Country Life

Country Life this week talks to a man who's a mine of information about Coromandel's granite industry and meets an entrepreneur making tequila out of his own exotic plantings.

A small scale, commercial market gardening enterprise is feeding Raglan locals with a range of fresh vegetables.

Last month thoroughbreds, station hacks and ponies were saddled up for the annual horse races at Castlepoint Beach. The races started back in 1872 and apart from wartime and stormy years when the beach was too rocky, they've been held every year since marking the end of summer at this small coastal community.

Country Life has a new occasional series - Just Kai - where we catch up with farmers and growers in the Pacific to hear about what they are growing and how they are faring. Vea Takai's husband Keni Takai grows vanilla and other crops on 'Eua.

Bay of Plenty gold kiwifruit growers are waiting for clearance to pick the fruit. Tasman apple orchardists are still crying out for workers.

In Country Life this week - paddock-to-plate in a Raglan market garden and a slice of the action from the Castlepoint Beach Races which have been going for nearly 150 years.

Will Bowman is part of the team that farms and ferments grapes at Black Estate's three organic vineyards in the Waipara Valley. He also makes his own wine from locally sourced grapes. His first bottles of 2020 Pinot Noir, Riesling and Rose and are about to be released. The wine is called Vita, which means 'life' or 'to be alive' in Italian.

Mary Nettle is what's known as a trail angel. She feeds and waters bikepackers on the 3000 kilometre Tour Aotearoa cycle ride from her travelling kiosk, raising funds for her local community hall.

Harvesting is the busiest time of year for hop farmer Cameron Ealam and his extended family who are working from dawn to dusk picking, cleaning and drying several varieties of aromatic hop cones that grow on the long leafy vines at Holmdale Farm near Wakefield.

Twenty-eight-year-old Richard Waugh buys in 50 tonnes of waste vegetables each week to feed his herd.