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Post by richardw on Jan 8, 2012 13:32:40 GMT -5
Hi there,my family (three kids 14,11,10) and myself live on 5.1 Hectares,about halfway up the South Island,100kms north of Christchurch,we are 50km inland surrounded and by mountains which makes it a challenging climate in which to grow a garden,min -9C frosts in winter,max 40C in summer and average annual rain of 650 mm.
I'm a company director/owner and have been a hand shears sheep shearer for 30years and in my spear time i grow heirloom vegetables seeds for Koanga Institute.
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Post by 12540dumont on Jan 8, 2012 13:57:32 GMT -5
Welcome,
The Koanga has some great seeds. I just wish they put more info on the packages. (More history about the seeds, translations from Maori, etc.)
Do you raise your own sheep?? Or do you go out and about to shear?
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Post by richardw on Jan 8, 2012 14:24:01 GMT -5
Welcome, The Koanga has some great seeds. I just wish they put more info on the packages. (More history about the seeds, translations from Maori, etc.) I'll pass on your idea,i agree a bit of info would be good Do you raise your own sheep?? Yes ,i have 20 super fine wool merinos which i select and run organically Or do you go out and about to shear? |
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Post by templeton on Jan 8, 2012 17:15:04 GMT -5
Hi Richard.
Wondered if you were a member here. Nice to find out a bit more about Medbury.
T
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Post by 12540dumont on Jan 8, 2012 20:41:02 GMT -5
I used to raise Merino's and Cotswolds. The Cotswolds were yummy to eat, but their wool is strictly for doll's hair or rugs.
The most luscious Merino wool I ever had was not my own, but from a station down under. Do you sell fleeces, yarn, blankets?
I must say as a child we always had decent wool blankets. Now a days, you can't find a good wool blanket unless I rip open a quilt to get one. I no longer have sheep, but plenty of roving left. As I too have gotten long in the tooth, I've been looking for good yarn, good blankets and good batting to put in my quilts.
Let us know what you are growing.
Holly
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Post by richardw on Jan 9, 2012 12:19:32 GMT -5
Hi Richard. Wondered if you were a member here. Nice to find out a bit more about Medbury. T Hi there templeton great to see yet another formula name here  Medbury is just a area,not a town as such,the link below is the corner of my road, street view doesn't go down my dead end road.The view shown in the photos is over 7 years old so much has changed since then,much of the area has now gone into dairy farms and 13 central pivots are now up and running.Its good for me as a seed grower because of isolation from another growers so i tend not to get a lot of pests problems,cross contamination and been a rather dry climate no diseases,though black birds,sparrows and finches do make gardening more of a challenge so netts are used to keep them off many of my seeding plants maps.google.co.nz/maps?hl=en&ll=-42.876125,172.691129&spn=0.015882,0.042272&t=h&z=15&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=-42.876125,172.691129&panoid=GlGp4cQ-68mrAFGM7O9icQ&cbp=12,90,,0,0 |
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Post by richardw on Jan 9, 2012 12:44:43 GMT -5
I used to raise Merino's and Cotswolds. The Cotswolds were yummy to eat, but their wool is strictly for doll's hair or rugs. The most luscious Merino wool I ever had was not my own, but from a station down under. Do you sell fleeces, yarn, blankets? I must say as a child we always had decent wool blankets. Now a days, you can't find a good wool blanket unless I rip open a quilt to get one. I no longer have sheep, but plenty of roving left. As I too have gotten long in the tooth, I've been looking for good yarn, good blankets and good batting to put in my quilts. Let us know what you are growing. Holly Cotswolds is a bred thats not seen in NZ,yes you are right you just don't see new decent wool blankets made these days,though i must admit i do like these modern duvets been so light and warm. I grow up to 20 different vegetable seed lines as well as heaps of other veg for the house supply. A 40 tree orchard mainly of no name seedling/suckered apples,black boy peaches, Golden queen peaches grown from pip ,Pear seedlings grown form a wild roadside tree,Green gauge,Satsuma and a few other unknown plums and Apricots grown from wild trees. I'm into growing a large area of NZ native forest tree types also a fire wood block of Australian Eucalyptus along with poplars in where i graze my sheep,these are grown for times of drought. |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Jan 9, 2012 13:53:32 GMT -5
Nice view! It looks a lot like it does here. I'd like to find out more about New Zealand plant varieties if you know where to find good information about them. Would anyone know how i could obtain some of those interesting looking watermelon varieties like this one? It looks like you can only order in bulk from this company, and they don't seem to ship outside New Zealand. www.lefroyvalley.co.nz/products-page/watermelon-seeds/candystore/ |
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Post by atash on Jan 9, 2012 18:45:30 GMT -5
Hello, Richard. Interesting terrain. Looks a bit like some parts of the inland Pacific Northwest, and similar climate too but maybe a little more equable.
My climate is rainier. Similar winter lows, not as hot. I would guess some other relevant variables would be the length of the growing season.
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Post by raymondo on Jan 9, 2012 19:35:12 GMT -5
Good to see you here Richard. Sorry to hear that Bob passed on.
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Post by richardw on Feb 14, 2012 13:32:53 GMT -5
Sorry guys for my resent absence,our house was hit by lightning a month ago, which came down through from the receiver dish and damaged the computer,took this long for insurance to replace it. keen101 - i could send on seed if you wanted some,send a PM if you do. www.lefroyvalley.co.nz/products-page/watermelon-seeds/candystore/This link is to koanga who i grow seed for,they would be the best place in New Zealand for old local varieties www.koanga.org.nz/ |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Mar 3, 2012 20:59:38 GMT -5
Sorry guys for my resent absence,our house was hit by lightning a month ago, which came down through from the receiver dish and damaged the computer,took this long for insurance to replace it. keen101 - i could send on seed if you wanted some,send a PM if you do. www.lefroyvalley.co.nz/products-page/watermelon-seeds/candystore/This link is to koanga who i grow seed for,they would be the best place in New Zealand for old local varieties www.koanga.org.nz/ Richard, I just barely saw your message today. Expect a PM your way. Also, i just took a quick look at your website. I especially like the stone tunnelhouse idea! Now i'm heading back to check out what else is on your site. -Andrew |
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