Soil sampling and other fun on the farm

Much fun was had over the ANZAC weekend in Onekaka, with our farm research programme getting underway, and some of our new farm equipment getting a good run for it's money! Part of our planning with the Ren Xue farm is to undertake some extensive baseline data collection of both soils and water, such that as we develop the farm in a different direction (away from dairying) we'll have some good reliable data to refer back to.
Rainer Hoffman at Lincoln University has been a huge part of this effort, which has led to our project being able to have the involvement of a Lincoln University honours student to collect this data.  So it was that Lulu Jordan and her helpers, ably assisted by our very own Onekaka locals, got stuck into some good honest digging of holes in the name of science.

​See the video below for an overview on the soil sampling from Lulu

A great day out was had by all as 250 pottles of soil were collected, and shuttled back to the truck via our *brand new* electric Tuatara side by side vehicle. Boggy conditions and steep tracks kept the truck on flat ground, but proved an easy task for the Tuatara. Phew!

The team looking pretty happy to have the Tuatara around :-)