The Country 25/03/25: Greer Paterson talks to Jamie Mackay

Our Chatham Islands farming correspondent, fencer, and teacher talks about some of the challenges of living and farming in our furthest outpost.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
First time on the country with me anyhow. For Grea
Patterson at Chatham Islands Farming correspondent, Grea, good afternoon, welcome
to the show. I know you chatted to Rowena before,
but just remind me because this is the first time
I've chatted to you. How did you end up? How
did a Roxburgh girl end up on the Chatham Islands.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, I came over a number of years ago actually
with an ex partner of mine for a farming job,
and I took a job at the local school, at
Johnny School, teaching and yeah, long story short, he left
and I stayed and fell in love with a Chatham
Islander and here I am today, seven years later, with
a young family and a business here.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yeah. Now your business is a fencing contractor. I reckon
that would be a pretty good business on the Chatham
Islands because all the wires would rust.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yes, yeah, yeah, you get about seven years out of
the wire on a fence here, so there's definitely a
bit of maintenance. And we definitely get some great contracts
through the Department of Conservation and other big farms and
organizations here for fifteen for conservation purposes, things like the
billion trees projects. So yeah, it's busy. We're busy, busy.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, you're also very multi skilled. You right, for the
Shepherdess magazine, which is a wonderful publication, by the way.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Grea, thank you. Yeah, it's an amazing team to be
a part of. We've just celebrated our anniversary. Actually, yeah,
it's a great magazine to be a part of. Amazing
that I can work pushy pits from over here, and
I love love the work I do with them, and
love love the publication and what it does for women

(01:40):
and women on the land.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
How was connectivity on the Channel Islands.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, actually, it's come a long way since I first
came seven years ago. When I first arrived, we had
no style coverage on the island, and where I was
living was quite far down the south coast and we
didn't actually have internet access either, and you could get
into met but it was a stupid amount to get
it there, and it cost about three hundred dollars a
month to have it going if it was even working.

(02:08):
So since then we've had the cell towers installed here,
so that's been a real game changer for people. It's
meant that, you know, we can actually use cell phones
to call people when they're working. And the starlink has
actually also been a real game changer here for the
most households and businesses have got starlink now and anternet
is really reliable here now, so it's come a long way,

(02:30):
even in the seven years I've been here.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, I haven't been to the Chatham Islands. I missed
out on the early eighties because I was too young
to go with our local rugby team. I'm very disappointed
about that. It is on my bucket list. I understand
it's mainly sheep and beef farms on the island, but
I'm assuming Krea Patterson that there must be a dairy farm.
I mean, you're not going to bring all your milk
over from the mainland.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, actually we do. There's no no dairy here. There
is a few people that have got their own house cows,
but yeah, all of our milk E comes and buy
boat or plane, buy the old UHT, the long Life
milk and boxes the twelve and yeah, if you can
buy a bottle of fresh milk at the shop, I
think it's about fourteen dollars for a two liter if

(03:13):
you want to splash out, but otherwise it's here the
long life on the ship.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, I hang on Grere. Isn't that a business opportunity
for you, an entrepreneur like yourself, Why don't you startup
or with dairy farm, a boutique milkery that's a word.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Definitely, yeah, definitely an opportunity there, maybe when I find
the time.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
You're very busy, as I said, let's just finish on.
We talked about connectivity. What about sustainability in terms of
your energy on Stuart Island. I know Stuart Island, let
me correct myself, Chatham Islands. Stuart Island's a beautiful place
to go to as well, but in terms you're very
dependent once again on diesel supplies from the mainland. Can

(03:52):
you be self sufficient and energy? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (03:55):
So I think that's probably one of the exciting things
happening on island is the installation of the windmills. So
we've got two of them going in at the moment
down the south coast and along with the batteries. I'm
not one hundred percent sure on the details of how
they work, but that will make our island a lot

(04:17):
less reliant on the diesel generators. So currently everything on
island if you're hooked up to power, you're relying on
the diesel generators, and not only is that not sustainable,
but it's also very expensive. I think we pay the
most pro units in the world apparently. So it'll be
the wind will be amazing, and that it is a

(04:38):
renewable energy source, but also it is going to reduce
powers quite significantly over the course of a year, which
is very exciting for locals as well.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Hey Graham Patterson, it's been lovely to catch up with
you for the first time. I think we'll keep you
on your good talent. Thanks for your time.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Thanks so much, Jamie, have a good one.