3 December 2011
Sadly, 3 months into butchery ownership we have had to pull out. Constant disagreements about the way to run the business was driving it into the ground. We’re gutted of course. We put in at least 85% of the work but got fed up with being constantly challenged and criticised. In the end we wanted the main focus to be on locally sourced products for local customers. They wanted to focus on organics and heritage breeds. We thought incorporating all 4 aspects would be a winner but they just wanted to focus on organics and breeds. It seems that in their eyes incorporating a local aspect watered down both the supplier and customer pool.
There were other issues too of course. One of them being that the business didn’t break even in the first 3 months. As hubby and I had done most of the work in the first 3 months, the conclusion that seemed to be reached was that we were mostly responsible for this. Hmmm. Let’s just say it’s hard to gain any traction and get a business going when all decisions are challenged and ultimately delayed.
In the end mistakes were made on both sides and both sides feel the other side is more at fault.
It’s hard not to feel a little bitter. We had so many plans and hubby was networking his little heart out with so many of the locals. Everything seemed like it was falling into place and then we hit another wall and that was one wall too many. We both agreed enough was enough. Any more and both our marriage and health would suffer.
We’re trying to keep it amicable. Our money (or the bank’s money to be more precise) is still in the business and we don’t want the business to fall over and so we’re trying to sort out a way to get out without killing the business.
We hope they make the business a success.
We hope we can get our money out.
Hubby is of course keen to look for another challenge. I’m not so sure. In the end, we can’t even contemplate that without getting our money back.
We’re Saving The World
Yep, that’s right, we’re determined to continue saving the world one person at a time.
We lost our way a bit this year. With me at home every 2nd week we couldn’t really afford HelpXers so they’ve been few and far between. We’ve still preached to the unconverted or the partially converted and then the butchery suddenly became our tool for reaching a greater audience. But that of course is no more.
We hosted some HelpXers recently and suddenly the thrill of having a captive audience again reawakened the need for action.
And so we’ve agreed the HelpXers must return.
Our next lot arrives this week and I’m looking forward to it. With summer now here the tasks are many, the days are long and the constant sunny days are proving once again to be a farming challenge.
HelpXer Ryota had a profound affect on me. He made me look again at what is important. He made me realize I was starting to get complacent. The last thing the world needs at the moment is complacency.
We all need to take action of some sort.
Pick a cause. Any cause. And fight.
Your fight can be big or small but at least fight.
Help someone else fight if you can. We recently had the opportunity to display a Greenpeace billboard at the entrance to the property, and we took it. In the process we met someone else also fighting. Our causes are different but ultimately the same.
When I talk to people who aren’t fighting any cause it amazes me the complete lack of interest or knowledge in what man is doing to the planet. The tide is turning though.
The elections were last week and the Greens got over 10% of the vote. I was both stunned and thrilled. I am hoping it is a sign that there are more people like me who want positive change.
No the Greens were never going to get in but if you could have a National/Green led government it wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Business is what the country needs but it needs to be ethical and sustainable. Business doesn’t have to be solely about profit. National focuses too much on money and capitalism and that’s where they fall down. We need money to run the country but why do we need growth? Why can’t we focus on making business local and sustainable so that we can function independently from other countries?
Why do we need GE? Why do we need to import Monsanto products? Why do we need McDonalds and Burger King and KFC? Why do we import meat and fruit and vegetables and export the same?
Why don’t we take a lead from Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall and plant our green spaces with fruit and vegetables? Why don’t we make our city landscapes edible landscapes? Why don’t we plant fruit trees on the suburban verges? Natives are lovely but an abundance of fruit trees is surely even better?
Imagine if every kid in NZ had the opportunity to eat locally grown fruit, for free!
I was thinking this week that every hospital in this country should have its own orchard. They could be maintained by community volunteers. There could be seating for patients and families, maybe a chicken coop as well, so that chickens could free range and keep the orchard bug free.
There could be compost piles for the hospital food waste, giant worm farm tubs so that the compost could be used to mulch around the trees and the worm juice used as a fertilizer. Surely it would be nice for a patient to be able to wander into an orchard in summer, to sit and eat a freshly picked apple, and for just a little while take their mind off the sterile environment of the hospital.
Garden Centres in the region could be asked to donate a couple of fruit trees each. Hardware stores could donate bags of compost and Building supply companies could donate wood and fencing materials.
Make it a community project and who knows what wonderful things could be achieved?!
I guess hospitals don’t have a lot of space, but what the heck, let’s rip up a staff carpark and plant there!
That suggestion would go down like a led balloon of course but there are plenty of staff like me who have legs so we’ll just have to park further away and walk!
Unless of course you build on the roof… (Not the helicopter one of course)
More and more roofs are becoming green spaces so why not the same at a hospital? Then the orchards would be secure from thieves, vandals and dogs.
Ahhh, but I’m dreaming.
I also think the hospital should run daily community clinics on nutrition and diet. I’m not talking technical, food-company sponsored bullshit. I mean teach people about eating natural foods and teach them how to make simple, healthy meals from scratch.
Don’t give your kid vitamin-fortified, sugary cereals for breakfast, give them a fruit smoothie damnit! Hell, make it a seasonal fruit smoothie to keep the cost down.
Why Is No One Getting It?!?
I was reading a trashy women’s mag at lunch yesterday and there was an article on a pregnant local celebrity with an autistic toddler and fearing the next one could be autistic as well.
What the hell people?! Are you all crazy? When you were young how many kids did you know that had autism? I knew 1. 1!!! In all my years of school I knew just 1. Now I swear every 5th parent has an autistic child. This isn’t rocket science people. Something is killing your child’s brain while it’s in the womb. The neural networks aren’t forming properly and I suggest it might be what you’re eating.
Isn’t it interesting how autism has become a big thing since we started restricting a pregnant woman’s diet? Don’t eat nuts, don’t eat seafood, don’t eat eggs, don’t eat… well… just don’t eat anything that’s natural really because it might just harm your baby. No, let’s just eat good, safe, made in a factory, man-made food. Then when they’re born the best thing you can do is continue to breast feed this crap into your baby.
Women are now starving their babies of vital nutrients because of the warped ideas of giant food companies and medical professionals.
My mother’s generation ate and drank what they liked and most of us made it through unscathed.
It seems like every month I hear about another child diagnosed with autism. And now there’s not just ‘Rain Man’ autism, there’s like 100 different types of autism now. 30 years from now we are going to have a country full of mentally challenged people. How the heck are they going to function properly in society? Will they ever leave home? Will they find meaningful jobs and fulfilling relationships? Will they have their own children?
If this shite continues then I know when I retire I will look at the world with a certain amount of horror. I know I will be saying “OMG, it wasn’t like that in my day”.
When I retire the retirement village better have plenty of organic and free-range food and a good supply of cider because I refuse to be part of the warped system we have now.
Home on the (Free) Range
As mentioned in the last blog, this year we have an abundance of baby chicks and ducklings.
We also have an abundance of feral cats.
The latter is now feeding its young with the former.
Each morning we have less. Two a night it seems, and at that rate we’ll have nothing left by Christmas.
Every fucking year! I’m so over this. I’m so over the overwhelming feeling of powerlessness. The instant kill traps lie untouched. Hey, what cat wants a piece of old rabbit meat when you can have fresh chicken every night?
Once again I’ve handed over my credit card and I’m expecting two live-cat traps to arrive this coming week. If we can’t catch them dead then we’ll catch them alive and dispatch them with a bullet. I’ll even put eye fillet steak in as bait if I have to. This has just got to stop.
When the dogs catch these feral cats the cats are often sick and covered in lice and fleas. It’s a hard life for a feral cat. I don’t hate them for doing whatever it takes to survive, I hate them for taking what’s mine.
What I am really angry at though is the person or people responsible for putting them there in the first place. Domestic cats don’t just go feral of their own accord.
The situation we now face is that in giving all our birds total free-range freedom, we in fact give them a potential death sentence. They’re freedom is restricted only in terms of area (although even then they push the boundaries). We give them houses and roosting areas but ultimately they choose where and how they live.
We give them feed but they have an ample supply of wild food. We should in fact feed them less. Some of them are turning into real couch potatoes, barely leaving home to explore the outside world. Nobody give them a Playstation!
Our verandah is currently covered in chicken poop. It’s just one big chicken toilet. We have plans to keep them permanently in their allotted areas but I’m waiting for the HelpXers to turn up before we tackle that project. Even Jemimah duck feels the need to spend her evenings on the verandah.
Free Range is good but only up to a point eh?
I don’t think we have a lot of roosters so either some of the girls will also become chicken dinner or we will find some new homes for some of them. I’m trying to convince dad to take some. He certainly can where he is now but I’m not sure about the suitability at his new home. He would probably need to invest in a moveable chicken house and some Electric netting so he could move them every few days.
It would be a big financial outlay so any eggs he got would never cover the set-up costs. If he had an orchard that he could fence off that would be great but the family are keen to build big houses, leaving little land except for an area for the kids to play.
But they’re moving to Albany Albany
