The Muster - Grant McMaster

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are going into national now, Grand Disaster. McMaster is
an Oregon in the States due to head home back
to farm.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
But how are you, Grand, I'm good, Olivia and Grafnon
and graff moon to anybody.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
What's the weather doing over yet with you?

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, since I spoke to Andy last week, it's been
in the mid twenties day in, day out, and yeah,
really pleasant. So it might be a bit of a
shock when I get back to the snowy hills of
Queen's Sound.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Nothing that a few marino or wall layers won't fix.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, I was taking the woolen segment with me.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I never travel overseas without it, but I can tell
you I haven't had it on this last week.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
So you're in Oregon there, and I was reading that
Oregon is the lead in the niche products of the world,
like hazel nuts and grass seed.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
It's a pretty big place, Oregon, and it's the Pacific Northwest,
and basically, you know, for a bit of history, that's
where the when the pioneers wall when it came out west,
it was you know, they went to the big places
and got to Oregon. So yeah, it's a massive place.
Ben where we're staying at the moments in the middle
of it. And then the area of Bend is it's

(01:09):
covered in pine trees, just thousands of acres of pine trees,
straight roads going through them, small mountain lakes, extinct volcanoes
for volcanic mountains, lovely rivers, and lots of craft beer
and Bend.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
So it's on the high desert.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
They get about three hundred miles of rainy year, and
it's got two ski fields within half an hour off
the township, which about one hundred thousand people live in
Ben and it's sort of a lot of the it's
a lot of the high tech industries there now, or
tech industries, I should say, but it's quite a big
retirement A lot of retired people live here in a

(01:50):
very good climate.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
So yeah, a nice place to be.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
So other than which I'm sure you have checking out
the hops and tasting some of those lagas over there,
have you been up to?

Speaker 2 (02:01):
I just traveling around really and going to various places.
The family were staying with. They've got a they've got
a little cabin at a place called Elk Lake. And
if I go to Oak Lake, I think of the
song Indian Lake.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
But it's one of those.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
They've got a cabin up there that's on it's on
leasehold land that's been I think they are pretty big
in the National Parks over here, which was the Forest Service,
and they really go that to pund along in the depression.
So that's probably a bit before your time living and mine,
but they got in and you know for the workforce

(02:35):
to to put huts around and make tracks and that
was sort of the start of the conservation.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Time with the conservation era.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
And yeah, there's so there's we've been walking a few
tracks and basically just going having a look. One of
the one of the big highlights a couple of nights ago.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
And we spoke off here about a rodeo legend and.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Pat McCarthy, but I went to the Three Sisters Rodeo
which is in and it goes for about four nights.
Went the second night and been a few radios in
the time and at.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
You know, we said the Mdi Wa Kaka radio.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
I can tell you the ben one was slightly more
confessional what we run, but there was still careful. There
was big hats on and chewing tobacco and falling off
and yeah, but it was a really good show.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
So yeah, that was that's been one of the highlights
of being and being going to.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
See that that Rogo and all the good good stock
they had, all contract stock, great horses and great riders
and yeah, a really good, really good time out there.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Oh, just living the dream. It sounds like from where
you were last week when you spoke to Andy to
now you've gone into that very more similar to New
Zealand rural sort of smaller townships into wider rural areas.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Is that correct, Well, that's correct here though Ben could
be a bit of an exception probably to the rest
of Oregon because they said it's just there's trees all around.
But you know, just sort of when you get out
just it's it's a bit different than you know, you
just sort of touch on it.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
There.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
The primary industries in Oregon agriculture, fishing, and forestry, and
there's a big range of mountains, a cascade mountains that
sort of cut sort of go down the middle of
the state and on one side it's a bit more
fertile and it's got you know there they've got the
high tech irrigation and grow a lot of spud or potatoes,

(04:23):
onions and wheat, and fruit trees then, but the highest earner,
and I found this quite interesting talk to a guy
the other day, is.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
In grass seed and that that's mainly.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
For turf production and forage seeds where and also Christmas trees.
So those areas have they've got, you know, the irrigation,
and they are already crept things along.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
I understand. Also if you go on to the other
side of the mountain, the time zone also changes.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah, it does.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
So we're the same time as San Francisco back in California,
and now the further you know, those mountains, it's changes again.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
So it's just the vastness of you're you're in one cunt.
You know, we live in in New Zealand and we
you know, we.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Changed and we go to osit and you think that's
a big deal, but everybody's state you go to here,
it's just at a different time.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
So that takes a bit of getting these too.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Oh it's always five o'clock somewhere. You just have to
go and try one more of those hops.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
And it's only in there from five o'clock now too,
so we've better hurry up.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Oh we've been there.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Well, you went to the rodeo the other night. Was
there any like I know that they're being hit over
there with this US screwworm. Are you hearing anything and
your travels around there?

Speaker 2 (05:39):
No, I didn't hear anything. I had I heard about
and had to look it up to find what it was.
And I think that's that's mainly in Texas at the moment.
So no, nothing about it here, but around this area
not a lot of livestop. There's there's you see quite
a few horses, a bit of a looser or a
felfare as they call it, that's growing, but all under

(06:02):
irrigation because this is the high desert and as I
said before, you know, three hundred mills of rain and
it's pretty bloody dry.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
It sounds like that they are increasingly battling the same
challenges we have as well when it comes to water
and climate pressures and there and being in a desert
area that will.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Be even more Yeah, it is one thing about the
water and Bend.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
It's it's really nice water to drink, and it's a
bit different than those cities we've been into.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
But they've got beautiful, big rivers.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
You know, clear running rivers, and you know, you know
it's and the Dashoots River is one that goes through Bend,
and and it's in its early days it was it
was a logging a logging town. Great great history there
when you go into these old mills and you can
look them and and you can the photos of all
the logs coming down the rivers and what have you.

(06:55):
Now now there's no there's no logging in Bend. Now
there's no logging in Oregon. There's a lot of houses
being built. And that timber comes from Canada. When you
buy something in the shops, it's just you know, might
be thirty dollars, and you think, well, that's the equivalent
of their thirty dollars. But if you put our exchange
right and it's doubles, you'll be.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Coming back to the same exchange rate soon because you're
heading home. So you start to start making that trip here.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
We started head away tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
We fly from from Redmond, which is just half an
hour along the road, back down to San Francisco, which
is about a two hour plane trip, and camp there
the night, and we fly out of San Francisco the
next day so in the evening, so be a night
flight back home, so that might help a little bit.
We might be able to get a bit of sleep

(07:44):
and hit the ground running on on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
It sounds good, Disaster. Look forward to being able to
catch up with you back on farm next week and
see what you've been missing out on. All the best
with your trip home.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
I know, thanks for had a nice talking to you,
and I'm brought to Cancing up next week now.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
It sounds great. Safe travels. That's Grant Disaster. McMaster out
of Oregon is their muster's international correspondent at the moment.