New Zealand Agriculture

The people you'll meet on a flight from Chicago to Charlotte.

While flying home from winter break vacation in Ohio, we flew out of Chicago. On an hour and twenty minute flight, we met a 23 year old from New Zealand. The young man studies at a Christian school in Chicago and hopes to pastor a rural township church back home in New Zealand upon graduation. What originally started as a discussion about faith between my mother and the studying pastor reguarding the Feasts of the Lord described in the book of Leviticus, turned into a long discussion about primarily new Zealand agriculture. Which the Bible and it's parables are largely related to agricultural concepts, so it all fits together quite well.

I find it incredibly bizarre to have such a long conversation with a total stranger about something so near and dear to my heart, something such as agriculture. I will do my best to hit the high points of the conversation, the notes I took on my phone are kind of extensive. You may want to settle down with a nice cup of coffee because this is my longest post yet. Here we go-

He told us that New Zealand agriculture is known for sheep and diary farming. For a girl that has never contemplated going to New Zealand for agriculture, the discussion was fascinating. One of the main breeds of sheep is the marino. Although there are multiple breeds raised in New Zealand, that was the main breed that came to mind when the fellow worked back in the agriculture industry.

He told us his main job was to bag wool during sheering time.

To give you a little background, he told us that New Zealand has paddocks of sheep ranging from 150 to 5,000 sheep. His next door neighbor had 150 sheep, but also raised beef cattle and pine trees for forestry.

When asked about any crazy stories associated with sheep farming, he told us of what he called "desexing" time and fly strike. During desexing time, they would castrate the male sheep and dock all of their tails. This was a time when they had to chase after the sheep, one reason it came to mind. He also communicated the gross scenario that is fly strike, which has to do with flies in the sheep wool. If y'all are terribly interested in fly strike, I am sure there is plenty of literature out there about it within the agricultural community.

I got to hear about how dairy farming is done in New Zealand, which is the avenue in which I have the most experience. He told us that two of his four brothers used to work within the diary industry. There would be two milkings a day, where the cattle would receive some sort of feed supplement in the morning and then graze for the rest of their feed during the day. Although it largely depends on the specific farm, most had an off season during the winter. The usual "milking season" would start in august, when the cows would calve, and dry up around February. I don't know of the exact logistics, this is simply what I was told. Continuing on with the conversation-

New in New Zealand 

Their seasons in New Zealand are the opposite of ours, which means that it is currently summer. When it is summer time here in the United States, it is winter in New Zealand.

Another fun fact, if you've seen the Lord of the Rings movies, you've seen New Zealand. As far as land mass is concerned, New Zealand is comparable to the state of Colorado and there are about 4 sheep for every person living there!

We where told that another trend that seems to be picking up over there is deer and alpaca farming. He explained that the deer were grown for the velvet on their horns that is used medicinally in Asian countries, mainly China. Alpaca are being raised for their fiber, similar to sheep wool. Although in the young man's opinion, the alpaca seem more tolerant than sheep - easier to keep alive that is.

Agricultural Education in New Zealand

We were told that farming is a big part of New Zealand and they have what is called "Farm Show". From age 5 to age 12, students will hand raise a young animal within the more rural communities. Then there is a whole day dedicated to what they call "Farm Show", where students showcase their animal.

There, you can pay $20 for a lamb to raise and then sell to a farmer at a higher price, or have the animal slaughtered for your family's consumption. Additionally the students could raise calves to then sell as yearlings for meat. I asked if there were specific agriculture classes within the public schools, but was told that agriculture is incorporated into the social studies class curriculum. 

I got to learn a bit about high school in New Zealand, and I have come to find out that it is rather different than high school in the United States. There, you attend high school from the age 13 to 18 years old, but you are placed on a specific track: University or Trade. When you are planning to attend university, students are placed in higher end english and math classes. When you are on the trade route, students are placed in more practical classes and set up with placement opportunities.

