Carterton

Erin Kavanagh-Hall

erin.kavanagh-hall@age.co.nz

Potatoes of various shapes, sizes, colours and textures were the stars of the show at the 2022 Spud n Bag competition in Carterton – though their growers didn’t fare too badly either.

A keen crowd of gardeners descended on the Carterton RSA Memorial Club for the annual Spud n Bag Weigh In event – bearing close to 150 bags of freshly dug potatoes to display for the judging panel.

The competition, held early last month, is organised each year by the Lions Club of Carterton – with all proceeds going towards community groups and projects in the Carterton district.

Six months before the Weigh In, competitors plant seed potatoes, using the soil and fertiliser of their choice, in planter bags – with the resulting crop eligible for a range of awards across two sections, junior and adult.

At the Weigh In, also aff ectionately known as “Judgement Day”, prizes are allocated for the heaviest individual potato, most potatoes grown per bag, and “most unusual” potato, among others.

This year, seed potatoes and bags were provided free of charge by event sponsor Garden Barn – with a “record” 220 tubers collected ahead of the competition.

Lions Club member Steve Cretney said the event has been running since the early 1990s, with some competitors having taken part since the early days.

This year’s Weigh In featured several generations of growers – and some good-natured rivalries between young and old.

“It does get quite competitive among families — the kids love to try and outdo their parents,” Cretney said.

“We’ve got a few families that have been doing the competition for years — and the parents are now passing down their ‘recipes’ for growing potatoes to their children, who are also now competing. “It’s fantastic to see it continuing throughout the generations.” At this year’s event, some of the most successful growers came from the Fauvel family – with patriarch and longtime Lion John Fauvel passing on his “secret formula” to his children and grandchildren.

Cretney said John was “one of [the club’s] most successful Spud n Bag competitors — having worked out the science to growing the perfect bag of spuds”.

Four members of the Fauvel family were declared victorious at the Weigh In– with John’s grandson Liam winning the award for the heaviest total number of potatoes two years running.

“John has done very well to keep his secret recipe in the family — and has now created another generation of award winning potato growing professionals,” Cretney said.

“John came out of retirement to compete again this year — but he could not surpass his family’s entries!”

Cretney said “a large amount of prizes” were presented at the event, made possible by sponsorship from various Wairarapa businesses: including Carterton New World, Keinzley Agvet, PGG Wrightson, JNL, Wairarapa Eggs Ltd, and Little Africa.

With the combined proceeds from entry fees ($5 per seed potato planted) and a “Spin the Wheel” raffl e, the Lions Club raised over $2,700.

“It’s just a really fun day — and, of course, we return all our profi ts to the Carterton community,” Cretney said.

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A competitors planter bag produces a decent haul. The results from the 2022 Spud n Bag competition are:

JUNIORS Heaviest Total: Liam Fauvel Heaviest Individual: Axel Mitchell Most Potatoes: Ella Herrick Smallest Potato: Wyatt Fauvel Most Unusual: Aleah Mitchell Least Potatoes: Grace Arnold ADULTS Heaviest Total: Amanda Fauvel Heaviest Individual: Bailey Rose Most Potatoes: Ben Herrick Smallest Potato: Andrew Fauvel Most Unusual: Emma Rafferty Least Potatoes: Amanda Morgan

The entries get weighed by judge Faye James. PHOTOS/SUPPLIED

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Wairarapa midwifery and maternity professionals celebrate their life-giving work this week with the International Day of the Midwife 2022.

From left: Perri Williams, Lead Maternity Carer Midwife with son, Hawaiki; Sam Kahukura, Midwife and Pēpe Ora Parenting Support Facilitator with daughter Erina; Sonia Anderson, Midwife Clinical Coach; Michelle Thomas, Director of Midwifery; Leila Sparrow, Clinical Midwife Manager; Hannah Cashmore, Student Midwife (Otago Polytechnic); and Jess Volk, Core Midwife, with daughter Nora.

Wairarapa midwives helping with the journey into parenthood

It may be surprising to know that interna� onally New Zealand is seen as having a gold standard of maternity care for women and babies. As the rest of the world looks to us for best prac� ce and inspira� on, we here in the Wairarapa region have a team of passionate and dedicated midwives who off er a range of services to our growing popula� on. Thursday 5 May is the Interna� onal Day of Midwives and it’s an opportunity to refl ect on the wonderful work of our talented midwives who care for new parents – without fuss or bother. Bringing a new baby into the world is one of the most profound human experiences we can have – either as the mum, or in a support role of being a whānau member. Michelle Thomas is Wairarapa DHB’s Director of Midwifery and also leads in the role of Maternity Quality and Safety Coordinator. She says there have been many changes in the profession over the last 20 years, with midwifery being recognised as its own profession. There has also been a drama� c shi� away from pregnancy being ‘medicalised’ toward pregnancy and childbirth again being seen as a normal life event, much as it was 50 years ago. An interes� ng fact is that the Wairarapa region has one of the highest rates of home birth in the country, si� ng at 8%, which translates to about 35-40 births a year in the region. This rate is only expected to con� nue to increase. Women who decide on a home birth will have all of their care provided by community midwives and never come into hospital unless necessary, says Michelle. There was a total of 525 last year births in Wairarapa Hospital last year, compared to 470 in the previous year. That fi gure will keep growing as younger people move into our communi� es seeking more relaxed small town and rural lifestyles, and cheaper house prices than Wellington or Auckland. Wairarapa midwives would like more people to consider taking up the profession. Aotearoa is crying out for more midwives to come into the sector. There has been recent media a� en� on about a na� onal midwifery crisis but there’s also so much to celebrate within our communi� es. It’s a fascina� ng profession and a dedicated workforce which draws strength from each other, says Michelle. Students have exci� ng career pathways to head along, with training available based here in the Wairarapa. From star� ng out as students, they progress to become new graduates, and then onto being core midwives in hospitals or Lead Maternity Carers working with ‘mums to be’ in the community. Services off ered by midwife professionals include antenatal educa� on, but there are also op� ons for midwives to become clinical coaches, quality and safety experts, or progress to senior lead roles. There are also exci� ng areas of research, which are not widely known about. Michelle says it’s important for the region to have people who also want to stay in the area, to train to become midwives. Currently, Wairarapa DHB has four student midwives who are in their last year of prac� ce, so there will be four new graduates in the region next year. There are also two fi rst-year students who have joined the programme this year. Sam Kahukura and Perri Williams completed their training together and both have been midwives for the last four years. Sam is proud to promote the profession she loves, and sees it as a sisterhood. Her desire to become a midwife came from her own experience of having babies and wan� ng to make a diff erence for Māori māmā in her community, “it is about empowering whānau.” “There’s room for more to come into the profession, and make it more sustainable, so that we all can support each other and have be� er balance.” Perri is passionate about allowing the community to see that being pregnant and labour is a natural process. She enjoys educa� ng hapū māmā and their supporters about the reali� es of pregnancy and that, looking a� er yourself, will help things go to plan. “When things don’t, that’s when we need to monitor more but we don’t always have to fi nd something to be worried about. A lot of my role is about taking fear and anxiety from the process, and providing reassurance,” she says.

If anyone would like to know more about becoming a midwife, please contact Michelle Thomas.

Director of Midwifery / Maternity Quality & Safety Coordinator, Wairarapa DHB, Phone 027 598 1453 or by email: michelle.thomas@wairarapa.dhb.org.nz