A trip back from Wellington a few weeks ago was a great chance to do a story in Wairarapa… so a call to some old Young Farmers colleagues was in order.
Ian and Janet Woodhouse farm near Eketahuna and I did a wee piece on one of their QEII blocks for the Dominion Post a few years ago so knew they would be up for a good farm profile in NZ Farmer.
Ian was an older young farmer when I was a younger young farmer (he was being serious with the Young Farmer of the Year while we were still going away on long weekends with no responsibility!) His older brother Rob and wife Lynne were the regional executive team for the East Coast before I took over from them in the late 1990s.
So anyway…. fortunately I heeded storm warnings and traveled to a friend’s house in Carterton after dropping my sister at the airport (Hi Maree!) I woke up to find the Rimutakas were closed due to snow so good decision!
Snow flurries crossed my path all the way to Woodhouses and continued while I sat drinking coffee and eating muffins in their warm kitchen (oh, and doing an interview...)
Fortunately, the sun shone (kind of) for our photos (trying to organise pet ewes…d’oh… did I not hear the one about not working with children or animals…)
The weather wasn’t so kind when we popped down to the other farm to get some photos of the crops and flats. We did get some photos…. but we got hypothermia on the way back to the ute. Here are some more photos from their farm (including getting caught in a very very very very (where’s that thesaurus) icy squall. At least Janet and I were in the ute… guess where poor Ian was?
Please read more on the Woodhouse farming operation by clicking right… here.
rivettingKateTaylor 
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