MASTERTON FOODIE DAY

We had a great day today  - it started at the Masterton Farmers Market where we  bought some lovely Paulownia Rose and Pinot Gris and some Kingsmeade cheese . We wandered around the market which is small but perfectly formed , sipping on a luscious latte from Machiatto. There are fresh organic veges, fish, meat, pies and pasteries, breads, pickles, fat juicy rasberries from the Wee Red Barn, wine, beer, olive oil and preserves from Martinborough Manner.

Today we bought a head of celeriac which must qualify as one of the most ugly veges but we have made a remoulade and its lovely and fresh - a tasty memory of summer past.

We were at the market by 9am - and it was quiet enough to be able to talk to a couple of the stall holders.
The bloke from Kindsmeade is a quiet charmer and soon we had strolled off with 4 different cheeses. We have a cheese and pickle tasting at work on Monday so had promised to bring some Kingsmeade cheeses and some of our homemade pickles- if they last that long! We also had a chat with Vaughan Paul who owns Paulownia. One thing we like about small vineyards is the passion the owners have for the product.

Vaughan loves his wine and loves people loving it just as much.

We also met Farmgeek who is a tweeter as well. He runs the market. Today we also learnt that the market does have an EFTPOS.. That could be a major threat to our bank balance!

We will  be asking Farmgeek who the musicians were at the Market today  - two lovely blokes were crooning our sort of tunes - country .  Makes a girls heart sing does that sort of music..

We also bought some quiveringly fresh  liver and a bit of nice  sweet smokey bacon and had liver and bacon on our return home.

When we we got home we were inspired to make a few things. So first up was a lovely  Focaccia bread which turned out really well. Then it was a big pot of vege broth to keep us going at work - with a ginormous carrot added from our garden and a bone from one of our recently slaughtered lambs to give the soup some character.

Then we harvested our horseradish - its powerful stuff and we cant wait to try it out with a bit of fish.

As we sip our Paulownia  Pinot Gris, which is not too fruity  and has a surprising amount of depth and character -  we are thinking it will be lovely with our remoulade.

If you are over in the Wairarapa or stuck for something to do the Masterton market is well worth a visit.

TRADEME , CHRISTCHURCH AND THE MAD ROOTER

We have been a bit like a ram in a paddock of ewes in the past few days - rogering Trademe with undisguised gusto because we reckon that Trade Me was taking advantage of little traders and sucking them dry.

It had to do with listing a mad rooter ram we needed to get rid of - a ram we thought would only fetch about $60 - but it was going to cost us $30 bucks if we sold him. We need to get rid of him because we have replaced him with a Wiltshire studdly muffin called Nigel.

So we blogged, tweeted and facebooked our outrage.

Today we got an answer and hopefully a solution - a category for pets and single farm animals.

We think thats a good option and we hope that Trademe follows it up.

Hi Busted,

I couldn’t squeeze this into 140 characters so had to resort to old-fashioned email. Rest assured, we’ve still got our mojo and our soul here at Trade Me. More than 750,000 Kiwis visit Trade Me each day and more than 250,000 items sold last week – both of these numbers are up on a year ago and up heaps on a few years ago. We’ve also been putting our recent mojo towards building a free site for people affected by the Chch earthquake, iPhone whizz-bang stuff, and a just launched today group-buying site.

You’re right we did increase our success fees a while back. They went up from 6.9% to 7.5% so that meant that on the sale of something for 50 bucks there was a 30-cent increase (to $3.75). That was the first time we’d increased the success fee since September 2008 and we reckon we still offer great value for money to put your items, be they buttons or sheepskin rugs, in front of a massive Kiwi audience.

In terms of livestock (of which your mad rooter is a supreme example), there was no recent fee increase on that front. To list a sheep it’s 29 bucks to list it until it sells – that might take an hour, a day, a week, a month or a year. There is no success fee. The livestock fees haven’t moved since November 2008 (way back when John Key got the top job, and the mad rooter was only a lamb, maybe...)

The livestock category is mostly used by people selling a flock of woolly beasts rather than just one ram. On that front, if you were selling a flock of sheep then $29 to list all your stock is pretty cheap. There’s overs and unders and we acknowledge the model is not perfect so we’re sorry about that. Perhaps we need a “pet lambs and mad rooters” category?

