Boys and girls, our newest paid member Brendon has a message for Whangarei Vegans and our friends about his property up around Broadwood:
 
🍀"Hello, all Vegan & Plant-based travelers. Are you looking for your own land or place to stay?  A 45-hectare slice of 90-hectare QEII National Trust Pvt Land is available to buy from me, the owner.
 
You can live in part of my Coven to view, see and buy this if it suits your lifestyle ... a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
 
There are 3 sites (I'm based in one ).  For the other 2, one Title of 90.4 hectares can only get divided into 2 at 45 hectares each or 2 separate Estates/Houses/owners.  There are gates for the 2 optional undeveloped sites depending on where the person'/s wanted to stay or set up RV. If bought, no rates until a certified planned house is built... then Council rates will apply on the bought half or 45-hectare block.
 
Ideally, 2 people or more would be suitable.  Must be experienced in off-grid living and need self-contained RV Car/caravan initially. Water is limited unless a basic carport and tank are set up.... would take a whole page to describe the Forest, so keeping it short here, other than to say the Forest is close to Humphreys Rd cnr Whangape Track Road, if looking on Google map, which is about 13km on sand road to Broadwood Gas Station shop.
 
NB... The Covenant rules state zero nada zilch pets ever, unfortunately. 
 
If interested pls contact Billy for more information. 
 
Oh, hey, that must be me!  Ring me on 027-253-7768 and I’ll tell you what I know.  (Well, not about gnu-racing in the Andes.....)
 
In other gnus, as a partial offset to the misery of a Government extending illegal treatment of mama pigs for another 10 years, I found a bit of joy seeing/hearing my parody of “The Sound of Silence” performed by a professional singer on YouTube.  As you will hear explained if you watch it, I had emailed Caldwell Esselstyn (1 of the 2 doctors who have kept me alive, along with my darling vegan G.P. and a wonderful nurse practitioner at the hospital) a set of lyrics telling him how I was getting along on my cleaned-up, ultra-high-kale diet a year ago, back when I was still struggling [I’m almost cured now].  You will also hear what sounds like a description of me as a recent convert to plant-based eating.  My veganism, as you might know, is not recent at all, unless placed against the Earth’s geological timeline.  Or the longevity of Winston Peters’s political career.  But I suppose the inference was easier than explaining that I developed severe atherosclerosis despite 45+ years of veganism because I had inherited a liver which makes heaps and heaps of fats out of the fruit juice, dried fruit and white flour I had blithely abused all my life.  Anyhoo, find the talent show I accidentally inspired at:

 https://www.youtube.com/live/AOsEkg9Z9M4.

The show actually starts at 1:20 in.  Or you can stare at the same image for that long if you’d prefer.  Far be it from me to presume that you are modern-day hotshots with better things to do than wait 80 seconds for a show to a show to begin!
 
You do not have to wait much longer for this blog to end, however.  Good luck and good health to all of us in 2026.
 
Love,
Billy

It’s been a good number of years -- what is a good number? -- since we ran those bodacious Vegan Expos, and I’m sure that Whangarovians are hanging on, waiting for our next golden word. Well, if you don’t mind substituting bright lemon yellow for gold, there are a few words in a simple message of ours on the street-mounted oOH! electronic billboard at the LockyDocks at James & Cameron (on the side of it that faces the corner jewellers).  Just a coax to get the folks to tune in to this website or find us on Facebook, really. But it feels great to be getting the word out -- especially at such a nobly named intersection. Acclaimed film director James Cameron would appreciate the pro-vegan message, to be sure.  It runs the week of 11-17 August.

We also had 2 spells of banner billboarding in Tarewa Road:  3 weeks in May and 3 weeks in July.  Our trapped pig will show itself again, I’m sure.

Ongoing:  At this writing, we’re all still waiting for the bomb to drop on the partial live-export-by-sea ban.  Please be on the lookout for the notice that the bill which would reverse it has gone out for public input, then do your submission!  If you need any assistance with that, I’m happy to help.
[email protected]

Also ongoing: I personally continue to send the latest medical-journal article URLs out every month to all our public hospitals, our dietitian/nutritionist groups and the “health” ministry in hopes of changing the horrible cycle of bad eating --> hospital admisssion --> hospital overcrowding --> long wait for procedures --> bad eating --> hospital re-admission.  As a side-note, it just so happens that if a vegan enters the Emergency Department at Whangarei Hospital, and stays long enough to see someone come round with food, s/he will find that’s it’s a cholesterol-laden sandwich and
there is no alternative.  If a piece of fruit is available from the vending machine, the patient has to pay for that whilst the omnivores eat free of charge.  I’m pursuing that as a human-rights concern and could use some help with it, if you’re able.


Ta-ta for now. (Or tu-tu if you love the ballet.)

