In this series, the lads reflect on a year of Eating the Elephant.
We are constantly moving. Earth spins around at a speed of 1670 km/h and our big rock makes its way around the sun at an even faster rate of 108,000 km/h. Any given day, or any given year, may seem short or slow from our perspective down here. But rest assured, we are motoring.
These spins and laps are the basis for the daily and seasonal cycles that underpin all our lives – particularly us rural people – and are the most common metric for anniversaries.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, we are in anniversary season. Whether it be the newest of our public holidays, Matariki, or Kings Birthday, the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Fieldays at Mystery Creek, the impending end of the financial year or this Eating the Elephant series making it to a full year of weekly columns in Farmers Weekly – there is a lot to reflect on and much to celebrate.
D-Day commemorations and King Charles’ Birthday celebrations (he gets cake twice as he was born in November) are chances to reflect on history, acknowledge our relationships of the past and recognise that, like today, history is full of sacrifice, tribulations, errors and triumphs.
One anniversary that is relatively new to many Kiwis is Matariki – marking the time of year when the star cluster (also known as Pleiades) starts to appear in the early morning sky. Historically for Māori, Matariki involved viewing the individual stars for forecasts of the year ahead, mourning the deceased of the past year and making offerings of food to replenish the stars. Reconnecting with the tradition of connecting with the morning sky and sharing food with the community is gathering traction in many communities, including with Pakeha here in Te Pahu.
As a farmer, I interpret Matariki as an anniversary of the end of the farming year. It also happens to coincide with our annual accounts. With young children we get the opportunity to learn more about the holiday and astronomy (which is cool) and to celebrate with early morning community gatherings.
In our family, we aim to share the food we produce with one another, reflect on the positives of the year gone and plan for the strategic parts of the year ahead. We know very well that the IRD anniversary of the annual accounts will be more sobering this year, so linking the two together helps soften the taxman’s take.
In celebrating another year of farming on the big rock, I’ll gaze at the stars and hope that interest rates drop – which feels about as likely as Adrian Orr grabbing a rolling pin to make the earth flat.
Fieldays at Mystery Creek coincides closely with Matariki to mark the end of the farming year. Mystery Creek is an interesting event. Farmers dress up in their town clothes or purchase more Stonycreek, while news presenters and politicians dress down in Red Bands and Swanndri check to look as rural as possible.
This year, with tractors not being on many people’s purchase list, the focus is on connection. It’s about seeing your feed supplier, touching base with your fert rep, machinery salesman or bank manager and sharing a pie or a coffee.
Eating the Elephant also marks a milestone. Our group of four have been writing for one lap around the sun. A year ago, we hoped to write opinion pieces that provided a progressive perspective on agriculture. At times I think we have achieved this. The reality of meeting a deadline without financial renumeration means that at other times we have been lighter in our content, reflecting on the day-to-day of farming life with children, debt and the changeable nature of what farming is in 2024.
For a bloke who did not excel in School C English and has handwriting more akin to a GP’s than a farmer’s, I am stoked to have 12 opinion pieces in a newspaper. I look forward to having a crack at writing more thoughts in the year ahead.
We will be changing things up a little bit going ahead, but the original intent remains. We’ll keep trying to provide a progressive and positive view on agricultural issues big and small.
Enjoy your anniversaries in whatever form they come. As food producers, let’s be proud that our produce brings people and communities together – whether that be a Matariki breakfast or a Fieldays pie.
