Old and new member

Hi all. I have not been on here for a while so I had better reintroduce my self.
4.2 HA Life style block in Oxford south island. Growing good green stuff here is a hard fight so we grow a bit of grass to feed some beef cattle and enough vegetables to feed the two of us. Some fruit trees that will be providing fruit when I retire in a few years and we are still planting fire wood shelter belts, and some natives to hide us from the wind.
I am a dyslexic architect, engineer and builder specialising in civil construction ( concrete and steel) .

It is nice to find this site still running and many thanks to Kate for keeping it going. I have only been a member since 1010 but have gained a lot of good advice from the posters on here over that time. Now i know LSB is still active I will be posting more regularly in the future..

Welcome back, Dave & Ruth! My daughter has recently moved to a plot in your area so I know a bit about it.
Tagasaste is a great tree for fast growth, firewood and stock feed. It can get unruly if not regularly trimmed. Gums are finicky, despite what people say about their hardiness. If you are serious about shelterbelts, now is a good time to spray the planting line, rip it to 60cms and go for it! You know not to plant too close to fences or power lines, it's always hard to imagine forward when putting in a little 30cm seedling!
A tunnel house is invaluable in your area, and not too hard to build yourself and gives you a good start to the season. Same with a shadehouse for brassicas. These days, with all the bugs and birds around, open ground gardening is becoming more difficult. Here we can't grow potatoes without Biomesh due to Psyllids.
Good idea about the grazing, keep it simple and let someone else do the stockwork. So many new LSB'ers burden themselves initially with all sorts of livestock and become disillusioned.

Hello Little Red Digger! Welcome back.