Northern Tasmania Rural Report
Friday, January 9, 2009
Latest Report
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Long-term planning needed for support services
By Rosemary Grant
I don't know how much you've noticed, but over the past year there's been an explosion in the number of community and government services being offered in rural and remote areas.
The drought and ongoing financial and personal pressures have really been a catalyst.
And one of the new services, Rural Alive and Well, based at Oatlands to support rural men and stop suicide, is calling for a more focused long-term approach now.
Program co-ordinator Vyv Alomes says on-going funding for a state-wide service for the next 10 years is warranted.
Cutting it with the best of them
By Eliza Wood
Can you imagine a world without lawnmowers, brush-cutters and chainsaws?
There might not be the same obesity problems around now, but gee it would be hard work.
Ivan Best from Somerset is an old machinery collector, with a particular interest in chainsaws and lawnmowers.
Join him as he exhibits some of the highlights of his collection.
Tasmanian Features
She'll be sweet
This is not a giant red chilli. This is the only fruit of its kind in Australia: a Romano sweet pointed capsicum.
Shearing history in treasured Christmas pudding recipe
In the case of Roger Swain's Christmas pudding, simple things really are the best. It's a shearer's pudding with a practical and simple recipe handed down from a special source.
Eggplants on the island
Perhaps the spikes are there to stop you pressing your hot hands against the voluptuous, shining fruit.
Shearers hang-out to be hung-up in 2009
Bare bums are all the rage in the woolsheds of Tasmania, but it's got nothing to do with a new welfare-friendly sheep breed.
A box of goodness
Paula Willis is excited her home-grown vegetables are going to be eaten, and won't end up in the green-waste bin out the back of a shop.
Hava Tassie avo
Avocado season has begun on the north-west coast of Tasmania. That's right - Tasmania - that chilly island south of Australia that's so well-known for growing cold-loving plants like berries and swedes. Not so well-known for tropical fruit.
A devilish diary! Dispatches from the secret Sitwell saga
What does it take to raise a tiny orphan that's naked and crying through the first weeks of life? Wildlife carer John Hayward knows, and he shares the journey with his latest arrivals, three tiny Tasmanian devils.
Simulating is so stimulating for forest jobs
Tasmania's forest industry is trying to recruit and retain more skilled workers with the aid of a simulator.
It's part of a Forest Contractors Association plan to change perceptions the industry is dull, dirty and dangerous with a new careers program.
Research proves race horses have it easy
You might be surprised to learn most race horses are quite sedentary and don’t move far at all.
Tasmania's biggest chainsaw
New irrigation infrastructure is being layed down in record time in northern Tasmania by a massive machine that works just like a chainsaw.
