Edwin Mabonga 🧢

@BenDooley8 Burning excess fuel since it's so cheap and easily available 🤣

*Updated. Added wrong photos 😅. Quite cool to see, not sure why it circled lowish here, but 👍. Not sure why my cameras gone to shit either.

@saltyreigns You are saying the quiet part out loud. The next election issue will be whoever can bring the price of fuel back down.

Diesel is unlikely to drop back to January prices cause fuel companies have seen that NZers will stretch to pay $4 a litre. And the govt is quite enjoying the windfall from the extra gst, which has more than doubled. Hope I’m wrong

Every February, 70% of the commercial honey bees in the United States, roughly two million colonies, are loaded onto lorries and driven to California. They are going to pollinate the almonds. 80% of the world's almonds come from one valley in California. Over 1.3 million acres of nothing but almond trees, blooming for three weeks in monoculture, requiring more pollinators than the state can produce on its own. So the bees are trucked in from every corner of the country. Florida. New York. Montana. The bees are fed sugar water for the journey because their own honey has been removed to lighten the load. They arrive in the Central Valley to a landscape that is, for three weeks, pink and white blossom, and for the other forty-nine weeks of the year, dead. Nothing to eat. No forage. No diversity. Just almond trees and bare dirt, sprayed regularly with fungicides and insecticides that were deemed bee-safe in adult bees but turn out to be lethal to larvae when combined. In February 2025, commercial beekeepers reported the worst die-off on record. Around 60% of commercial honey bee colonies in the United States dead in a single pollination season. Financial losses estimated well over $139 million. Some beekeepers lost 90 to 100% of their colonies. The almonds are marketed as plant-based. Clean. Ethical. The preferred alternative. The preferred alternative requires the single largest managed pollination event in human history and it is quietly killing the pollinators faster than they can be replaced. Every glass of almond milk is, statistically, a small contribution to the largest pollinator die-off on record. This is not in the advertising.

@agwithemma I don't know you personally other than we share a love for farming. I admire your courage to share your story and I pray that you continue to grow stronger and rise above your past. Your story will help many that unfortunately have been through similar circumstances. 🫂

April is Child Abuse Prevention & Sexual Assault Awareness/Prevention Month. This is something I don’t shy away from & have posted before, but it always feels awkward to share w/ my audience. Regardless of how awkward it may feel to share pieces of my story with you, I know it has helped other victims through their stories and come to terms with what has happened to them. Child abuse was prevalent in the home I grew up in, I was physically abused at a young age, sexually abused in my preteens and teens, and then was told I had a role in it. I was 14 years old when the sexual abuse ended. When I look at these pictures, I realize how messed up it is to tell a 14 year old girl who had been groomed and molested for 5 years that she had a part in it. It has taken me over 10 years to become enraged about it enough to cut ties with people who abused me and those who side with those who abused me. Abuse isn’t something that’s easy to “get over” or forgive and forget, It’s not something that needs to be forgotten either. What happened to me as a girl has left me with CPTSD, causing me to be hyper vigilant, have flashbacks/nightmares, lack of trust, guilt for the abuse that happened to me, trouble in relationships, so many tried and failed therapy attempts and more. I can only assume that the things that happened to my body as a girl has left scars and affects that I cannot see in my body as an adult who has suffered through many health issues. If you’re a victim I hope you find the chance to feel seen, validated, and stand on all ten of your toes when it comes to standing up for yourself and against the people who have abused you. There’s no excuse for being an abuser and I wish the consequences for abuse didn’t feel so insignificant towards bringing those who choose to abuse to justice. As a victim, I know I have a role in allowing myself to move forward, and I have been. I want to acknowledge that it is completely valid to keep moving forward while being enraged that you were not protected, and using your experiences to protect the children around you and also help other victims do the same. I see ya, you aren’t alone, and I hope you find peace💙

@fairleigh_ag @harvestnz @Graeme2222 "When bull elephants fight. It is the grass that suffers." African proverb.

