From Paddock to Plate: Humane Homekill

Posted by Nick  | 27 Sep 2020  | 1 comment

This was our second homekill, which we documented a little more closely this time. We find the process fascinating and rewarding raising our own weaner to maturity. Not only were its needs overseen and catered to by us for its whole life, but we felt more at peace giving it a good death, happily grazing in the paddock, none the wiser.

The following video features the whole process (minus the butchering), from slaughter through skinning, to gutting and dressing. Afterwards we weigh the meat to compare to grocery store prices, and make cat food from the offcuts and organs. There’s an opportunity in the video to pause and skip the more graphic parts.

Testing for Asbestos

Posted by Nick  | 27 Aug 2020  | 0 comments

As we gear up (finally) for our extensive cottage alterations (taking everything back to the studs and adding an extension), we must first find out if any of the suspicious materials we’ll be demolishing contain the dreaded asbestos.

In this video we sample four of the aforementioned suspects and send them off to be tested at a lab. The results are in…

The Fruits of Her Labour

Posted by Nick  | 24 Aug 2020  | 2 comments

Char has finally come Back to the Land for good! It’s been a bit of a journey getting to this point, where she can be here with me full-time, as keen followers of our blog can attest.

For six years now, since we moved to the farm, she’s commuted to-and-from Auckland (a five hour round trip), staying there for a few nights, then working on the farm with me over the weekends. There have been ups and downs for both of us, with me here by myself during the week, and her working in excess of twelve hour days at her stressful managerial role in the big smoke.

I wanted to commemorate the occasion by building her a rustic outdoor bench seat for our orchard – her favourite place on the farm – to celebrate her sacrifices and hard work over the years, and the fruition of our vision finally coming to bear.

I even tried my hand at creating a commemorative brass plaque, which turned out better than expected! Check out this video of the process: