Middle Districts Farm Forestry Association Field Day

On Sunday 8 June Rachel Rose and Hamish Randle are going to host a Middle Districts Farm Forestry Association Field Day at:

Martins

RSVP for address, Fordell

Sunday 8 June

10 am start

BYO lunch and mug, tea and coffee on offer

Martins is 27ha of summer dry hill country (90% is strongly rolling to steep) that has been mosaic planted in various alternative exotic species that will yield high-quality timber for the domestic construction and joinery trades. It is entered as permanent forest in the ETS as it is managed under a continuous canopy system: the woodlots will never be clearfelled, rather individual trees or small coupes will be harvested. The plan is to mill on site with a portable saw mill so that only sawn boards leave the farm. This is suited to the small scale of the harvesting and can happen over existing farm tracks.

Owners Hamish Randle and Rachel Rose have done all the work themselves, including growing some of their planting stock. They are also restoring an ephemeral wetland with native species and protecting regenerating natives in the back gully. There are a wide range of soil types and land classes; forestry is planted on IV-VII, leaving class II and other easier slopes for future projects (horticultural or pastoral). They started planting in 2018 with ground durable eucalypts and continued with cypress, blackwoods, redwoods, E. fastigata, E. sphereocarpa and various poplars.

Notably the plantings have been established with almost no use of herbicide. Pruning is well underway and thinning has just started. Feral red deer have been causing damage over the past 18 months. Other challenges include poorly draining subsoils and perched springs that trigger erosion. Input from visitors as to how to bring fallow land back into grazing (or ideas on other land use) is welcomed.

The farmhouse was completed two years ago and features a great deal of local timber milled by the owner (as well as strawbale and light earth construction).

Weather may hinder 4WD access around the farm so count on some walking and steep hills. Parking on site is quite limited so it would be appreciated if you would RSVP to martinsfarmhouse@fastmail.com. Volunteers will direct parking at the gate. Ideally approach from the Whanganui end of the road, not from Fordell.