Anyway, we reckon you should relist the Mad Rooter – he might go for heaps more than 60 bucks – remember somebody paid $60,000 for a boulder last week. If you do, make sure you nominate the fecund fellow for a Chch charity auction slot on the homepage – we reckon he’d probably make the cut.

Cheers

Paul

So we have listed the Mad Rooter and a ticket - to BustedBlondes Veuve Clicquot party on Trademe and the lions share of the proceeds will go to the Christchurch earthquake fund. Yes the mad bitch Busted is back.

Party - on. Details soon.

And yes the proceeds of the party will go to Christchurch as well. We grew up in Southland and to all Southlanders of our vintage, Christchurch was the glamorous and sophisticated metropolitan centre of the South Island. And so it will be again.

I TALK TO MY BANTYS

Yip I have to fess, everynight I go home - kick off my Prada sandals, don my slouchies, grab the kitchen scraps and head to the chook barn.

Its an open ended affair that looks out on the 10 acres that my three wee silkie banty feather duster chooks call home.

They were all pretty good at laying bumnuts to begin with but if 2 were human - they would now be on the DPB.

All they really wanna do is be mums. However, we didnt have a rooster to start so we bought in 42 fertilised eggs in various batches to test their maternal instincts.

We got one chicken, Chickadee from Fluff-

Sadly Chickadee was taken in his prime by a hawk and Fluff never really got over it.

Speckle did hatch three chicks but Snowy got chick envy and she pecked the poor little buggers to death. So Snowy is a chick killer and Speckle is a useless mum.

The hatch rate wasn't helped much by the fact that all three kept stealing eggs off each other.

But we have not given up - we have another set of eggs shared between the two broody bantys.

And we bought another wee brown banty ( she did look huge in the pic) off Trademe with 4 little chicks- Mother and babies are doing well.

But its little Fluff who has stolen our heart. Everynight she runs a small marathon to get to me when I call out and then follows me back to the barn. Most nights I pick her up and she nestles in my bosum and I tell her what its like to be in the battery farm that is the Wellington bureaucracy. She never interrupts as I cackle on about the days events and all the silly big swinging dick roosters and silly peacocks I have to deal with. She watches me the whole time and listens intently, and clucks her sympathies and only ever gets distracted when we get to the feed bin.

And she has been so traumatised by losing Chickadee that she hasn't gone all bloody silly and broody.

So we are not surprised that scientists reckon chickens show empathy.

They do. Fluff is my wee mate.

And every day she lays a perfect white egg just for me. She sees the value in our relationship and knows what her strengths are.

As for Snowy and Speckle, - they are just would be solo mums who are happy to lounge about looking mothery on eggs some other poor chook laid not giving a stuff who the father is, showing no appreciation for our care and consideration.

If they dont act like responsible mothers and look after their little whangai chickies when they hatch this time, then they will make bloody great chicken stock.

We believe in reciprocal obligations.

This weekend we are killing a lamb. Last time we needed to top up the freezer we got a nice butcher fella to do it. This time we are doing it ourselves. Not sure if we can manage a french rack but we will manage chops and roasts and will save $50 in the process.

Life on the farm is good.

Update - the Rock bought me a really girly present - a band saw with a mincer and sausage maker attached to deal to the lamb - now how romantic is that? 

LONG TRAIN RUNNING

There is an extra carriage on the Wairarapa 4.30. and the carriages are air conditioned and everyone has a seat.

Is this a new policy? We will check it out.

RACISM INVERTED- SOLUTION AVERTED

Sometimes people need to see past their own history. Kim Workman had an extensive career in the public service. We met him when he was a big cheese in the prison service. ( he was nicknamed Kimi Workperson because he was so PC )

These days he is strong advocate for prison reform. On some points we see eye to eye.

Now the Wairarapa Times Age has interviewed Kim who claims that Masterton is a racist town. We have had a place in the Wairarapa for about 4 years. We now live their permanently. We have yet to see one scrap of evidence that Masterton is a racist enclave. The incidences that Kim describes are historical and could be replicated in towns large and small throughout NZ.

However, has chosen to brand Masterton with a racist tag and thats doing this proud town a very real disservice.

If Maori are doing anything wrong it is the passive acceptance of a relatively high profile gang presence in the area and the resultant crime. They wear their patches freely in public places. What we need to see from Maori in the Wairarapa is some ownership of the issue. For them to say that this is not acceptable. That would send a powerful message to their children that this cultural aberration is not acceptable.

