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2557 days ago

Black and White Cat

Michelle from Linton

Hi neighbours, i am very sorry to have to do this post, but on Friday morning around 7.50am i was driving down Featherston Street, close to the hospital end of Featherston and a black and white cat ran across the road, and if felt like my heart stopped because i remember thinking please get across safely, and then i heard it get hit. I had already gone past, when i heard that horrible sound, and it was so close i thought the cat might have made it across but the car obviously hit it from the sound i heard. (To be clear it was not me who hit it, it was a car going the opposite direction) I pulled over in a state of shock and tears, and then parked my car and went walking down there to find it. I was terrified to look but i had to in case it was still alive, i couldn't bear the thought of it suffering. To my disbelief i did not see it anywhere, which left me thinking only one of two things could have happened. Either the cat managed to get up and take off in shock, or the person that hit the cat stopped and took it to a vet. It had taken me a while to find somewhere to park my car before i could go back and have a look, so it is possible that there was time for that to happen. Does anyone know anything about this, and please keep an eye out in case this beautiful cat did take off and is injured. It has tormented me ever since and i would love to know that the cat is okay. I am posting this so that we can all keep our eyes and ears open for any info about this cat and if someone is missing their precious pet, it could be at a vet somewhere? I truly hope this is a happy ending. I love animals so much and this is just breaking my heart!

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7 days ago

Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!

William Hansby Reporter from NZ Gardener & Get Growing

Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.

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11 hours ago

SLASH BESIDE THE TRACK UP TO TRIG

Paul from Levin

I question the wisdom and the morality of an industry which creates so much waste, waste which is also a cause of widespread and devastating damage. So, I searched the internet for potential uses of slash. It was easy to find.
I recommend a visit to nzbioforestry.co.nz. I quote from the website:

OUR SOLUTION:

NZ Bio Forestry proposes to develop a sustainable renewable forestry model that increases the economic value of the NZ- Aotearoa forestry sector, simply by integrating bio-technologies augmenting the forestry, wood manufacturing, and petrochemistry industries into one model.
Specifically, our strategy is to utilise the whole tree and convert the tree’s sugars into bioenergy, biomaterials, and biochemicals. This means using slash, off cuts, pruning, and wood waste to produce biofuel via bio pellets and biochemicals. It means optimising logs through the whole process….logging, manufacturing freighting, and refining process to serve the many Asia-Pacific markets with high-value products….not just exporting raw logs to one or two large dominant markets! (End of quote)

NZ Bio Forestry then contrasts the financial return from the present exports of raw logs with the potential return from utilising the WHOLE TREE.

In US dollars, the return from exporting logs is between $50 - $140 per log.

Using the whole tree including the slash and other waste for wood processing would return $200 - $800 per tree, and,

Using the bio-refinery process to convert the wood waste into fossil-free biochemicals would return $2,500 - $11,200 per tree.

I can’t help but conclude that our current focus on exporting logs is a pitiful failure of industry and government policy compared with the potential benefits of processing THE WHOLE TREE. And to complete the argument, this not just theory. In Scandinavia, SCA, which owns Europe’s largest private forest with 2.7 million hectares, has built a well-invested value chain that maximises the value of each individual tree and all of the forestry’s resources.

A SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS:

Wood Pellets and Chips: Slash can be collected, dried, and processed into hog fuel or wood pellets for use in industrial boilers, as a replacement for coal, to generate heat and electricity.

Biofuel Production: Research is underway to convert forest residues into marine biofuel to help decarbonize the shipping sector.

Gasification: Advanced, small-scale, on-site processing plants can turn slash into renewable energy products like bio-oil, ethanol, and hydrogen.

Biochemicals: Specialized refineries can convert woody waste into sustainable alternatives to plastics, chemicals, and industrial products.

WAKE UP Aotearoa, New Zealand!!!

5 days ago

🧩😏 Riddle me this, Neighbours…

The Riddler from The Neighbourly Riddler

I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I?

Do you think you know the answer?

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