Country Life

Wilding pines are a huge problem on Molesworth Station, New Zealand's largest farm. We're out on a remote hillside with a gang of workers and their chainsaws. Many are new to the job including a young man called Anzac doing his bit for the country battling the pine infestation.

Thirty varieties of cider apples are growing in Caroline and Alex Peckham's orchard in Upper Moutere. Fruit from the 6000 trees is transformed into sparkling cider in the orchard's cidery.

The Cook Island's Fresh Fish company lost 95 percent of its business when tourists stopped visiting. It supplied hotels and restaurants. Now fishers are back working thanks to a marketing campaign to locals.

Most North Island regions that desperately needed rain didn't get any this week and snow has appeared on Mounts Ruapehu and Taranaki, meanwhile the situation is grim on many Marlborough and North Canterbury farms as the dry is biting harder and harder.

Country Life is off to New Zealand's largest farm, Molesworth to check out work being done to control wilding pines. And looking on the bright cider life with a couple producing a beverage from thirty varieties of cider apple trees

A huge drop in tourists in Fiji due to the pandemic has meant growing your own food in Fiji is not only making a comeback, it's a matter of survival. About half of Fiji's population depends on tourism and with breadwinners having lost their jobs, the charity FRIEND is trying to ensure people have seedlings, farming know-how and help marketing their produce if they have extra to sell.

Blacksmith Rob Pinkney has seen forge after forge close. He's now offering balcksmithing classes in the hope the craft can be saved.

A circle of log seats placed around a fire will be one of the outdoor classrooms when the Motueka Steiner School moves onto its new farm campus in May. The school bought the 14 hectare block on the outskirts of town a decade ago but it took years of planning before work could begin.

In the North Island many east coast regions are desperately short of rain, and elsewhere ground water levels are still low, while conditions in coastal Marlborough are beyond dire, and a drought committee is planning to bring un-picked apples from Tasman over the hill to feed stock.

Motueka Steiner School students have an outdoor classroom of log seats around a fire to look forward to when the school moves to its new farm campus in May. After years of planning, the final touches are being made to five eco-friendly classrooms that sit on a hilltop overlooking fruit orchards, Kahurangi National Park and snow-capped Mount Arthur. Also ... blacksmith Rob Pinkney has seen forge after forge close. He's now offering blacksmithing classes in the hope the craft can be saved. We also call up Fiji where backyard farming is a matter of survival as the pandemic bites.