So Kim should not be spitting his gentlemanly disguised venom at the good people of Masterton for being racist. Instead he should turn his attention to the other Maori leaders in the Wairarapa and work with them to challenge their own people when their behaviour is unacceptable.

If there is any sniff of racism it will stem from the fact the pakeha never see Maori leaders sort out the shit of their own.

If they did that any remnants of racism would be countered.

Its time for Kim to Tane up and show some leadership.

But we dont think he has the balls. Nah its much easier to slag of the good white folks of Masterton instead of getting Maori to own the problem and deal to it. And thats the issue we have with Maori leaders today - the only time they go hard is when money is at stake. Claiming that the money will solve their ills. Crap. Its leadership and a no- nonsense approach thats going to turn the plight of their people around. Whinging only makes it worse. It just perpetuates the myth that the problem is not theirs -it's someone elses.

NEXT STOP FOR GANG FREE TOWN - MASTERTON

We were a bit gobsmacked at the Sunday markets last weekend in Masterton, when we ran smack bang into two big hairy arsed Nomad gang members in full regalia. They dont wear their patches so we can all admire their embroidery - no. They do it to intimidate. Allowing them to parade the streets in their gear normalises them. And they aint normal.

We are delighted that Wairoa is looking to ban patches. Its a bloody tough little town and any effort to reduce the power of the gangs is a step in the right direction.

And while we are at it - all government departments should ban gang patches from their buildings..

Get to it guys.. Get rid of gangs and you will make a serious dent in P problem.

WAIRARAPA PARISH PUMP DRAWS DEEP FROM COMMUNITY WELL

Palmerston North has been in the news a bit as it has had a bad rap for being a boring no account city. Thing is there is a lot to be said for provincial towns.

Take Masterton for instance. It's your quintiessential provincial retail and commercial hub.

It may not have lots of choice, but you normally get at least one of everything and they have to be good or they don't survive. So for instance, there is one really good sushi shop that would rival anything in the big smoke. And Strada's coffee and cakes are as good as anywhere in NZ.

And we have discovered that they also have one really good newspaper that is like the community newspapers of old. The Wairarapa News. Surprisingly its part of the Fairfax stable.Surprising, because we thought that this paper was so good of its type that it must be owned and loved by some locals. But being run and loved by some locals seems to be doing the trick.

Now there is also the Wairarapa Times Age , but there seems to be a lot less stories in it and its just doesn't seem to hit the mark like the Wairarapa News does.

However the Age does break some interesting stuff as this story shows. Bigotry and prejudice doesn't just rely on the colour of ones skin, it seems.

The Wairarapa News is delivered free, has a high advertising content and there are three or four interesting stories about issues that are close to the hearts of the residents and the rest of the paper is peppered with advertisements and stories about what is on. The community stuff that makes places like the Wairarapa so good to live in. A real good smattering of local politics, happenings and sport.

Like the fact that there are cheese making courses coming up. Or that there is a talk at the local Geological society looking at the two Wairarapa earthquakes of 1942 when the area was all shook up by two 7+ quakes a couple of months apart.

There are always lots of faces in the paper too. Sure, the photography is not world class but if you get to see the Doris you know from down the street being lauded for some community deed then you feel connected to your community.

And every Wednesday we really look forward to the Wairarapa News. Its a bloody good wee paper that does  its community proud and is a wonderful reflection of the province it serves.

And there is something  refreshing about reading news which is not based on the cult of celebrity.

We were already in love with the Wairarapa but apprehensive when we moved here permanently about 6 weeks ago but as every day goes past, that growing feeling of connection just keeps getting stronger.

And as we make the daily journey on the train into Wellington with the suns first filtering light bathing the valley we just spend the next 8 hours waiting to get back home.

Life is good.

HEY THERE GEORGIE GIRL

Well it appears that we were onto something when we suggested that the  Mayoral race down south maybe overshadowed by the Masterton Mayoralty.

Then this morning we open the Wairarapa Times Age to find that paper (story not online yet) has conducted a poll on peoples voting preferences.  Beyer has coming out and gazumped the sitting Mayor Garry Daniell securing 63% of the votes in the poll. Georgina has not formally stated her intention to stand but she  must be bouyed by the result. She has made it clear that she is keen to support council amalgamation and it may be her support for this issue alone that already has her snaring a large body of support.

Former NZ First Party MP Ron Mark had indicated that he would be standing for the Carterton Mayoralty 
however he has just been appointed the CEO of the Federation of Maori Authorities - one of the political powerhouses of Iwi commercial interests.

