A Happy Story from Michelle and Erick
A Happy Story
Today we saved a little creature that had fallen into our pond over night. This is what happened this morning. I seen a small ripple in the pond water, for some reason i look out the window at just the right time .As we have frogs in the pond at first i thought it was a frog but then i seen what looked like a spikey thing swimming in the pond ,i then realized it was not a fish but a small hedgehog. I then yelled out to Michelle we have to save a drowning hedgehog in the pond. We both ran as fast a we could. Michelle got the the net and scooped him out. The poor little guy looked like he had been swimming all night. We put him on the lawn, he looked up at us, as if to say thank goodness you saved me! You could see the gratitude in his little face. He was absolutely exhausted and was shaking with being so cold. We took him inside, put him in a box, Erick kept him warm with a hair dryer and a heater. He had a big sleep and then awoke with a appetite. So we got him some cat food which he thoroughly enjoyed and then went into a bush and had another nap, and then later he was gone. Back to living a hedgehog life. 😁 The funny thing was he seemed to know we were there to help him and was extremely friendly toward us. The moral of the story is, every life is worth saving. A very happy ending, oh and by the way, the pond now has a make shift safety fence to protect the hedgehogs ha ha!
We named him Terry Flatwood. Don't ask us why
😂
See the photo he has Ericks beanie hat to keep warm.
Poll: If we want to reduce speeding, what do you think actually changes driver behaviour? 🛻🚨🚓
In the Post's article on speeding penalties, the question is asked whether speeding fines are truly about road safety, or are they just a way to boost revenue for the Crown?
What do you think? Should speeding motorists receive speeding fines or demerit points?
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40.7% The sting of a fine (Money talks!)
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59.3% The threat of demerit points (Nobody wants to lose their license!)
SLASH BESIDE THE TRACK UP TO TRIG
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!!!
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
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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