results come from small actions

from waterways and native land and looking at regenerative practice. We can support them with funding for community groups that work with farmers to use best practice for the environment.”

Kat says even on a lifestyle block scale, positive changes can make a di erence.

“Commercially there are many challenges we all need to work through. Farming needs to be nancially sustainable as well as environmentally sustainable. Of course, it’s much easier on small-scale.

From childhood, Kat Macmillan was aware of the potential damage to the environment that human activity can have.

“My dad is a Greek sherman and when I was small, I would go out on the trawlers and see the devastation caused by drag net shing.

“ e sponges, the coral, everything would get pulled up and die – and I used to spend my time trying to throw as many ‘junk sh’ as I could back into the ocean in the vain hope that they’d survive. I switched to a plant-based diet when I was seven. I’ve always been a big animal and nature lover.”

Later at university, Kat studied for a Degree in Zoology.

“When you see the science of mass extinction and loss of rain forests, and now with climate change as well, it’s a real call to action. I don’t want to see our planet losing all its wildlife. at’s what we’re in danger of right now.”

Neglected orchard

When she and her husband bought eight acres at Welcome Bay that had a small neglected avocado orchard on it, they were determined to restore it using sustainable practices.

“ e trees were overgrown and very hungry. e previous owners had also been burning their household rubbish in the orchard so even 11 years later we’re still nding charred plastic.” e Macmillans cut the trees to half their size with some drastic pruning.

“If you let them grow too much, they form a high canopy so underneath there’s nothing growing and you need really tall hydraladders to pick them so it’s not e cient. Pruning them back does improve the yield but you must do it in the right way.”

She is also a big fan of composting.

“From our shelterbelt trim, we had a big pile of pine chip and mulch, so we let that rot down for about four months and we’re now feeding that out around the orchard. If you do it too early, it can be acidic. All compost is good, because the roots need some cover otherwise, they get soggy. When we prune the avocados, we spread the chip back around the trees.

It’s a circular thing.”

No pesticide

e small orchard is not certi ed organic but Kat won’t use pesticide.

“If you have healthy insect life, then they can help manage pests like thrips and leafroller. Our fruit’s not blemish-free but it tastes amazing because it doesn’t have any spray on it.”

Now she’s on the Bay Plenty of Regional Council, Kat wants to advocate for restored ecosystems, fresh waterways and clean oceans, sustainable green growth and a low-carbon future. She’s keen to work with communities, to get the best outcomes for all.

“We need to get things right now so that our grandchildren have something to inherit that’s as good as what we’ve had. If we don’t make the right decisions now then things are going to get pretty bad in terms of our biodiversity, the climate, fresh water, depleted ocean – all those things are happening now so for me becoming a regional councillor is the best use of my skillset.”

Positive change

She’s aware that the environment problems seem overwhelming. “I don’t want to ram the doom and gloom down people’s throats. We need to showcase positive change and I think it’s important that people see that good results come from small actions.” ere’s a lot that can be done by those working the land, says Kat.

“Our farmers and our food producers work hard,” she says. “I’d like to be able to support farmers with best practices like riparian planting, retiring and replanting natives on steep land, looking after their waterways, not overstocking, fencing o

“On our land, we’ve planted about 500 native trees and shrubs along the drain-way that runs through our property, and we have more tui and fantails than when we rst moved here.

“It makes me so happy because if we allow the land to regenerate and put in the right native species then the wildlife recovers. Some parts of our eight acres, we don’t see it for a few months and when we go back it’s like ‘whoa! Fantastic – ponga with little koru fronds and birdlife has returned’. It’s beautiful and all we need is for each person to do it on their own little patch.”

Residential or Commercial, big or small, we do it all.

075413402 www.petestakeaways.co.nz admin@petestakeaways.co.nz

He should know his onions. His father grew them, and when Allan Noble bought his signature State Highway 2 property at Katikati 60 years ago it was the rst crop he put down.

But it was almost his undoing; it could have sent him to the wall.

“ ere was a glut of onions. e world was awash with onions.” He can laugh about it now, but at the time people were suggesting he wouldn’t last ve years. “We had a bank manager who was leaning on us and saying: ‘You still have to pay us the money’. It was a tough entry into the real world.”

But Allan is a pragmatic and curious person, and if there’s a problem there’s always a solution. So they set up the ‘drop-in’ vegie place, retailing to locals from his own backdoor, to generate some cash, to keep the wolves away from the door.

“Too many farmers, growers, horticulturalists complain about having a bad year. Well, get over it – life’s like that. Do what you can and learn from it.”

60-year celebrations

Allan learned. And from those lessons he has just celebrated 60 years of marriage to wife Jill, 60 years of owning just one property, the Onion Vegie Place – which is a local institution – and 60 years of doing the same job!

“If you are enjoying it, why change the game?” And he’s still enjoying – the 82-year-old started work at 8am the day e Weekend Sun dropped by – and he planned going through to 5.30pm. “And eight days a week.” e ‘Onion Man’ they call him, but he doesn’t even like onions. He’d prefer a nice Agria spud – not to waxy, not too oury and a robust avor. “ ey’re a complete food. You wouldn’t get sick just eating a potato.”

But he does eat onions, only raw ones, because they’re good for you. Every day an onion and honey sandwich. Before you gag at the idea, there’s bush science at play here. Allan was “on holiday” at an onion conference in Australia – he gures if you are not going to work, you may as well learn something – and a presenter was describing a project involving onions and pigs. Feed them a high fat diet and watch the cholesterol soar, then add onion to their diet and watch it come down again.

Potato juice

Good enough for the pigs, good enough for Allan who also had a cholesterol issue. He started on his daily onion and honey regime when he got home from the conference and the problem was sorted. “No, not my favourite vegetable, but my health needed onions, so I am grateful.” It prompts another subtle shot at his nemesis. “I prefer the onion way because I am not into supporting the pharmaceuticals.”