So it will be interesting to see if he still pursues the mayoral option.

A FRIEND IN NEED - APB

Homepaddock has had her laptop nicked.

Read the story here . The Christchurch police know who did it. They just cant find him. His name is :
Daniel Morgan. aka Daniel Barr and Daniel Erickson.

Anyway the Christchurch police are obviously much more diligent than the Masterton police.

Interestingly the Masterton police, nearly a year later have asked us if we want to charge the thief...

Crusher Collins has a ways to go to sort out the coppers in the wine province.

So we hope HomePaddock gets some justice quicker than we did.

SWEET HOME WAIRARAPA

SUPERB - BILL AND BEN.

MARKET FORCES

We are huge fans of the Masterton Sunday morning flea market. They have a organic farmers market on the Saturday and its great but bloody pricey. If you want a jar of jam or pickles from the Saturday food fest then you will pay $6 bucks. On Sunday some sweet little grannies sell stuff at $2-3 a jar.. So we always buy a few bikkies, plants, as they are dirt cheap, and then there is the car boot stuff - its a whole other world.

There are a few regular traders but mostly its lean pickings.

This morning there was a lovely woman who had some stuff that was a cut above some of the vinyl and lace clothes, tired shoes and kitchen tat that is spread out on old blankets by forlorn people trying to get a buck for crap.

Anyway we were squizzing at some of her stuff when, what was obviously her mum says,
"She has some lovely stuff you know - its such a shame."
I say " yep she does I want that wrought iron ceiling pot hanger,"

Daughter says - " Its thirty dollars"

Mother lets out a wail-

"Oh that is such a bargain - it used to look so lovely when she had the big house and big kitchen but now she only has a small kitchen,"she tells me....
Daughter gives me a sickly smile - stares daggers at her Ma.

I hope she uses the money i gave her to buy some duct tape to plaster over the old biddys gob.

Anyway - next up was a old truck with a very old pretty dilapidated set of drawers on the back.. They were black with age and splattered with bird shit.

They asked $90 - I got them for $75. The girl told she was selling stuff so she could register her car as she had a wee baby and needed to get around.

Anyway-- we got to the Block and cleaned down the chest of drawers - it was what I suspected - Kauri... It cleaned up wonderfully.
A good day.

A RARE TREAT

We attended the Masterton ANZAC day commemoration of air battles, with a display of one of the finest colllection of vintage war planes in existence.

Today we saw the " Fee " fly the FE.2b pusher bi plane replica which was built in secret from scratch. Its called a pusher because the prop is behind the pilot.


It is an awesome aircraft with the slimmest of struts connecting the fuselage with the rudder. The gun turret is upfront in what must have been one of the exposed places to be in air combat. It was a fantastic show. Lots to see. There is also a good story here about the plane in the Wairarapa Times Age

And you can read more about the plane here as well at the Vintage Aviator company

HIGH VALUE GRAPE HARVESTER

We got to work this morning to find 6 bottles of wonderful Wycroft Forbury Pinot Noir from Bon Vivant and vintner Lawrie Bryant. Now we picked about 8 boxes of grapes in about 2 hours so we are confident that this reward means we are considered to be a very high value harvester!

We will take a couple of bottles with us to Padthaway South Australia in July - the home of some good big reds, to share with family there.
We enjoy watching them savour the subtly and elegance of NZ Pinot Noirs.

Thank you, my dear boy, thank you!

ROLL OUT THE TUMBRIL - PART IV

We have found our car. It was stolen on February 26th.
Now it has no tires and no battery - but there is a hell of a story about how it was stolen and how the police handled the issue. How it has highlighted an issue about how government departments talk to each other, or don't, to reduce crime.

Now the car is about 17 years old but mechanically sound. It wasn't worth much more than about $1000 dollars - it wasn't even worth insuring. So some maybe wondering why we have gone to great lengths to secure its return.

Well it was ours. And its like this - We like to apply the granny test to things. That means if it was your granny that was facing the same incident how would the experience have been for her.

In this case Granny would have never seen her car again. And that says bad things about how this issue was handled. In the end it proved to be a case of " not what you know but who you know" and a little bit of amateur sleuthing.

We will blog on this in full later. It really has been an astonishing journey.

DAM THE RAM

We have a burning question. When we were a little thing in overalls overseeing all the doings on our grandfathers farm we learnt a lot about sex. The years have dimmed the memories sadly, so we cant dredge our mind banks for the answer to this problem.

