Ashburton Courier: April 23, 2020

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Page 2, Ashburton's The Courier, Thursday April 23, 2020 BUSINESS OWNERS Build customers, sales and profits with us ... Over 16,065 copies delivered to EVERYhome,farm, RD and lifestyle blocks in MidCanterbury news Linda Clarke Editor 308 7664 linda.clarke@ashburtoncourier.co.nz Reporters Mick Jensen mick.jensen@ashburtoncourier.co.nz Toni Williams toni.williams@alliedpress.co.nz advertising Jann Thompson Sales Manager 308 7664 027 587 6351 jann.thompson@ashburtoncourier.co.nz Roselle Fuaso Sales Account Manager 308 7664 021 197 8297 roselle@ashburtoncourier.co.nz Karen Gane Sales Account Manager 308 7664 021 510 804 karen.gane@ashburtoncourier.co.nz getintouch Editorial linda.clarke@ashburtoncourier.co.nz Advertising info@ashburtoncourier.co.nz Production murray.thompson@ashburtoncourier.co.nz Accounts accounts@alliedpress.co.nz Distribution/Deliveries leonie.marsden@ashburtoncourier.co.nz Office office@ashburtoncourier.co.nz 03 308 7664 199 Burnett Street,Ashburton www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz 2253088 Local news at www.starnews.co.nz Kim plans to serve up coffee fix Some Mid Canterbury cafes are preparing for alert level 3restrictions that will allow them to sell coffee and take away food in a contactless way. Taste Cafe owner Kim Baynes said a number of her customers had shown akeen interest in the service and areturn to their coffee fix. Ms Baynes said she was busy working on setting up awebsite that would allow online ordering and payment options. She hoped it would be operational by Tuesday when restrictions dropped to alert level 3. She would look at providing areduced menu and her staff would operate in teams to adhere to social distancing rules. Food and drinks would be offered from Tuesday to Saturday and for limited hours. Ms Baynes said orders could be collected from atable set up in front of Taste at the Countdown complex and there would be updates on her Facebook page over the coming days. ‘‘Being able to operate again, albeit at limited capacity, means we can generate some cashflow and start earning again, which is great.’’ The Pantry in Methven is another venue looking at providing coffee and alimited food range of takeaway options from next week. It is considering using online ordering via the app Regulr. There will be no deliveries and pickup will be via the door barrier at the Main Street shop. On her Facebook page, owner/operator Victoria Totty said her business has taken a huge hit and ‘‘needed to regain some cashflow’’ before it could offer its normal selection. Taste Cafe owner Kim Baynes (right) enjoys acoffee with friend Andrea Lee before lockdown. Chooks, flowers reset for 2021 Brian Glassey with Buddy the cat and one of his SilkyGirl chooks. By LindaClarke Brian Glassey is keeping his champion chrysanthemum blooms to himself next month. Not by design, but by lockdown. The flower grower has been working since last spring to produce flowers that will win over judges at the national chrysanthemum show in Timaru. But like everyone else, he has been in lockdown, and the flower show on May 10 has been cancelled. He has been catching up on jobs around the garden and is philosophical about not being able to show at the nationals. Poultry shows that Brian also exhibits at over the winter have also been cancelled by Covid19. So he has been enjoying the colourful blooms himself, instead of taking them to the nationals at Timaru on May 10 or to the Canterbury Horticultural Society’s annual chrysanthemum show in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, which would have been on this weekend. “You can’t do anything about it. You have to do what you are doing. You have to move on. ‘‘I can go and enjoy them though. Igo out and have alittle talk to them.” Brian’s chrysanthemums are grown in outdoor beds that he covers like atunnel house when they start to show flowers. He has about 360 plants, in three tunnel houses; each plant can have several blooms, unless he is debudding to encourage growth. He is still tending the plants and catching up with some other garden jobs, including taming an unruly clematis and replacing rotten edging on his vege plots. The routine is great but he misses not seeing his flowergrower friends and customers at Mitre 10, where he works parttime. Daughter Janet has taken some photos of his flowers before they pass their best so he has arecord of the unique 2020 showing season. His chooks, scores of them, still need feeding too. There will be no chance to show off their fine feathers and form at poultry shows around the South Island. Brian says virtual poultry shows, with photos of the chooks, just wouldn’t be the same. He is already thinking about the 2021 season and looking forward to spring when preparation in both fields begins again. Right: A blooming beauty in Brian’s garden. Lockdown harvest looks sweet By Toni Williams CharRees Vineyard owners Charlie and Esma Hill put acall out on social media for help to harvest during lockdown. They were so overwhelmed by community response, including some from Christchurch, they had to turn people away. The lockdown harvest, approved by Ministry for Primary Industries as