@Graeme2222 So imagine a silage contractor uses running a - 200hp tractor on mowers to cut the grass - 150hp tractor on a rake to row it up - 600hp Forager harvester to pick it up - 3 to 4 trucks hauling the grass to to the pit - 200hp loader on the pit -15 ton digger on the pit

You can't run many 200hp tractors long on 174 litres. 🤯 Looking forward to when the solar powered version of them arrive!! #YeahRight

@Infideliter2022 I bookmarked this a week ago and it has moved from a low possibility to highly plausible and with Russia closing its exports today it's fast becoming a nightmare and it's a discussion I just had with a grain farmer half an hr ago. How much grain to plant? x.com/i/status/20363…

Fuel is a justifiable concern, but greater than that is fertilizer. Fert scarce = price rise. Price rise = Food price increase. Then, Fert unavailable = Decreased yield. Decreased yield = Dramatic price rise. Dramatic price rise = Inflation. Inflation = Poor & hungry Kiwis.

@ChrisMartzWX Black coffee and honey. Before you say anything, try it.

I am an avid black coffee lover. ☕️ A year ago, I hated it. I have crossed to the other side.

I've never heard Vivaldi played on a xylophone before; amazing job, guys!!!👏👏💐

@Elizza0606 @TamithaSkov Gracias

@Edwinmab1 @TamithaSkov Que Hermosas

This fast solar wind is putting on a show! Bright magenta #aurora pillars are holding their own against the waning sunlight down in Minnesota tonight. Expect shows like this to continue. Thanks for reporting!

@BenDooley8 @cobb808 Happy anniversary guys. Here is to many more years.

11 years married. Love ya @cobb808

papa come home from hunt. empty hand. bad hunt. no meat. nothing. papa sit by fire. say nothing. face heavy. mama not ask what happen. mama not say "it okay." mama just put warm root soup in front of papa. sit next to him. close. shoulder touching shoulder. whole cave quiet. then mama say: "remember first hunt after we met? you come home with one skinny rabbit. smallest rabbit in whole forest. you hold it up like you kill great beast." papa: "...was not THAT small." mama: "hmmmm... koom bigger than that rabbit." papa mouth twitch. fighting it. fighting the smile. lose. small laugh. tired laugh. but real. mama not fix the empty hand. mama not make meat appear. mama just go back far enough in the story to find a version of papa who still believe in himself. and she bring that version forward. sit him right next to the tired one. oog watching from dark corner of cave. taking note. THAT what partner do. not fix the bad day. just refuse to let the bad day be the whole story. love, oog

@MarkHubbard33 Shyte mate. I hope the martinis have relaxed the muscles.

Went to Blenheim today to meet friends for lunch. Left Sounds, 100%. Went to landfill on way in, 100%. Got to Blenheim, 100%. Got out of car, 100%. Went to straighten up fell over with excruciating back pain. No cause at all. On medicinal martinis which is starting to help. Annoyed. Gonna knock me out of Havelock mussel festival tomorrow I think.

Too many people are now "farming the farmers."

Uber review jungle edition.

@Codie_Sanchez I'm a parent. I was raised by those rules and we raised our children with the same with slight modifications. I made my parents proud and I couldn't be prouder of my kids. Disciplined kids will have doors opened for them that talent cannot.

