The Ancient Art of Tree Crops Every winter, we plant trees. These days not hundreds of plants, we have run out of space, but rather specific trees for specific purposes. In the last few days, we finished planting a hillside with Thornless Honey Locust trees – (Gleditsia Triacanthos f.Inermis) along with [...]
8 Billion Humans are Totally Reliant on Healthy Ecosystems I came across this concept the other day, can’t remember where, but it immediately made an impression on me. It goes like this. All of us, close on 8 billion human beings on this planet, rely on healthy ecosystems to survive. We [...]
Spring 2020. The Return of the Weekend Warrior 1988 and the rafting season was pumping. Well, pumping (busy) that is, for that time and place. Set out below is what a typical week looked like for a rafting and adventure lodge business in those times: Monday – housekeeping, cleaning up after the [...]
The Swamp The hours, days, and even weeks we spent in the “swamp” as children. The “swamp” was an area of wetland down the hill, behind the house my brother and three sisters grew up in, on a small farm just outside the North Island, New Zealand, city of New Plymouth. During the many [...]
Doubting Thomas Eats Humble Pie After several years of planning, more than a few doubts – as much from husbands (such as me) as anybody else, the first River Valley 8 Day Ride concluded on Monday with many a very happy rider. This multi-day horse trek, which has been my wife, Nicola’s, project, has [...]
Will Honesty and Integrity Always Prevail? I have been in business for what sometimes feels a very long time. Under our own account at River Valley for 29 years, plus a few years earlier than that managing the company, and before that operating as a contractor shearing sheep, planting forestry trees, a sideline into [...]
Logis Hotels – an alternative future for the classic New Zealand country pub Recently we were visited by a small group of people in their vintage cars, including a very old Rolls Royce. It is quite surprising to me how often we do get visited by people driving vintage cars. Sometimes they are on [...]
An Unexpected Bonus Many farms in our district also incorporate areas of production forests, mostly smaller blocks of Radiate Pine trees. When these trees are harvested, generally at around to 25 to 30 years of age, there can be quite a lot of disruption to farming operations – and also in some cases, adventure [...]
An Early Season for the Duckie A good seasonal indication for the amount of rain we have had here at River Valley, and more importantly, how much there has been in the headwaters of the Rangitikei River up in the Kaimanawa ranges is the date that we roll out the duckies. Our duckie trips [...]
Living in Interesting Times We live in interesting times, of that there can be no doubt. How many other generations also believed they lived in interesting times? Most no doubt. However, the enormity of what is happening in our times is unparalleled. Yet, on a personal level, I struggle to balance what I have [...]