See, the thing is, because we are weekend worriers with a 10 acre block we don't want the hassle of owning stock so a lovely bloke up the road takes care of that by grazing his sheep here . Now presently we have a pick and mix flock on the place. Some white, some black, some black and white, some shedders, some woollies, a lot of girls and four big boys.

Now I remember helping my grandfather put a harness on the rams to know if they were tupping - which is shaggaroonied to all your city slickers.The harness was fitted with a coloured chalk under their belly. Each ram had a different colour. Some were very vigorous while others pondered the task. And after they did the deed a smudge was left on the smiley faced ewe. We would lean on the fence and watch with interest the derring do of the big Southdown rams on many an afternoon ranking them for their sexual prowess.

Our rams have no harnesses and we reckon they take the weekend off. Haven't seen a single rogering and there is is no all out war like I remember in the rams of old. Hell I saw one break its neck in a fight once.
No, these big boys slink around the paddock - do the sniffy bum thing then curl their lips in disgust ( what do they expect ??!!) and then wander off.

We wonder if the time isn't right, that these rams are unionised and are only on the job Monday to Friday or horror of horrors are past their prime.

Anyways I now keep a close watch on them just to see if I can catch them in the act but despite my ovine voyerism , I have yet to see a woolly dirty deed done .

Methinks we need to give Homepaddock a buzz and get her to impart some country wisdom. Or maybe Lambcut has the answer..

STILL NO CAR

And no word from the police. They know the address where the car is registered and have the suspect on security footoage. We are getting a tad impatient.

We have a plan B.

ROLL OUT THE TUMBRIL PART III

We have had some dramas with our car being stolen from the Masterton Railway Station. You can read the saga here

The police know who took it and now they are executing search warrants.

Hopefully they will find our car. However the address has been in the news a bit. We will keep you posted.

ROLL OUT THE TUMBRIL- UPDATE

On the 6th of March we blogged on the fact our car was stolen after it was left at the Masterton Train station - under the security cameras. We contacted the people with the security footage and the Masteton police. The security guy got the thieves on tape. However he needed us to get the police to ring him. We gave all the details to the Masterton Police who said they would chase it up. A week passed and nothing had happened - we talked to another constable who said they would look into it. Still nothing. Then yesterday the Aussie Rock got a letter from Land Transport saying there had been a change of ownership. He thought that the police must have notified Land Transport that the car was stolen. I thought it was a bit odd - anyway the Rock rang Land Transport and low and behold the car was re registered the day after it was stolen.... They wont say where - they want to talk to the police and will release the details to them. Farrrrkin protracted process we reckon....
So when we find out who the little buggers are we will be borrowing this canon and these gunslingers from Oswald Bastable to deal to the bastards who stole our car!

DOG FIGHTS OVER THE WAIRARAPA

Here is a selection of pics from the dog fights that featured at the Wings over the Wairarapa yesterday. Figures in the media today indicated that there were about 45,000 people. I did a bit of work for Tom Williams - the organiser a few years back. He is one of those few tireless, men who not just has good ideas , he works to make them happen. He is worthy of a good current affairs piece on his life - which is interesting in itself and his achievements and his down to earth demeanor.

And when we got home we discovered that we had taken 1079 pics. We also paid $135 for gold pass tickets which got us into the best area to take pics. Lunch was pretty good too.

NEW TOY

We got a new toy today - its shiny and smells new. And it makes noise and does stuff. Its very very cool. BB has already polished it once. Its purchase was also a testament to the service you get in the provinces. We bought it from the John Deere dealer on the way into Masterton. We had been into a couple of places but no -one in the stores seemed to have the authority to "talk turkey" and do a good cash deal. So in we wander to the John Deere dealer and there was a lovely aussie chick and a young fella. They were very good but knew bugger all and were honest about it . But in a flash they rang the salesman, (something the people in the other two dealerships didn't do) and we got all the info we needed including the price which was very good. He also asked if it was okay if he delivered it later in the afternoon because he was going to the Air Show. Well hell we were impressed. The deal was done and about 4.30 it was delivered. He came out with some of his relatives from Holland who were having a ball here.
Anyway, we have generally found shopping in Masterton to be a good experience, people will normally go the extra mile and they are always friendly. It's that sort of warmth that will probably see us make our home here one day in the not too distant future.