Harriet Bremner’s books for children provide an insight into agriculture at the same time as educating them about what happens on farms.
She hasn’t shied away from the gnarly issues facing the rural sector: health and safety and mental health, but her latest venture seeks to reinvigorate interest in wool.
Wool’s the Word took 18 months to write and illustrate and unashamedly reminds readers of wool’s merits as a natural and sustainable fibre, while contrasting it with petroleum-based products.
The story centres around shearing on their 1500ha sheep and beef property, Jericho Station at Blackmount, which boundaries Fiordland National Park.
Bremner runs the station with her fiancée Ed Pinckney.
Wool’s the Word provides a snapshot into the task of shearing but is also a teaching resource showcasing wool.
The story involves Pinckney, a shearing gang, wool classer Sylvie, Pops their Dachshund and a tūī who discovers the wonders of wool as nesting material, an analogy for an urban consumer discovering the natural fibre.
She says the tūī represents urban people who have done the same thing all their lives but are suddenly exposed to an alternative, wool.
Bremner says the book also aims to dispel myths about shearing – that the process is like humans getting a haircut, that wool is renewable, natural and has insulation and properties that man-made products do not.
While the wool industry has challenges, the story celebrates something positive.
“Obviously, NZ is on a bit of a journey with wool and everything it encompasses and there are lots going on in the public eye so it is cool to put something out to educate people around wool and the industry.”
Wool’s the Word is just one of the inspirational topics that Bremner says she encounters while working on everyday tasks of their farm. Other books are pending.
“For one of the best products on the planet, it costs us to shear our sheep but people are not aware of wool’s use and its potential.”
Launched at the Canterbury Show last week, through a relationship with NZ Merino, Wool’s the Word will be distributed to schools around the country.
Bremner likens this approach to the McDonald’s Make It Click campaign that encouraged children to wear safety belts in vehicles and she hopes it may generate interest in the fibre.
“Children are inquisitive and want to learn things they are interested in, things they may not understand.”
To tap into that inquisitiveness, Bremner has included a glossary, facts about wool, an activity page and poses questions to the reader, such as where their clothes come from and what are they made of?
There are also photographs of shearing action from the Jericho wool shed to reinforce the authenticity of the illustrations of Dana Johnston, who lives at Kurow in North Otago.
“They are beautifully illustrated. Dana is very talented and loves what she does,” says Bremner.
The illustrations also reflect the landscape, characters and actual events of the property and Bremner says Johnston has been incredibly accurate in reproducing those images.
A former teacher and 2021 winner of the NZI Rural Women NZ Rural Champion Award, Bremner is also trying to use her communication skills and experience from losing her partner in a farm accident to change the culture of farmers.
Through the intergenerational Think Safe Brain campaign, she aims to teach children how to make sensible decisions, deal with mental health pressures and respond to incidents they may encounter on a farm.
Courses are held in rural schools involving experts and include teaching modules that introduce them to handling firearms, being around farm vehicles and being safe on farm.
The aim is to make farms safer but to also reinforce the need for people to take stock of their weariness and mental clarity when considering embarking on dangerous jobs.
It is introducing what she calls “a practical approach to safety and wellbeing”, which differs from the she’ll be right approach and the current documentation trail.
“Paperwork doesn’t save lives but a conversation at a moment can.
“You can’t change a culture without changing people’s behaviour.”
Bremner was born and raised on a farm on Banks Peninsula where her parents ran Polwarth Sheep for wool.
She subsequently lived in North Canterbury and a sheep, beef and arable farm in the Hakataramea Valley in South Canterbury.
For eight years Bremner was a rural primary school teacher but decided to combine her two loves, writing and farming.
For the past 18 months she has lived at Jericho Station where she and Pinckney farm Perendale sheep, beef and also run a dairy farm near Riverton.
Pinckney was a Nuffield Scholar in 2020.
“Both of us a passionate about the industry,” says Bremner.
Books are available on www.gurtandpops.com
More: Another one of Harriet’s many great initiatives – check out the latest episode of The Raw Truth podcast, where she shares authentic stories around grief, trauma and mental health, to try and normalise these kinds of conversations.
