

A Teviot Valley farmer is concerned about Transpower New Zealand’s vehicle movements on the area’s dairy and beef properties, which he says could spread the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis.

However, Transpower has assured farmers it has biosecurity management procedures and policies in place to mitigate any risks.

The company’s service contractors need to drive over properties to inspect high-voltage structures and they were out and about in the valley during the past couple of weeks. . . 

Q

Environment Agency to fast-track water trading during drought…https://t.co/gFTzkWpSz4 #drought #irrigation #HeatWave2018 pic.twitter.com/c1g7u27MxJ

— ArableFarming (@ArableFarming) August 3, 2018

 

Here are 6 ways GMOs benefit consumers – The Farmer’s Daughter US:

Genetically modified crops provide a lot of benefits for farmers, including less pesticide applications and increased yields. These benefits are why farmers choose to grow GMO crops, and also why the agricultural industry has generally accepted GMOs.

But what about consumers – are there any benefits for them?

Absolutely! Here are 6 ways that GMOs benefit consumers.

1. Keeps Bugs Out of Food

No one wants to eat wormy corn. I know this because I spent 26 years of my life selling sweet corn at my family’s roadside stand. People had all sorts of tricks to check whether an ear of corn had a worm in it. . . 

Happy Roast Day

Today is the fifth annual Selaks’ Roast Day.

Whose with us this Sunday for #SelaksRoastDay ? Share your photos prepping, cooking, eating, enjoying with us #BoastYourRoast #RoastDay #BeefRoast #LambRoast #TastePureNatureNZ Here's our suite of roast recipes to get your taste buds going @NZBeefLamb https://t.co/PAanmiUNqS pic.twitter.com/jwQOZfOT6y

— Beef + Lamb New Zealand (@BeefLambNZ) August 3, 2018

You will find some delicious recipes for beef and lamb, roasted and cooked other ways at Beef + Lamb NZ.

The roast below comes not from my kitchen but that of El Jardin del Califa in Vejer de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain.

It was stuffed with figs, apricots and prunes and served with aubergine stuffed with almonds. It was delicious.

More sheep in Spain are farmed for milk rather than meat.

To preserve feed for the milk-producing ewes,  most lambs are sent to slaughter at weaning.

At that stage they weigh only about 10kgs and we’d call them beta lambs. They’re much younger and lighter than in New Zealand where they’re weaned onto grass until they reach a weight of 18 – 20 kgs.

Sunday soapbox

Sunday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look back or forward, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but not abuse.

Human beings do not eat nutrients, they eat food.  – Mary Catherine Bateson.

August 5 in history

25 – Guangwu claimed the throne as emperor after a period of political turmoil, restoring the Han Dynasty after the collapse of the short-lived Xin Dynasty.

642  Battle of Maserfield – Penda of Mercia defeated and killed Oswald of Bernicia.

910  The last major Viking army to raid England was defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward and Earl Aethelred.

1100 Henry I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

1305 William Wallace, was captured by the English and transported to London where he was put on trial and executed.

1388 Battle of Otterburn, a border skirmish between the Scottish and the English in Northern England.

1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert established the first English colony in North America, at what is now St John’s, Newfoundland.

1620 The Mayflower departed from Southampton on its first attempt to reach North America.

1689 – 1,500 Iroquois attacked the village of Lachine, in New France.

1716 The Battle of Petrovaradin.

1735  New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger was acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.

1763 Pontiac’s War: Battle of Bushy Run – British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeated Chief Pontiac’s Indians at Bushy Run.

1772 The First Partition of Poland began.

1827 – Deodoro da Fonseca, Brazilian field marshal and politician, 1st President of Brazil, was born(d. 1892).

1858 Cyrus West Field and others completed the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts.

1860 Carl IV of Sweden-Norway was crowned king of Norway, in Trondheim.

1861   The United States government levied the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872) to help pay for the Civil War.

1861  The United States Army abolished flogging.

1862 Joseph Merrick, the “Elephant Man” , was born (d. 1890).

1862 American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge.

1864  American Civil War: the Battle of Mobile Bay began – Admiral David Farragut led a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and sealed one of the last major Southern ports.

1870 Franco-Prussian War: the Battle of Spicheren resulted in a Prussian victory.

1876 – Mary Ritter Beard, American historian and activist, was born (d. 1958).

1884 The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid.

1888  Bertha Benz drove from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip.

1901  Peter O’Connor set the first IAAF recognised long jump world record of 24ft 11¾ins.

1908 Harold Holt, 17th Prime Minister of Australia, was born(d. 1967).

1914 – New Zealand entered World War 1.

1914  World War I: The German minelayer Königin Luise laid a minefield about 40 miles off the Thames Estuary. She was intercepted and sunk by the British light-cruiser HMS Amphion.

1914 In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light was installed.

1918 – Betty Oliphant, English-Canadian ballerina, co-founded the Canada’s National Ballet School, was born (d. 2004).

1925 Plaid Cymru was formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language.

1928 – Carla Lane, English television writer, was born (d. 2016).

1930 Neil Armstrong, American astronaut, was born (d. 2012).

1934 – Wendell Berry, American author, poet, and farmer, was born.

1940 World War II: The Soviet Union formally annexed Latvia.

1944  World War II: possibly the biggest prison breakout in history as 545 Japanese POWs attempted to escape outside the town of Cowra, NSW.

1944  Holocaust: Polish insurgents liberated a German labour camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.

1949  In Ecuador  an earthquake destroyed 50 towns and killed more than 6000.

1957  American Bandstand debuted on the ABC television network.

1960  Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta, became independent from France.

1962 Nelson Mandela was jailed.

1963  The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union signed anuclear test ban treaty.

1964  Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow – American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bombed North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes which attacked U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

1979   In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake an attempted military uprising.

1988 The Cartwright report condemned the treatment of cervical cancer.

1995  The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, was captured by Croatian forces during Operation Storm.

2003  A car bomb exploded in Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.

2010 – Ten members of International Assistance Mission Nuristan Eye Camp team were killed by persons unknown in Kuran wa Munjan District of Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan.

2010 – Copiapó mining accident  trapped 33 Chilean miners approximately 2,300 ft below the ground.

2012 – The Oak Creek shooting took place at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six people; the perpetrator was shot dead by police.

2015  – The Gold King Mine waste water spill released 3 million gallons of heavy metal toxin tailings and waste water into the Animas River in Colorado.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia