Well, after a large, healthy lunch, we have made our way our to a sainfoin field. This is an Asiatic legume that KNZRT has introduced to these farmers as a highly superior feed crop in these high altitude areas. If the farmers weren’t producing this, they’d be growing simple hay that would provide very little value to the animals.
It being a legume also has the benefit of nitrification of the field. I’m told that 5 years after the first crop, the roots get very thick, and the crops need to be rotated. This is just fine, as the now nitrogen rich soil works expertly for the improved potatoes.
There is also some growing interest in this ultra-blogging I’ve been doing myself. The two noble Kiwis are both deep into their fifties, and are getting just such a tickle out of watching me blog from co-ops and fields in this such a remote region. They have delighted in sending emails to their wives, and telling me stories of how when they first came here, nearly ten years ago, it was nearly impossible to get in touch with anyone, much less update their blogs (if such things existed back then) from behind a hillock of hay.
