Country Life

The green kiwifruit harvest is underway in the north where winter is making its presence felt and in the south feed is being trucked from the West Coast to bone dry farms in the east.

Country Life heads to Pohatu Flea Bay on Banks Peninsula where a sheep farm is also home to a colony of White-flippered penguins. The team is also out baiting traps at a Hawke's Bay farm whose owners have been named National Sustainable Farming Ambassadors.

School leavers hankering for a career in sheep and beef farming now have the option of applying for a place in the new two-year, fees-free Growing Future Farmers programme that sees them training on-farm under the guidance of farmer-trainers.

Auckland firm Lanaco was formed nearly a decade ago to help lift the value of New Zealand wool. It makes filters which can be used in anything from face masks and air conditioning units to medical devices and in NASA's space programme.

Dairy farmer Sam Owen shares the tips that help him maintain his mental well-being.

Lovely rain this week in the north has not been so welcome on Bay of Plenty orchards in the midst of kiwifruit harvest and there's been sleet, snow and some wicked frosts down south.

Country Life rounds up some school leavers learning about sheep and beef farming and a Waikato sharemilker shares his mental health story.

The game of croquet is taking off around the world and a small factory in rural Hawke's Bay is reaping the benefits. Wood Mallets produces polo sticks and croquet mallets and exports them to 50 countries around the globe.

It's bone dry on the East Coast of the North Island, a hunter out near Hikurangi says in the 20 years he's gone out it's never been so dry and Marlborough is still hunting for rain while the West Coast of the South Island wants some drier days.

Country Life's guests this week are preparing for a big week in Wellington with schoolchildren who have only ever met online. The primary students are soon to leave their remote and rural schools for high school and the trip aims to help them make that big step. Rachel Whalley is the principal of the Virtual Learning Network and Kath Johnson is principal of Rakiura Stewart Island's Halfmoon Bay School.