Book excerpt: The off-roading, hill-seeking and muddy-morning adventures of New Zealand farming legend Mark Warren Mark Warren is a larger-than-life character of rural New Zealand. He grew up with an obsession with Landrovers, council tip trucks, bulldozers, hill-country tractors, snow-plows - if it had four wheels, it warranted Mark's attention. Interwoven with his stories of working as a grease monkey, rallying in a purpose built Toyota landy, rescuing ski-bunnies off icy mountain roads, is his tale of being thrust into single-handedly managing a muddy Hawke's Bay farm in his twenties, just as Rogernomics was introduced and the removal of subsidies would change the face of farming forever. Many a Muddy Morning is a funny, original and affecting read that will appeal to petrol-heads and farmers alike. Mark brings together the traits we love to celebrate in our rural heartland in a book that is a colourful addition to the Kiwi story.