Billy Leonard is the author of Diamonds & Rats and Streccano, which are available at The Piggery in Walton Street and Book Inn in the Kamo shops and also in our public libraries.  He also wrote
Stickno Bill’s Guide to Complete Fulfilment, which is not. He is Treasurer and Membership Co-ordinator for Whangarei Vegans and reminds you that annual membership is only $5! The views expressed herein are my own and do not represent the Whangarei Vegan Society (a.k.a. “Whangarei Vegans”), any other of its members, nor any persons who have or have not ever walked into
another room and forgot why they did.  NONE OF THE MEDICAL MATERIAL EXPRESSED ABOVE IS INTENDED TO REPLACE PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM.

I’ve been asked to contribute some writing to this fine website. It’s the last time anyone’s going to ask me to do such a thing.

I can’t do this straight. I’m sorry. You’re not going to be getting any yummy recipes out of me -- or even recipes of things that are yummy. I make cookies that are to die from.

The views expressed herein are my own and do not represent the Whangarei Vegan Society (a.k.a. “Whangarei Vegans”), any other of its members, nor any persons whom any of its members have spotted by looking out a bus window.

Having said all that, I will endeavour to provide something of use to you, calling on my 48 years of veganism and 11 years of Whangarei residence. For instance, I can now confidently inform you that you can wear obviously pro-vegan message garb (“apparel” for those of you who don’t like 4-letter words) and still be accepted for jury duty. I know. It shocked me, too. Y’all must be purty desperate for jurors up heah. The case obviously had nothing to do with animal abuse or human physical health, so the band of 11 had to put up with the brief but pithy “diet-tribe” which I managed to express on Day 2
-- in context of course!

I can also very-nearly-confidently inform you that veganism has saved my life. I am beating life-threatening atherosclerosis -- thanks for the hideously hyperactive lipids factory I seem to have inherited, mum! -- which was so severe that I was recommended for that ever-popular Triple-Bypass Surgery but which failed to manifest itself in any heart attack, major or minor, due to my long-term veganism (and that’s the consensus of all the doctors who’ve seen me, vegan and carnist alike). I’ve been given the time to clean up my sugar habit and eat lots and lots of kale and, at this writing, I am feeling much, much better on only a small fraction of the medicine I was on 2 years ago -- with virtually no discomfort. A major reason for my rejecting surgery and running instead to my doctor friends is that I was told that I would have to take statins with the surgery. In this country, I am led to believe that all of the domestic statins contain cow’s milk, and I wasn’t having any of it. And I made darn-tootin’ sure that the medicines I am on, to get me through this safely, contain no animal products. I don’t know why I’m here on Earth, but I do know it is not to cause the suffering of innocent animals.

Hey, remember the rodeo Code of Welfare re-write that the judge ordered a couple of years ago when S.A.F.E. and the N.Z. Animal Law Association lost their lawsuit against the Government? Shane Reti’s office recently told me that the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee is still working on it and it won’t even be forwarded until they approve what they’ve done in November, so it may not even reach the Associate Minister for Agriculture by the start of rodeo season. Why don’t you apply some pressure, as I have done? I really don’t think that folks should go out to Maungatapere every January, year after year, and watch things done to animals which are in violation of the spirit and
intent of the Animal Welfare Act. Thank you.

Well, enough about me. How are you?

Catch you next time -- unless somebody with more sense and taste stops me.

Billy Leonard is the author of Diamonds & Rats and Streccano, which are available at The Piggery in Walton Street and Book Inn in the Kamo shops and also in our public libraries. He also wrote Stickno Bill’s Guide to Complete Fulfillment, which is not. He is Treasurer and Membership Co-ordinator for Whangarei Vegans and reminds you that annual membership is only $5!

NONE OF THE MEDICAL MATERIAL EXPRESSED ABOVE IS INTENDED TO REPLACE PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM. -- THE AUTHOR

Thanks to the European Vegetarian Union for allowing us to use their Vegan V logo as part of our logo designs. 

This will make us immediately recognisable as a Vegan organisation!

We are grateful to the EVU for sharing this logo with other organisations around the world, including us here in Whangārei.

This blog post was originally shared in 2019

​December is generally a time when the hard work is done and you can start to enjoy your harvest but it is also ok to plant corn, more beans, zucchini and tomatoes to keep continuity of supply. It is still ok to plant salad greens through summer where there is shade and the soil can be kept cool and moist. The shade can be on the south side of the house amongst other plants, such as lettuce under brassicas, shrubs, flowers or herbs but remember to feed the soil as the more established plants will compete more strongly for nutrients.

February and March are the peak of the harvest season and are the busiest times in a Northland garden. It can also be the messiest looking time in a garden.

The challenges of shield beetles is still with us in early Autumn. We can keep using a garlic spray to deter bugs. Once the nights start cooling the bugs will go into hibernation mode. Note to myself to plant more cleome and mustard next year as a catch crop for shield beetles. The bugs congregate on the flowering cleome and mustard and are easy to collect.