This started-off as a post but has got so involved (read extra typing) that I do not want to see it disappear over the horizon at the end of the day. I shall also submit it as a blog.
A legacy of an agricultural boarding school in a farming community, is the material you read at an impressionable age. The school had stacks of the Farmer’s Weekly magazine. The ideal magazine for SA is the Farmer’s Weekly – it has everything. Consider:
Politics
The magazine was a huge suck-up to the government during apartheid. It is more balanced now that it detests the government. Thrill to the spats between the Agricultural Union and the Minister of Agriculture. Keep informed on land claims, farm crime, Farm Watch security groups, etc.
‘Car’ magazine-type reviews
Know the comparative strengths between Massey-Ferguson and John Deere tractors. Follow the pernicious inroads of Chinese tractors. Review farmer’s bakkies – Isuzu, Toyota, etc. Not to mention Combine Harvesters etc.
Lovelorn social columns
The ‘Hitching Post’ is a forum for ‘vivacious, young-at-heart’ poppies for companionship with a ‘view to marriage’. The poppies are cynical about sex-mad city slickers exploiting them and have devised a test to separate the slickers from the farmers. If you can tread barefoot in a fresh cow-pat so that the dung squishes between your toes, you are a genuine famer worthy of poppie attentions.
Science
There is a continuing debate over genetically modified crops. Monsanto is the spokesman for the GE school.
Technology
You will be amazed and astounded at the number of cool gadgets that fit to the hydraulics and the Power Take Off (PTO) at the back of a tractor.
Animal lovers
Coo over the cuteness of flocks of sheep. Know which cows give the highest milk yields. Admire that Aberdeen Angus stud bull. Be knowledgeable about artificial insemination and basic vet treatments.
Medicine
Know the diseases and drugs to treat myriads of animals. Know the pesticides and fertilizers to conjure with regarding crops. Is your milk yield drying up? Foot and mouth disease? Do you need to ‘dip’ your animals? And much more.
Ecology
Firebreaks? Game farms? Crop rotation?
There are also articles on cooking (often potjie or survival). An extensive classifieds with lots of cool stuff to buy. A bit of everything. Even the cartoon strip (Foot Rot Flats) is an American hillbilly, Zapiro clone.
If you must have only a single magazine, consider Farmer’s Weekly.
A legacy of an agricultural boarding school in a farming community, is the material you read at an impressionable age. The school had stacks of the Farmer’s Weekly magazine. The ideal magazine for SA is the Farmer’s Weekly – it has everything. Consider:
Politics
The magazine was a huge suck-up to the government during apartheid. It is more balanced now that it detests the government. Thrill to the spats between the Agricultural Union and the Minister of Agriculture. Keep informed on land claims, farm crime, Farm Watch security groups, etc.
‘Car’ magazine-type reviews
Know the comparative strengths between Massey-Ferguson and John Deere tractors. Follow the pernicious inroads of Chinese tractors. Review farmer’s bakkies – Isuzu, Toyota, etc. Not to mention Combine Harvesters etc.
Lovelorn social columns
The ‘Hitching Post’ is a forum for ‘vivacious, young-at-heart’ poppies for companionship with a ‘view to marriage’. The poppies are cynical about sex-mad city slickers exploiting them and have devised a test to separate the slickers from the farmers. If you can tread barefoot in a fresh cow-pat so that the dung squishes between your toes, you are a genuine famer worthy of poppie attentions.
Science
There is a continuing debate over genetically modified crops. Monsanto is the spokesman for the GE school.
Technology
You will be amazed and astounded at the number of cool gadgets that fit to the hydraulics and the Power Take Off (PTO) at the back of a tractor.
Animal lovers
Coo over the cuteness of flocks of sheep. Know which cows give the highest milk yields. Admire that Aberdeen Angus stud bull. Be knowledgeable about artificial insemination and basic vet treatments.
Medicine
Know the diseases and drugs to treat myriads of animals. Know the pesticides and fertilizers to conjure with regarding crops. Is your milk yield drying up? Foot and mouth disease? Do you need to ‘dip’ your animals? And much more.
Ecology
Firebreaks? Game farms? Crop rotation?
There are also articles on cooking (often potjie or survival). An extensive classifieds with lots of cool stuff to buy. A bit of everything. Even the cartoon strip (Foot Rot Flats) is an American hillbilly, Zapiro clone.
If you must have only a single magazine, consider Farmer’s Weekly.
