Couple helps offset carbon emissions
By David Hill - Hurunui NewsThe Sinclairs have been using their three hectare lifestyle Blockhill farm near Cheviot to plant trees as a carbon emissions offsetting service.
Mr Sinclair says he was already planting trees but came up with the idea more then five years ago of offering a "simple, low tech solution" to businesses wanting to offset their carbon emissions.
"I had some bare land and I wanted to make it a bit more usable. So I set up a website www.carbon.org.nz and had a steady trickle of interest."
Initially it was mostly larger businesses who responded, but now Mr Sinclair says it is mainly smaller businesses and private individuals wanting to "offset emissions from travel and weddings".
"We offer people a solution of different types of trees suitable to our environment. We plant the trees and basically care for them and keep them clear of pests and rabbits and that sort of thing."
"The interest gas been getting fairly low in recent times due to economic hardship. Being able to put money into a project like this is a bit of a luxury."
When he first started in October 2006, Mr Sinclair had a 20ha leased block in which he "strategically planted a shelter belt", however when the block was no longer available he began planting on his own three hectare property with his wife Melisa. Initially they planted fast growing "pioneer trees" like wattle and alder trees as a shelter belt, but now he plants mostly native trees.
However, Mr Sinclair says his three hectares is filling up quickly. "It's getting pretty full, so this will be the last season unless we can get some other land somewhere else - either public or private land."
"There are some structures we could look at to protect the trees. We could look at a Queen Elizabeth II Trust covenant for example."
So far Mr Sinclair has planted around 1000 trees. However his project is too small to make money. His day job is web design.
"It is low cost. It's pretty easy really. You do not have to do much work. But I could not justify doing it if it was not part of our lifestyle."
"It just ties in well with the development of our small farm. We plant probably twice as many trees as we are commissioned to plant because some trees do not grow to maturity."
Mr Sinclair says the previous owners of the lifestyle block ran some livestock, but the only livestock on the property now is a few chooks, with most of the land taken up by the trees. There are also some native and feral bees on the property and the Sinclairs are hoping to set up a bumblebee sanctuary.
"The bees seem to be facing a lot of threats. No one is 100 percent sure what is causing it. But the bee numbers are diminishing and as gardeners and horticulturists we really need them".
"The bumblebees are a pretty good substitute for pollination. They just don't make an edible honey."
Mr Sinclair grew up on an organic farm in the Scargill Valley area, but says the blockhill farm lifestyle is an ongoing learning experience.
"I grew up in Scargill, but it is another actually doing it yourself rather then watching someone else. But it is good today with the internet. We can tap into that and learn from other people's mistakes."
"We try to be self sufficient. We grow our own fruit and vegetables and eggs. At this time of year we can probably produce about 90 percent of our own food. We are not as self sufficient in winter, but we are getting better at preserving."
