A kereru seen on my walk through Mangonui village yesterday - one of a pair sitting in a tree above me. #aotearoa #doubtlessbay #birds

A beautiful little orchid that is very resilient and flowers on our street side, especially over the cooler part of the year. #orchids #aotearoa #doubtlessbay

One of the things thar disturbs me about Heinz Watties announcement that they were closing down their vegetable and food processing plants in Dunedin, Christchurch and Auckland is how a large foreign corporate took over the company and is slowly destroying it. Over some years now they have stopped using locally grown produce and substituted imported products e.g. asparagus, tomatoes and corn, from much cheaper source countries like Peru and Thailand. Local farmers lose contracts. #Aotearoa becomes more dependent on imported food in place of more secure home grown food. So Heinz is increasing our food security risk. That should be a concern for every Kiwi. Something similar occured with Mondelez. Huge global corporations like these are like vultures stripping everything down to the bone. #foodsecurity #globalisation #corporations #risk

Here in the Far North we can grow a range of locally adapted bananas and plantains - which taste way better than imported bananas. This flower bud will open up over the next couple of weeks and set at least 100 bananas. #aotearoa #doubtlessbay #bananas