Through these placements, students gain experience within the trade that they are interested in. For example, if you are interested in culinary arts, you may have a culinary placement opportunity and/or take extra course at a culinary school. Of course this is also influenced by location, based on the size and location of the community/school and whether the community is more rural or placed in a larger city. I personally like the idea of tailoring education more towards the student's personal interests, rather than a strict curriculum to meet certain standards. 

Keep in mind that all of the information in which I am sharing with you came from the lovely individual I got to speak with, practically interview, on a plane flight from Chicago to Charlotte. Excluding my own personal comments that I have been including along the way, I am not doing additional research or pulling information from external sources, it is all coming from extensive notes taken within this hour long talk. I find this absolutely incredible. With the internet being at our fingertips, I feel like this person-to-person learning can be easily lost with the attitude that "oh, I'll just google it later".

I am incredibly thankful for opportunities like these, in which I believe is truly an act of my God, YAHWEH. 

"Listen and hear my voice;
pay attention, and hear what I have to say:
Does a farmer sowing keep plowing forever?
Does he never stop breaking up and harrowing his land?
No- when he finishes levelling it,
he scatters his dill-seed, sows his cumin,
puts the wheat in rows, barley where it belongs,
and plants buckwheat around the edges;
because his God has taught him this,
has given him instruction.

Dill must not be threshed with a sledge
or cartwheels drive over cumin;
rather, dill one beats with a stick
and cumin with a flail.
When crushing grain for bread,
one doesn't thresh it forever;
one drives the horse and car wheels over it
but doesn't crush it to powder.
This too comes from YAHWEH-Tzva'ot (LORD of Hosts)
his counsel is wonderful, his wisdom is great."

Isaiah  28:23-29 (CJB)

As we near the Charlotte airport, we are reminded "64 degrees upon landing".

After receiving an invitation to New Zealand, I am beginning to entertain the idea of traveling there. Next year in New Zealand!

Personal Greenhouse Guidance

This is the look of my personal greenhouse when I approached my horticulture professor for guidance:

So how do you keep from baking your plants in the summer and deep freezing them in the winter?

These are the recommendations that I received:

• Keep the temperature above 40 degrees in the winter. 
• Provide a shade cloth in the summer to keep the temperature no higher than 80 degrees.
• Humidity is only something to worry about if you are propagating plants, for example, by cuttings or seed.
• Managing the humidity in such a large structure would be tricky, so if I decide to start plants from seed, place a clear plastic container over the flats to increase humidity. 
• Don't worry about watering too much [which is what I tend to do] because once you "water in", it may not be necessary to water the trays until germination of growing seed.
• Most plants won't need water everyday, but you may need to water every day in the summer when starting veggies from seed. 

So my next mission is to relocate the greenhouse to a more shaded area to better regulate the temperature. One step at a time to build a more functional greenhouse. 

Interested in buying your own? 

$61.99 at Sears: Here
$101.84 at The Home Depot: Here
Although, my recommendation would be to watch for sales at Big Lots. That is where I was able to find the greenhouse pictured above for a very good price!

Planting Spinach

Hoss Tools

First off, I would like to introduce you all to the company that produced the wheel hoe I used before planting the spinach [see video below]. More specifically, the hoe had the oscillating hoe attachment: Check out the company website here. 

Using the oscillating hoe, I went over the row where the spinach would be planted and uprooting the existing weeds. These were the weeds that grew while the previous crop was there. I must say that these tools use a different set of muscles, that irregular farmers like myself may not be used to exercising... aka I was hurtin'!  The cool news is that Hoss tools states that you can adjust such tools to your personal height, which may be helpful for short folks like myself.

Seeds in the ground:

1. Within the desired area make 3 rows that are equally spaced apart the length of the row. This can be done with something as simple as a the end of a shovel stick.
2. Place a seed in the carved out row, each seed about 3 inches apart. 
3. Carefully cover the carved out row with dirt using a garden rake.

And there you have it, the directions that I received to plant a ton of spinach and now I have relayed them to all of you. I'll keep you posted as to whether my planting skills follow through! Here is the completed product at the end of the day. 

Who knew garden planting could be so simply stated....now we wait!