I asked my mom & dad for advice recently from raising me and my brother... I’m not a parent yet but one day (fingers crossed). This is what they told me, maybe you’ll find it useful too: 1. Your kids are not your friends. They’re yours to safeguard and support, but set rules. Biggest problem with most kids in our generation, their parents wanted to be liked not respected. 2. Psy ops are underrated. My mom had this line for whenever I got into trouble. She’d say, “When I ask you a question like this, I already know the answer. I am giving you a chance to come clean...” At which point I’d sing like a canary because I’m a scaredy cat. I found out today she rarely knew the answers. Brilliant and maniacal. 3. Always on the same page. My mom and dad rarely fought in front of my brother and I. They would never go back on the word of the other. United front to deal with us mini terrorists. 4. Make time. My dad had this silly line that is actually not silly: “You can make money, you can make a cake, but you can’t make time.” So they made allllll the time for us. 5. Four chairs. We have these four chairs in our living room, no tv. Growing up, we’d sit and debate and talk for hours. Politics. Opinions. Our days. Only thing not allowed was an opinion you couldn’t defend unemotionally. We still do this today. 6. Mi Sangre mi siempre. They’d always say, blood comes first. They meant it. I hired my brother, my dad, my mom, my cousin at times. We stick together and we may fight like hell but never in front of others. 7. Once you decide, you don’t quit. We could play any sport or instrument BUT if we committed we had to play the full year all out. No 3 lessons and quit. Taught us to choose thoughtfully and keep going even when it hurt. 8. Always call. They still pick up the phone nearly every time it’s family. My dad in a meeting will pause to answer my mom. My husband taught me this too, and I try to do the same. If they’re your first priority this is an easy way to prove it. 9. You’re not a princess, you’re a president. My dad always used to say that line. He told me this week that I lived up to it. Gutted me. He taught us we didn’t need to be saved, instead we could save ourselves and help others. 10. Hug often and seriously. If you’ve ever hugged my parents, they mean it when they do it. Such a simple, free gesture. My mom always gives you a hug and says vaya con dios... go with God. How can you not do big things with parents that hold you like that? Just some lessons from parents I happen to think are some of the best in the world. Moms & dads everywhere, I’m in awe of you. Hardest job I’ve ever seen. Hope ya'll have a great time with the fam today ❤️ Now get off your phone 😉

@Infideliter2022 Or go I step further and extract oil from the southern basin.

Should NZ refine crude oil again? What would be an acceptable cost for a refinery to be built to do this?

@timgortonz @BenDooley8 Your own piece of paradise. What a tough life.

An Iranian man left this comment on my YouTube channel. This is without a doubt the single best explanation of the reality facing Iranian people today👇 "As an Iranian, I can tell you the situation is no longer just political—it's existential. We are trapped between two collapsing structures: one internal, one external. On one hand, we face a deeply dysfunctional government, led by the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic’s unelected institutions. Decades of economic mismanagement, suppression of dissent, and brutal ideological control have alienated multiple generations. No one believes in reform anymore—because every attempt has either been co-opted or crushed. But here's the paradox: We are also terrified of regime collapse—because we've watched the aftermath of Western intervention in countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. Each was promised freedom; each descended into chaos, civil war, or foreign occupation. So no, we don't trust the U.S. or Israel. Not because we support our regime—but because we know how imperial powers treat ‘liberated’ nations in the Middle East. Freedom, in their language, often means vacuum, fire, and permanent instability. Right now, many Iranians live with three truths at once: The Islamic Republic is morally and politically bankrupt. The alternatives offered by foreign actors are not liberation—they’re collapse. A bad government is survivable. No government is not. We are not silent because we agree. We are cautious because we’ve learned—too well—what happens when superpowers decide to "help." In a sentence: Iran is a nation held hostage by its own regime, but haunted by the fate of its neighbors. We are stuck in a house we hate, surrounded by fires we fear more."

@TimothyAlberino Here is another pausible interpretation of the tower and Noah's arch. youtu.be/gnuJzfx1bD4?si…

I’m currently writing introductions and commentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls' Book of Giants, Jubilees, and the Genesis Apocryphon. Here’s something wild: The Book of Jubilees records the Tower of Babel as 8,150 feet tall—just over 1.5 miles high—with a footprint exceeding 5 square miles. That would make it, by far, the largest structure on earth—nearly 5× taller than the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Is this ancient hyperbole? Symbolic cosmology? Or the actual dimensions of the Tower of Babel? @joerogan @ShawnRyan762 @michaeljknowles @glennbeck