“As a child growing up in rural New Zealand I remember the huge, rustic, metal mailboxes before the cattle stop at the front gate of the wild and beautiful Taranaki farms of my grandparents.”

Such memories and more inspired Tamahere woman Jenny Scown to stage the latest exhibition, Rural Delivery, at her Inspirit Studio and Gallery, from June 2.

“The concept for the exhibition was in part inspired by my own rural background and the book ‘It’s in the post’ – the stories behind New Zealand stamps, by Richard Wolfe,” says Scown.

The monthly chance to bump into neighbours and friends over the pickles or persimmons, pasties or paintings, aka the Tamahere Market, is on this Saturday.

There will be a treat in store for muesli munchers as a new stall selling the wholesome breakfast joins the wonderful and varied line up at the market.

Others contributing to the ever-changing food and drink variety this year have been the tempting hot chocolate and fruit syrups which have joined regulars such as gourmet pies, Indian vegetarian food and freshly made crepes.

A passionate advocate for walkways and community connection was fittingly remembered in a ceremony today at the future site of a walkway that will link Tamahere and Matangi.

Around 30 people – family, friends, workmates and community members and representatives – gathered to remember the late Allan Turner, a long-serving Waikato District Council environment planner, who died in March 2012.

The service was held on Tamahere’s Woodcock Rd which by mid-2014 will be linked to Matangi’s Fuschia Lane by the Allan Turner Walkway.

Tamahere’s Inspirit Gallery and the NZ Lifestyle Farmer magazine are inviting entries for a competition to coincide with an upcoming exhibition at the Pencarrow Rd gallery.

To celebrate a century of NZ Post’s Rural Delivery Service, the competition organisers are looking for the most creative and original rural mailboxes in the country.

Entrants are asked to take and submit a high quality photo of the mailbox they wish to enter in the Rural Delivery Mailbox competition.

A flurry of activity around Tamahere has brought new developments for walkers, drivers and those who catch the bus – with more major changes ahead.

Residents and travellers of Newell Rd have been contending with major roadworks for weeks as a large section of the road, stretching from near the SH 1 end, is resurfaced and a footpath put in at a cost of $736,580.

Meanwhile, catching the bus from the SH 1 on-ramp bus-stop has become a drier prospect after a shelter was put up this week.

A commemoration service on Saturday, May 11 will remember a long-serving WDC environment planner. The service will be held at the future site of the Allan Turner Walkway.

Burglars stole a number of plants from the Tamahere Community Plant Nursery last week, the second time in recent weeks the voluntary project has been broken into.

Nursery organiser Jan Simmons said the burglars were rough with the plants they stole some time on Tuesday or Wednesday, April 23 and 24.

They threw the lancewood and ribbonwood plants over the nursery gate “obviously disturbing the root balls in the process judging by the amount of potting mix on the ground,” she said.

The welcome change in the weather is set to bring new taste temptations to this Saturday’s Tamahere Market.

Pears, mandarins and avocados will be making an appearance at the autumn market along with macadamia nuts – whole and natural or dipped in chocolate.

Feijoas – the fruit some live for but others loathe – will be on their first outing, too.

Autumn Rapture is the latest exhibition at Tamahere’s Inspirit Gallery.

The exhibition, which runs until May 5, reflects the transient beauty of autumn in the Waikato.

It features painting, sculpture, printmaking, mixed media and jewellery by a range of talented artists. View the slideshow.

The Tamahere Nursery and Gully Care Group will visit a bush property on the slopes of Maungatautari on Sunday, April 7.

The visit will be hosted by Paul and Juliet Drage at their property on Luck-at-Last Road where the group will explore their patch of bush to collect some seed but also to look at the diversity of plants.

Organiser Jan Simmons, of Tamahere Gully Care, extends an invitation to the visit to all interested.

If you own a lifestyle block and graze deer or cattle, you need to comply with the National Animal Identification and Tracing Scheme (NAIT).

How do you personally register, how do you register your animals and how and where do you get radio frequency identification device (RFID) ear tags for your stock?

Rural Women New Zealand’s Tamahere branch is offering an easy way answer to answer those questions by holding a NAIT information evening at 7pm on Monday, April 8 at the Tamahere Community Centre.