essential for food and beverage production, saw around 20 people from Ashburton and Methven –many who had never harvest grapes before –put their hand up to help. The pickers worked alongside family members of the couple and vineyard workers to pick the first of three annual grape harvests. The tonne and ahalf of grapes picked, which registered an impressive 24 brix (high in sweetness) on the refractometer, will make the 2020 Pinot Noir wine. It is now with winemaker Kirk Bray, in Waipara, who was also impressed with the harvest, citing it as the best he’s seen from the Tinwald vineyard, Mr Hill said. It will take at least 15 months before it is available for sale however some of the grapes will go towards making Sparkling Rose, available at the end of the year. CharRees Vineyard owners were blown away by community response to help harvest. Photo supplied. “I’m more than happy with what we got considering the hail damage (late last year) …wewere very lucky with the extra effort put in to the vines,” Mr Hill said. “It won’t be the best, but as far as quality goes it is one of the highest ones we’ve had.” The next harvest will see Pinot Gris grapes picked early May, and the final harvest is the Riesling grapes which could be up to amonth later. Mr Hill, grateful for the response from people, said was agood few hours picking, over two days, working under conditions very different from normal. Aside from providing asupply of face masks, gloves and hand sanitiser and sterilising tools between users, there was social distancing to take into account. Mr Hill said grapes for Riesling had been kept as late as Queen’s Birthday weekend in the past but it would depend on the weather. “There is aheap of green leaf there yet,” he said, which is one of the ways to judge the level of ripeness needed to flavour the wines. Other ways include taste, look and firmness –but getting them before they shrivelled and lost too much moisture. The refractometer gauged sweetness. In the past the vineyard has used local service club members for harvest which they had done as afundraiser but lockdown restrictions had made many of them unavailable.
Local news at www.starnews.co.nz Ashburton's The Courier, Thursday April 23, 2020, Page 3 Wedding plans on hold By Toni Williams Arable farmers Brian and Rachel Leadley have welcomed ahouse guest during lockdown, found new ways of functioning in their work bubble and endured the postponed wedding of their eldest daughter; meant to take place in the garden of the family farm on April 4. It’s meant coexisting with the motherinlaw for Brian, but the gardens, which are looking immaculate, have been afocal point for Rachel to maintain during lockdown. Otherwise it’s mostly business as usual on the 400odd hectare property where Brian and Rachel primarily run agrain and seed operation, with store lambs. It’s just taken extra planning. ‘‘We are fortunate that we can run the business, we are thankful for that,’’ said Brian, who is also United Wheatgrowers’ NZ chairman. He said the timing of Covid19 restrictions for arable farmers had also done little to disrupt production; harvest was able to be completed, they were able to replant and buy in lambs. ‘‘The effect is not too major and we can do those things.’’ However nonessential jobs such as fencing maintenance, hedge cutting or general cleanups had been put on the backburner. Keeping everyone on farm safe they have one full time worker and one extra at harvest time has also meant changing practices to provide hand sanitiser, limiting machinery and vehicle use to one user or sterilising between users and social distancing. Amakeshift smoko room had also been set up in anearby shed to limit the number of people entering the Final stage for tavern refit From Page 1 ‘‘I feel abit more fortunate having a business here in Mid Canterbury because we have astrong farming economy than can help cushion the blow and support things to some extent, but Ijust don’t know what the future is going to look like moving forward.’’ Mr King said he Greg King employed 30 staff at present and had plans to extend that to 35 after the reopening. He had received the wages subsidy for staff, but that did not cover all costs, he said. ‘‘Ninetyfive per cent of employers want to look after their staff, but to do that they need to be able to run aviable business. ‘‘I can’t make anew business plan because Ijust don’t know what the Farmer Brian Leadley grabs abite to eat during clover harvest. No decision on art expo The Ashburton Society of Arts is holding off making adecision about its annual exhibition, in the hope that Covid19 restrictions will ease so it can go ahead. President Jen Dearborn said the committee had been watching the news like everyone else and trying to work out if the exhibition would be able to go ahead this year. ‘‘Unfortunately it is still not at all clear if the Ashburton Art Gallery will be able to open, if social distancing will allow us to install the artworks or how we will manage the receiving of works. We, alongwith the staff of Ashburton Art Gallery have some creative possible solutions to these problems so we will just have to wait and see what happens.’’ The society will be in touch with members on May 11 aboutwhether the exhibition will go ahead and what form that might take. If the exhibition does go ahead, entries willopen later in May and will be open for ashorter period of time. ‘‘In the meantime Ihope this enforced break has resulted in some new art or ideas.’’ future holds.’’ Mr King said everyone would be hit financially by the lockdown. Managing losses and trading out of debt was the big task ahead for businesses. The Tinwald Motels are still open for essential workers, and on ‘‘busy’’ nights six rooms are taken. The Liquorland outlet at the complex can be reopen when alert level 3restrictions come in next Tuesday and acontactless, online click and collect system will operate. Mr King said what can and can’t be done at alert level 2isstill not totally clear, and another uncertainty is the future behaviour of people. Some will be doing it tough and there could be anumber of issues for society to deal with when ‘‘normality’’ resumes. house bubble, which was where smoko was held in the past. ‘‘We are able to operate and while I am not technology minded, we have technology on our side. Twenty years ago it would have been a bit more challenging. Family contact has certainly been ahelp for us,’’ Brian said. The Leadleys’ three adult daughters all live outside the district; two in Christchurch and one in Fairlie. While he has been in telephone and texting contact with people, he is looking forward to ‘‘face to face connections being resumed.’’ ‘‘It’s highlighted the importance of people in our life.’’ On the farm, there had been plenty of industry support with field representatives, stock agents, or machine engine and transport companies making contact by phone rather than visiting. Shearing, which started this week, just afew weeks later than normal, also took more time with gaps between stands and the process around collecting wool. Where usually there were three or four shearers, the Leadleys had just two, due to demand, and they were unable to travel together. A trip to town for drench, now means aphone call first and contactless pickup. ‘‘How fortunate we are to keep our business going where others can’t. Crops and animal welfare have to be looked after.’’ Image Credit: thespinoff.co.nz,@SIOUXSIEW,@XTOTL Source: WHO,CDC -CC-BY-SA My officesinAshburtonand Timaru arecloseddue to COVID-19. For any assistance you can still contact me by ringing 03 308 7510 or email me directly at: andrew.falloon@parliament.govt.nz Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 should phone their doctor or Healthline on 0800 3585453 Authorised by Andrew Falloon MP, 139Stafford Street,Timaru. Online directory to help our businesses By Linda Clarke Mid Canterbury retailers and service providers, gearing up for business as the country eases Covid19 restrictions, are being urged to register on a free business directory being created by the Ashburton District Council. As part of acampaign called Mid Canterbury: Open for Business, business owners will be able to log on and add their name and details to adatabase of shops and services. Economic development manager Bevan Rickerby said stores would be able to advertise free when they expected to be back in business, how they were trading, hours and if they were looking for staff. He said it was part of council’s plan to help local businesses recover and adapt in the postCovid19 landscape. The public directory will benefit business owners and customers,and encourage people to buy local. Council is also running a series of webinars to help local retailers and businesses. These are being recorded and can be accessedany time on council’s YouTube channel. Over the past week and into this week, there have been sessions on mental wellbeing (hosted by Pup Chamberlain and ConnieQuigley); getting your business online from home (Kim Hamill); cashflow, continuity and KiwiSaver (Kirsty Naish and Michelle Andrew Falloon, MP forRangitata Parkin); surviving to thrive and capital raising (Leandra Fitzgibbon and Nathan Mills); and employment and health and safety(Jane ArgyleReed and Jane Fowles). Mr Rickerby said council wanted to help businesses come out of lockdown and get back to work. He said the district would have to work hard to retain its migrant workers, who might be tempted to returnhome once international travel restrictions eased, and to retrain workers who had lost their jobs. The economic landscape was constantly changing though, he said. ‘‘So far there is no indication of mass redundancies in our district. Businessowners are indicating that they are looking closely at resizing their businesses and that will affect some workers.’’ Councillor Carolyn Cameron said the futurewould be challenging for both retail and nonretail businesses. She said council should lead the way by adjusting its procurement policy (for things like pens and paper) to favour local businesses. She suggested a10per cent positive weighting for locals when quoting for council business. Council staff will prepare a report on procurement policy for afuture meeting. Chief executive Hamish Riach said council had to keep abalance between supporting local businesses and getting the best value for ratepayers. For thelatest info: who.int, health.govt.nz
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